We went on Friday, beers on - Black Sheep and Amber Gambler (which ran out before I could a second). We dined outside, £18 for a steak and chips, around £12 for scampi in a basket with chips, typical Ilkley prices.

The food was excellent, I do think though that when you charge prices comparable with expensive restaurants, you should offer the same level of service. When I'm paying that much money for a main course, why do I have to go to the bar and fetch my own drinks, and return to the bar again to collect menus and to order the food ?

We had the same thing at that Morrisey Fox place near York, fabulous prices but without having the staff trained to match.

The Wheatley looks superb, although it looks very much like a restaurant and not much like a drinker's pub, can't fault the quality of the food though.

Just off post a mo - does anyone know why the opening hours in Dingham are rather odd?

Back on post - Will give The Wheatley a few months to settle in then try. Hopefully folk will accept service etc being a bit rough for a few weeks. Not sure about what you said re it looking like an eating house rather than a supping one. Does that mean the dining area is a part of the Bar? I seem to remember them being seperate in the old days. At least I think they were.

Imor wrote:
[quote]Just off post a mo - does anyone know why the opening hours in Dingham are rather odd?

[quote]

The opening hours of what?

Dingham. Have you not seen the border controls?

The Brigadier wrote:
[quote]Imor wrote:
[quote]Just off post a mo - does anyone know why the opening hours in Dingham are rather odd?



The opening hours of what?

The pubs Brigadier. It took my duck for a jaunt and thought to try The Swan seeing as the hostelry was in the gazbag. Only to find the door locked and bolted. Much the same as the nautical one upstream. The Craven Bull did a decent Irish Perry but didn't feel like walking all the way back to The Golden Fleece or whatever it's called.

I heard a funny story about the Wheatley the other day. On the opening night they left the rooms open so people could have a look and about 2-3grands worth of stuff got nabbed. Towels, bath robes, beds, taps, toilet roll, etc. (my have exaggerated on those last 3 )

That would have put a nice dent in the opening night takings!

I heard it was £1100 quids worth of trinkets and bath robes. Sad that people could act in that way.

woza wrote:
I heard a funny story about the Wheatley the other day. On the opening night they left the rooms open so people could have a look and about 2-3grands worth of stuff got nabbed. Towels, bath robes, beds, taps, toilet roll, etc. (my have exaggerated on those last 3 )

That would have put a nice dent in the opening night takings!

I understood from a local traders one could book a tour of the place prior to opening. Though they did say it was 'open house' in more ways than one on the opening day. So what you heard woza is quite probably true.

it must have been the gypsies wot nicked the gear

Called in around 2.p.m. to enquire about doing a show here. It was very busy, and it had 4 handpulled ales, including Dark Horse pale ale (£2.75), but as a few have already said, there is nowhere to drink it! It is chock full of dining tables. There in no casual area at all for drinking I could see, just a bench between the doors, which I shared with an old lady waiting for a taxi.

Also: their 'large function room' is not available for functions. It is a dining room that can be reserved, but only for people eating from the menu.

I will go back in a few months, after it has settled, but just out of curiosity as to whether they have got rid of most of the ales, or made somewhere for the likes of me to drink beer.

I went along last night... It wasn't at all what I was expecting!

Clearly a lot of money has gone into it and it looks great.

But it just seemed a bit too high end for me. Pretentious dare I say?

It had a very cold feel and both it and the staff didn't seem particularly welcoming.

Much like Bradwan we were looking for somewhere to sit down and have a jar but couldn't quite find the right spot. We eventually settled on one of the picnic tables outside.

We had intended to stay there for the night but in the end we had one pint and then headed back into Ilkley (disappointed).

It's a great place, but I'm just not convinced it's entirely functional, and possibly not quite right for that area. Then again maybe I'm just not their target customer

Two thoughts on this:

Firstly, given that the group that undertook this development specialise in turning pubs into eateries it shouldn't be any great surprise that drinking has been marginalised in this way; however, that must be a great disappointment to all those in Ben Rhydding who worked so hard to re-open what they hoped was going to be a community pub, somewhere to go for a drink, to relax, to meet their friends & neighbours. Hopefully, if enough people air their views the management might respond positively?

Second, in an idle moment recently I looked up the latest clutch of reviews of the Craiglands on Tripadvisor. Whilst the wedding function team receives a great deal of doubtless well-deserved praise, the reports submitted by those who use the Craiglands as a hotel for sleeping & eating are consistently awful. How the place avoids action by trading standards or the hotel star ratings inspectors is a mystery.
So, anyone doing due diligence before parting with not inconsiderable sums for hotel accommodation might well opt for the Wheatley Arms rather than The Craiglands?

frankie4fingers wrote:
I went along last night... It wasn't at all what I was expecting!

Clearly a lot of money has gone into it and it looks great.

But it just seemed a bit too high end for me. Pretentious dare I say?

It had a very cold feel and both it and the staff didn't seem particularly welcoming.

Much like Bradwan we were looking for somewhere to sit down and have a jar but couldn't quite find the right spot. We eventually settled on one of the picnic tables outside.

We had intended to stay there for the night but in the end we had one pint and then headed back into Ilkley (disappointed).

It's a great place, but I'm just not convinced it's entirely functional, and possibly not quite right for that area. Then again maybe I'm just not their target customer

I know it's early days and have said would wait six months before trying the place, however if the recent visits are owt to go by I'll not be visiting at all.

The Wheatley was a drinking persons pub with food as an added attraction. That's what S.U.P. were fighting to get back, or so I understood. Looks like another nosh house to me.

Jasper wrote:
Firstly, given that the group that undertook this development specialise in turning pubs into eateries it shouldn't be any great surprise that drinking has been marginalised in this way; however, that must be a great disappointment to all those in Ben Rhydding who worked so hard to re-open what they hoped was going to be a community pub, somewhere to go for a drink, to relax, to meet their friends & neighbours.

Very fair point - there is money to be made in food and they're going to have to sell less meals than they will pints in order to recoup the refurbishment/purchase costs.

Marginalising the drinking is of course their perogative, from my point of view parhaps they've drawn the margin a bit far to the edge!

Earlier in the thread someone referred to the Morrissey Fox pub which was featured in the telly documentary series earler this year. From what I remember of that, all the locals were a bit peeved when that re-opened because drinking was marginalised in favour of food. Which seemed odd given that they were emphasising the ale by virtue of their plans for their own micro brewery.

Which brings me onto another point I didn't make in my post above, we weren't very impressed with the ales available either.


Imor, don't write the place off... If I were you, I'd go and make my own mind up rather than believing all the rubbish on here - each to their own

Forgot to mention that they have already had accommodation booked by Ilkley Literary Festival. The Fest has always booked accommodation at hotels other than Craiglands, but that always seemed to be first choice for the highest status literary celebrities.

Just looking round the Wheatley I thought it looked over crowded with over large tables. The toilets are down some not easy steps, and if there is no disabled toilet on the eating level a lot of folk will face difficulties. I think the whole public area is badly designed. The bar is far too big for a restaurant, and having no casual drinking space is very stupid in a bar.

I would suggest SUP restarts itself and moans about the lack of drinking space. I would bet caviar to cabbage that they change the badly designed layout soon, and when they do they should be persuaded to get some bar stools and a couple of sofas in.