Carlisle Pubs Thread

CCU wrote: Harraby Inn flying. Was in a couple of months back and it was decent pub grub for families...

News & Star @newsandstar

Carlisle pub thriving again following £500k makeover: bit.ly/2DHNyAs

25 Nov 2025 10:33

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[censored] me Any pub that isn't flying after having half a million spent on it should be leading to sackings at pubco HQ

No way they've spent £500k on that place!

nobbyblue wrote: No way they've spent £500k on that place!

Oh youd be amazed at how the pubcos come up with these figures.

When you leave a tenancy you often have to return the pub to the condition they claim it was in when you took it. I once had a company trying to charge me nearly 25 grand to repaint the pub externally [ it was actually a very large pub but just yard after yard of painted plaster ]

I ended up buying 20 tins of Sandtex hired a scaffolding tower and got 3 of the regulars to slap it on and then hired a decorator for the weekend to do the glossing and tidying up total cost not much more than 1500 quid.

And the icing on the cake was the old turn a quote into an invoice trick and hey presto job done.

Has anyone been in the Beehive recently? I mean not on a match day.

Went in a couple of weeks back on a Thursday night and it was almost deserted.

Their once thriving pub quiz would have had 12 or more teams amd it was a livelt night. Last week there were 6 teams and it was all over by 10pm.

For the amount of money they threw at it and the hike in drink prices it must be a worrying sign.

What's happening at The Horse & Farrier.
Work seems to have ground to a halt.
Roof still not fully tiled Water will be getting in soon.

They have a Facebook page. Seems there were also some issues with having to replace the windows to a certain design or something similar.

I shudder to think how much this is going to wind up costing - and then wonder if there's anything like the local demand to make it viable. I used to live on Dalston Road and, in the absence of anything else, this would almost constitute a local but TBH I'm not sure I could be bothered.

High Street wrote: They have a Facebook page. Seems there were also some issues with having to replace the windows to a certain design or something similar.

That was part of the reason the last people who had reopened it as a pub gave up, the council kicked up over them putting upvc windows in a listed building, despite the fact they'd restored it from a crumbling shell. They couldn't afford to replace them and they quit and it then turned back into a crumbling shell under tesco's careful watch and someone else is now trying their best, I wonder if history is going to repeat itself? Though this lot seemed to have a few more quid behind them.

If anyone ever took over that spot on the viaduct the council would probably fine them a million quid for painting the windowsills the wrong colour

Mysterious fire anyone ?

orfc wrote:

High Street wrote: They have a Facebook page. Seems there were also some issues with having to replace the windows to a certain design or something similar.

That was part of the reason the last people who had reopened it as a pub gave up, the council kicked up over them putting upvc windows in a listed building, despite the fact they'd restored it from a crumbling shell. They couldn't afford to replace them and they quit and it then turned back into a crumbling shell under tesco's careful watch and someone else is now trying their best, I wonder if history is going to repeat itself? Though this lot seemed to have a few more quid behind them.

If anyone ever took over that spot on the viaduct the council would probably fine them a million quid for painting the windowsills the wrong colour

Yes The Farrier is a worry (for the new guy) I'd say, the roof should have been on long ago before winter so something's gone wrong materials wise!
It's some guy from Kendal doing it I think, who has another hotel down there. Good luck to him, hope it's open by the summer, passing trade to the Lakes and all that as well as local visitors

Is the Cue Rack open then? Who's joined?

Was going to join yesterday but the cue was to big.

CCU wrote: Photos:

Are these the before photos?

People running the Crown Inn, Stanwix taking over the Howard Arms I see.

Been rumoured on the Carlisle pub circuit for a while that one.

Howards Arms has went down badly in recent times. Used to be a great place for a drink.

thetashkentterror wrote: People running the Crown Inn, Stanwix taking over the Howard Arms I see.

Been rumoured on the Carlisle pub circuit for a while that one.

As well as the Museum. (Pub).

The Howard is a funny one - I can see the appeal but it's hardly anyone's local and if you were under 30 (ie. the future of the industry) would you be tempted in?

The Howard has been a gold mine in the late 80s/90s pre Botchergate development and all day drinking change in the law...weekends were busy, Thursday onwards and Carlisle City played out of there.....but that ship has sailed... Harry retired and the new guy didn't do well.
There'll always be a place for The Howard in that part of town same as The Kings Head for a certain clientele, be interesting to see what the new tenants do with it.

Unconvinced by the notion of an 'accommodation block'. Carlisle isn't Keswick.

ExiledJock wrote: Unconvinced by the notion of an 'accommodation block'. Carlisle isn't Keswick.

It's a bit vague isn't it? Accommodation block could mean either a mini-hotel, sort of like a mini Lakeland Gate, or a collection of DHSS bedsits for alkies like they have above my local salubrious saloon in Edinburgh (these aren't to be confused with Laffy's apartments)

Brewdog opens Friday 25th.

Brewdog opens lunchtime today. 22 beers on tap if I read right.

First 100 people in have a chance of winning free beer for a year.

If you go in wearing a kilt (with it being burns night) you get a free pint.

Will the wife's skirt do.

As long as it's tartan. Take her and dare them to assume her sexuality.

Expect 4 pun a schooner (less than a pint!) served by beardy types in tight hipster pants. Wont work in Carlisle especially between two hostelry's serving a full pint at half the price of their crafty shite.

That’s because you drink Fosters tops.

CCU wrote: Just don’t get the appeal in the whole Brewdog thing!

It's beer that tastes nice, not a lot to get.

Brewdog are just the brewing equivalent of Apple and so are heavy on the branding with a loyal customer base.

DeckchairBlue wrote: Brewdog are just the brewing equivalent of Apple and so are heavy on the branding with a loyal customer base.

I never realised that Brewdawg paid their employees a pittance for a 70 hour week and essentially promoted modern slavery. Live and learn I guess.

lbtufty wrote:

DeckchairBlue wrote: Brewdog are just the brewing equivalent of Apple and so are heavy on the branding with a loyal customer base.

I never realised that Brewdawg paid their employees a pittance for a 70 hour week and essentially promoted modern slavery. Live and learn I guess.

I was more using the comparison for the heavy brand marketing, almost cult like loyalty their customers show and how passionate their employees are about it.

They are supposed to he decent to work for apparantly, living wage employer and loads of other perks.

I like their beer, but also find them to be hypocritical with their crusade against "big beer" when they are becoming the big beer of the craft sector.

Thoughts on BD?

OT, but I see that Mexican place (that used to be a Spanish place) seems shut. Folk love Mex food so it must have been gash.

A wee bit off-topic but if you hear that TGI Fridays is coming to town, remember that ExiledJock on the Carlisle board was the first to mention it.

No sniff of a location. Top of Warwick Road maybe?

First one opened in the UK in 1986, taken their time to find Carlisle on the map

ExiledJock wrote: A wee bit off-topic but if you hear that TGI Fridays is coming to town, remember that ExiledJock on the Carlisle board was the first to mention it.

No sniff of a location. Top of Warwick Road maybe?

Can't stand Chris Evans.