I was delighted when Brew York took over The Mitre earlier this year. It was my "local" in the mid to late 2010s, always with a friendly buzz and loyal regulars - but in recent years it had lost its way, and most of us became regulars elsewhere. In its first few weeks of re-opening, the buzz returned, the pub was busier than it had been in years, and my hopes were high. So, why the 3-star review? After all, the beer is gorgeous, the pub is well kept... and yet that early buzz hasn't been maintained, numbers are down, and most of its trade seems to be coming from visitors, not from locals. That might have worked OK over the summer months, but in order to get through the winter, I think a shift of focus is required (in this regard, the forthcoming changes to the kitchen sound very promising).

And here we get to the nub of the problem: no matter how good the beer is, the "hospitality" is almost non-existent. I'm not saying that the staff are rude, but there's no friendly greeting at the bar, beers are served in almost total silence, and the bar staff come across as entirely indifferent. (And just for the record, this is a commonly held view around the town; I've had a lot of conversations about it.) This just won't work in a town like Knaresborough, where friendliness and good conversation are the norm. If The Mitre wants to build up a solid base of regular customers, it MUST engage with them, make them feel welcome, and make far more of an effort to create the sort of good-natured vibe that you'll find in so many other Knaresborough pubs. I still want it to succeed, but I don't think it will succeed until heart and soul are injected into the very bones of the place.