Food & Drink
North York Moors pubs with a view
By Jon Cosson · Updated 6 October 2026
Ridge-top free houses, inns perched above a dale and clifftop bars on the coast. The North York Moors pubs where the view is the reason you came.
Winter on the moors is firelight weather: the low-beamed bar of a traditional moorland inn, where the view gives way to the fire.
A view is the one thing a moors pub can offer that a city pub never will. These are the inns where you want an outside table, or the window seat on a wild day, all of them pairing with a walk or one of our driving routes.
The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge
The high-moor benchmark. A 16th-century free house stranded on Blakey Ridge at around 1,325 feet, with Rosedale falling away one side and Farndale the other. Low beams, log fires and hearty food inside; benches and an enormous sky outside. It stands on the Blakey Ridge road and on the Coast to Coast path, so walkers and drivers meet at the same bar. Book for meals, especially weekends.
The Fox & Rabbit Inn, Lockton
On the A169 north of Pickering, this 18th-century inn looks south across the Vale of Pickering from its windows and terrace, on a clear day the Wolds are visible. It is the obvious lunch stop between Dalby Forest and the Hole of Horcum.
Above Rosedale and Farndale
Drop off the ridge into Rosedale Abbey and the pubs there trade the panorama for a valley setting under the old ironstone kilns. Farndale, famous for its spring daffodils, is served by village inns at Church Houses and Low Mill. Both dales are reached by steep, single-track roads, Chimney Bank out of Rosedale is one of England's steepest at about 1-in-3, so take the gentler approaches if you are towing or driving an older car.
Sutton Bank and the western escarpment
Sutton Bank is billed as "the finest view in England", looking over Lake Gormire to the Vale of York. There is no pub on the brow itself, the National Park visitor centre has the café, but the villages below at Kilburn, Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe and Ampleforth all have inns within a few minutes' drive, and Byland Abbey is on the doorstep.
Sea views on the coast
On the coast, the view swaps heather for the North Sea. Robin Hood's Bay has pubs at the bottom of the bank almost in the water at high tide; Staithes, Runswick Bay and Sandsend all have bars looking out over the beach, and Whitby's harbourside pubs sit under the abbey headland. Parking is the constraint on the coast, not the pubs. Use the clifftop car parks and walk down.
The full list
There are 27 pubs listed here, each checked against the pub's own published information in September 2026. The list is built from the same database as the pub finder, so the count is live.
High moors (9)
The Lion Inn
Blakey Ridge, YO62 7LQ
RoomsView
Dogs are welcome in the bar areas but not the dining rooms. Food is served 12pm to 9pm without a break, which is unusual out here.
The Eskdale
Castleton, YO21 2EU
View
The bar stays open to 11pm but the kitchen shuts at 8pm, and on Sunday food stops at 5pm.
Feversham Arms Inn
Church Houses, Farndale
RoomsView
Severely reduced hours: closed all day Monday; Tuesday and Wednesday from 7pm for drinks only; food Thursday to Saturday 12 to 2 and 6 to 8, and Sunday 12 to 4. The inn changed hands in late 2026 and its own site says a refurbishment closure is likely in early 2027, so ring before setting out. It offers a pick-up and return service for walkers, including from the Coast to Coast at Blakey Ridge.
The Duke of Wellington Inn
RoomsView
Within walking distance of Danby station on the Esk Valley line, so one of the few moorland inns reachable without a car. The Moors National Park Centre is a short walk away.
The Wheatsheaf Inn
Egton
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Closed all day Monday. On the Egton Gallon Walk they advise going in reverse and starting here, and warn that the route circulating online is out of date, listing seven pubs rather than eight.
Horseshoe Hotel
Egton Bridge
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A fixed weekly rhythm: curry night Mondays, fish Fridays, roasts Sunday. All dogs welcome at no extra cost, with rooms 3 and 6 suited to larger dogs.
The Inn on the Moor Hotel
RoomsView
The most thorough dog provision of any inn on the moors, and an accessible ground-floor room, which is rare up here.
The Mallyan Spout Hotel
RoomsView
The path to Mallyan Spout waterfall leaves from beside the hotel. It also does weddings, so a summer Saturday may be busy with a private function.
White Horse Farm Inn
Rosedale Abbey, YO18 8SE
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Food from noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but only from 5pm on other days. Breakfast is not included in the room rate and must be pre-booked. They run a motorhome stopover scheme.
