The New Look

This is my favourite pub in Otley, now sparkling after a new paint job.

It was opened in 1644, during the English Civil War. In that year, it was visited by Parliamentary troops on their way to the Battle of Marston Moor; they drank the pub dry, after which they had a bit of a snooze, woke up with weapons-grade hangovers, marched off to the battlefield near York some 20 miles away, and proceeded to give the Royalists a kicking from which they never recovered. Moral of story: never mess with a drunk from Otley.

Three and a half centuries later The Black Bull appeared on television in an episode of a truly terrible police drama. A bit after that, I arrived.

It is a lovely place: welcoming, warm, walker-friendly and seemingly eternal. If you should ever come to Otley, make certain to stop by.