GAVIN AITCHISON welcomes the ingredients of a makeover at a pub just outside the Bar Walls.

ALES. WHISKYS. PIES. That’s the joyous wording on a new sign outside the Rose & Crown. Leaving aside the dubious spelling of whiskies, could anyone ask for more?

Lawrence Street, outside York’s Bar Walls and away from the main tourist trails, may seem an unlikely place to find an enormous malt whisky selection, but that’s what it provides: 90 different bottles, dozens of them beaming gloriously behind the bar.

There is one Japanese option but the rest are all Scottish, from all over the country and to suit every taste.

The whisky selection is not the only surprise at the Rose & Crown, which reopened yesterday after a £230,000 refurbishment. The pub as a whole has been transformed.

The leaded glass and ornate tiling in the various rooms have been largely retained, and the fundamental layout is as before, but out have gone the pool table, the games machines and the interior wall that split the bar in two and meant customers had to go through two doors to view the whole bar.

In have come new decoration and furniture throughout, giving the pub a much more genteel feel and turning it into the sort of place you’d happily bring the in-laws for Sunday lunch.

In also have come five real ale handpulls with scope for three more, and a varied bottled beer range.

The opening ale selection includes Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, Rudgate Jorvik Blonde and Ossett Big Red, while highlights in the fridge include Goose Island Honkers and IPA.

In also have come a large outdoor seating area and a promising new menu that includes old favourites such as fish and chips and more novel dishes such as beetroot and goats cheese rice balls, a “board of plenty” platter and ham hock, plum and black pudding terrine. Home-made pies are to follow.

And behind all the work, in have come new licensees Geoff and Paula McGarry, who have moved to York and worked with Punch Taverns on the refurbishment.

They have run pubs in Doncaster for the past eight years but Geoff says they are looking forward to something new.

“We have some exciting plans for the pub, and look to host a whisky evening where customers will get the chance to experience different whiskies from around world while enjoying some of our home-made food,” he says.

“The experience in our pub will be warm and welcoming.”

He certainly knows the need for that. After taking over the pub he visited incognito, saw how unwelcoming it felt, and then vowed to put it right, which he looks to have done.

Ultimately, he says, they want to become known for “famous ales and pies” and he says he hopes also to emulate the success of The Waggon and Horses, The Rook and Gaskill and The Phoenix, to carve a niche in a “cask-ale corner” of York.

If they can keep the ales in good condition and maintain an interesting selection, there’s no reason why they can’t do just that – and possibly even form the basis of a whole new whisky corner as well.

• THE Rose and Crown is not the only York pub boasting a new look.

Over in South Bank, The Knavesmire, has also undergone a striking facelift. New furniture and décor there have created a slightly more gentrified feel and the beer is impressive. When I popped in last week, the Theakston’s Old Peculier was excellent and the Robinsons Dizzy Blonde even better.

Other pubs refurbished in recent months include The Cross Keys in Tadcaster Road, The Marcia in Bishopthorpe, The Britannia in Acomb (now The Inn on The Green) and The Nag’s Head in Heworth.

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