Southern moors & Ryedale (2)
The Abbey Inn
Byland, YO61 4BD
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Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays all year. Dogs in the pub but not in the accommodation. Breakfast is not served on site; guests go a mile to Oldstead.
The Fox & Rabbit Inn
Lockton, YO18 7NQ
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Dogs are not allowed inside; guide dogs excepted
Coast (12)
Raven Hall Country House Hotel
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A hotel bar rather than a pub, and essentially the only hospitality in Ravenscar, so there is no alternative if it is closed for a wedding. Built 1774 as Peak Hall, opened as a hotel in 1895.
Hotel Victoria
Robin Hood's Bay, YO22 4RL
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Dogs in the Captain's Quarters rooms only, not the main hotel. At the top of the bank, so the Robin Hood's Bay pub you can park near and the one that spares you the climb back up.
The Bay Hotel
Robin Hood's Bay, YO22 4SJ
RoomsView
Wainwright's Bar is seasonal. On the dock itself at the bottom of the bank, with no vehicle access. Everyone walks down. The seaward frontage takes spray and can be cut off in a surge.
The Royal
Runswick Bay, TS13 5HT
View
Winter hours vary. Families welcome until 9pm. The lower village has effectively no visitor parking; the car park is at the top and the bank down is severe.
The Hart Inn
Sandsend, YO21 3SU
View
Sunday 11am to 5.30pm only, which is unusually early. Sandsend parking is roadside along the sea wall and fills by mid-morning in summer.
The Salmon Leap Hotel
Sleights, YO22 5AA
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Accommodation-led, and their own site says little about the bar. With the Plough closed, it is currently the only pub in Sleights.
The Cod and Lobster
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No vehicle access. Cars go in the clifftop car park on Staithes Lane and you walk down a very steep bank. Expect it shuttered in an easterly gale.
Duke of York
Whitby, YO22 4DE
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Station Inn
Whitby, YO21 1DH
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This was the old Tap and Spile. Dogs throughout the bar, but not for overnight guests.
The Angel Hotel
Whitby, YO21 1DH
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The easiest pub in Whitby to reach from the station and bus station with luggage.
The Endeavour
Whitby, YO22 4AS
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No real kitchen. They invite you to bring in fish and chips and buy a ploughman's or cheeseboard.
The Pier Inn
Whitby, YO21 3PU
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Western moors (4)
The Blackwell Ox Inn
Carlton-in-Cleveland, TS9 7DJ
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Rooms are luxury lodges with hot tubs rather than inn bedrooms. The children's adventure play area is warmer months only.
The Carpenters Arms
Felixkirk, YO7 2DP
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Presents itself for diners and overnight guests rather than boots, though it sits a couple of miles from Boltby and the Cleveland Way.
The Forresters Arms
Kilburn, YO61 4AH
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Formerly The Mariners' Compass. The closest inn to the White Horse car park and the Kilburn end of the Cleveland Way above Sutton Bank.
The King's Head Inn
Newton under Roseberry, TS9 6QR
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Breakfast from 7.30am, the earliest of any pub on the moors, and light bites 11 to 5 bridge the usual afternoon food gap. The obvious base for an early Roseberry or Cleveland Way start.
Getting the most from a view pub
- Late afternoon in August gives you the heather in full colour and low, warm light.
- Remote inns can be quiet midweek in winter and rammed on a sunny Sunday, book for food either way.
- Check the forecast: on Blakey Ridge the view can vanish into cloud while the valleys stay clear.
- Combine with dark-sky stargazing, the high moor has some of England's darkest skies once the sun goes down.
Frequently asked questions
- Which North York Moors pub has the best view?
- The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge is the classic answer: at around 1,325 feet it looks out over Rosedale and Farndale in almost every direction.
- Is there a pub near Sutton Bank with a view?
- The escarpment itself has the famous Sutton Bank viewpoint and a National Park visitor centre café; for a pub, the villages below at Kilburn and Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe are the nearest options.
- Can you walk to the Lion Inn?
- Yes, it sits directly on the Coast to Coast route and on the Rosedale and Farndale moorland paths, so it is a common walkers' stop as well as a drive.
- Do high moorland pubs close in bad weather?
- Roads over Blakey Ridge and the high moor can close in snow or drifting, and remote inns sometimes reduce hours in winter, so check before setting out.
Opening hours, menus and access change with the season and the weather. Check with the pub before travelling. More options in the full food and drink guide.
Stay in the middle of it
A base at the southern gate of the Moors puts every pub on this page within an hour's drive.
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