IN just over a month York Brewery's second bar, provisionally entitled the Centurion Inn, will be open for business. The success of the brewery's first pub, the Last Drop Inn, has "given us the confidence to open another," says York Brewery boss Tony Thomson.

Underpinning some 300-year-old walls has set back the opening by a couple of weeks, but Tony is still confident that the pub will be up and serving in the first two weeks of July.

Nine handpumps will dispense a wide range of York-produced beers, as well as guest ales and a rotating choice of quality German and Belgian brews.

Food will be limited to "different styles of breads with a few different, quality fillings", but who needs food when you have York beer?

"The best part of 70 per cent of sales at the Last Drop Inn are of York Brewery products and we hope to repeat this at the Centurion," said Tony.

"Our beer is good for you. It is the best medicine you could want, it keeps all our drinkers in very good health."

The new pub will offer a jukebox and fruit machine-free environment, but promises not to be a "Last Drop 2".

It will be a similar concept, but a completely different sort of place.

Many drinkers are eagerly awaiting the opening of the pub, which further cements the brewery's position on the drinking map.

"Sales and product knowledge of our products has never been that great in York," lamented Tony.

"Problems with managed houses meant our beers were being heavily sold in Essex and Canada, but no-one had heard of them here.

"But the Last Drop, and soon the Centurion, have changed all that. We now have a firm base," said Tony.

He added that punters were being drawn to the brewery and the tours on offer there, by the existence of the first pub.

James Butler, current boss at the Last Drop Inn, will be making a big money transfer across to the new pub, while Vernon Seymour, will replace him at York Brewery pub number one.

We at Bar Talk commend the work of York Brewery. It is doing an excellent job, making and selling wonderful beer to the people of York who deserve it.

Were it not for York Brewery everyone would be drinking bottles of WKD in chrome-based bars with music blaring out.

Tony, keep up the good work and let us know when the pub is opening.

MY lunch companion hadn't even finished his fag when a superb turkey-based Sunday lunch arrived.

It is tradition for many to have a cigarette (or two) between ordering food and eating food, but this isn't possible at one rural drinking hole.

And if a pre-meal fag must be interrupted, then the meals offered at the New Inn, Heck, are worth removing the cancer stick from your mouth for. Never has such great food arrived so speedily.

The pub has suffered much in the aftermath of North Yorkshire's worst rail disaster.

After playing host to cold journalists and police officers for the best part of a week, licensees Pat and Len Shaw have since had to deal with ghoulish disaster spotters, keen to visit the spot where so many lives were ruined.

The pub took a few weeks to return to normal business, as some regulars stayed away, but a trip there last weekend showed everything is back as it should be.

The turkey lunch of my companion and my braised lamb dish were succulent and tasty.

The usual accompaniments of Yorkshire puddings and carrots and cauliflower and potatoes were there too, all equally well-prepared.

Post-meal cigarettes, smokers tell me, are more enjoyable the better the food. So when my companion finished his pre-meal leftover cigarette, it "was one of the best I've had".

The coffee apple cheesecake for dessert was also swift and delicious. As soon as the spoons sunk into the soft cream of the cake you knew you were in for a treat.

I can recommend this pub. It is rural and friendly and well worth a visit.