Where to eat in Whitby: fish and chips, pubs and kippers

Walking times below are from the swing bridge in the middle of the harbour; opening days and hours change with the season, so check before you set off.

Dogs: most harbourside chippies are takeaway-only for dog owners, and the busy pavements around the Magpie and the swing bridge are not a relaxing place for a dog in peak season. Pubs are generally dog friendly, the Duke of York and The Black Horse on Church Street are happy to see well-behaved dogs in their bar areas, but avoid the crowds by eating slightly earlier or later.

Fish, chips and kippers

• The Magpie Café, Pier Road (2 minutes). The famous one, in the white harbourside house. Order haddock and chips, the large portion is genuinely large, and the lemon meringue pie if you can still face it. Expect a queue; the takeaway hatch moves far faster than the restaurant.
• Trenchers, New Quay Road (3 minutes). Big, brisk and reliable opposite the station. Haddock and chips again, or the fish pie on a cold day. Usually the shortest wait of the well-known places.
• Hadleys, Bridge Street (1 minute). Right by the bridge, no fuss. Cod and chips to take away and eat on the quayside, mind the gulls, they are shameless.
• Fortune's Kippers, Henrietta Street (8 minutes). A smokehouse working since 1872, up past the foot of the 199 steps. Buy a pair of kippers to take home rather than to eat there; they travel well wrapped in paper.

Pubs for a pint

• The Duke of York, Church Street (5 minutes). At the foot of the 199 steps with the best window view in town over the harbour mouth. A pint of Yorkshire bitter and a bowl of chips after coming down from the abbey.
• The Black Horse, Church Street (5 minutes). Tiny, panelled and properly old. Order cask ale and the Yorkshire tapas board, cheese, pie and pickles.
• Whitby Brewery tap, beside the abbey (15 minutes, uphill). Up the steps or round by road on the East Cliff. Whitby-brewed beer with the abbey ruins outside the window; live music some evenings.
• The Station Inn, New Quay Road (2 minutes). Straightforward harbourside local with a rotating guest ale list, handy while waiting for a train or bus.

Cake, coffee and something different

• Botham's of Whitby, Skinner Street (8 minutes). Family bakers since 1865 on the West Cliff. Order a lemon bun and a pot of tea, and take a box of plum bread home.
• Humble Pie 'n' Mash, Church Street (4 minutes). Cheap, filling and quick in a low-beamed old cottage. Steak pie with mash and gravy is the order.
• Rusty Shears, Silver Street (7 minutes). Café, walled garden and a very long gin list. Good for brunch, or a gin and tonic out of the wind.

Working it into a day

Time your meal around the sights rather than the other way round: harbour and old town first, the 199 steps and the abbey mid-morning, then chips before the lunchtime crush. Take Botham's plum bread and a pair of Fortune's kippers home with you, more on that in our Whitby shopping guide.

Arriving on the steam train from Pickering puts you two minutes from Trenchers and the Station Inn. For inland alternatives see the food and drink section, Sunday lunch and pubs with a view, plus the dog-friendly pubs round-up and the wider moors with dogs guide. Along the coast, Staithes, Runswick Bay and Robin Hood's Bay all do a decent lunch too.