The Midland

I’ve been here twice — once a few years ago, and once a few weeks ago, and I have to say it’s gotten so much better than it used to be.
When I went all that time ago, it was a chain pub that was scandalously wasting the best location a pub in this town could ask for (on the main road, it’s the first thing you see when you step out of the train station) and it was a pretty terrible experience. It was filthy, dingy and dark, and the food, drink and service was mighty bad.
Luckily, it’s changed hands and the new owners are well on their way to changing it back into a pub that people which actually enjoy going to. They’ve got rid of the chain feel of the place (chain pubs just don’t work in places like Ilkley) and have got some real ales on tap finally.
It’s a lot better than it was, but the recovery is nowhere near complete as of yet, and there were still some unsavoury characters inside.