The Potting Shed, Harrogate

The Potting Shed has several branches across Yorkshire and is expanding across the north. A few months ago their Harrogate bar/restaurant opened.

Situated next to another famous watering hole they need to offer something different from the competition and they certainly do.

The theme for the Potting Shed is that of a garden, with plenty of greenery and plants with Potting Sheds too - which are usually outside, but the planners would not allow that in Harrogate so they are inside the Harrogate Potting Shed.

As well as looking far more up market than the nearby competition, they have live music on as well which is usually a solo vocalist. The place is so big that the music is not intrusive and the good thing too is that the acts tend to be very good. We could hear in the background tracks by John Legend, Bill Withers and Dionne Warwick amongst others.

The main room - The Palm Bar is quite large and in keeping with Harrogate. They have refurbished it sympathetically.

Live sports TV is shown on several televisions in the bar with the sound muted, but I thought that there were too many of them, perhaps a news channel might have been better.

The food menu has your usual burgers, fish and chips and Shed Kebabs along with Sirloin Steak and pizzas too, though the planners again stopped them from having a wood burning oven.

A vegetarian would be able to eat here as they have 3 options on the menu.

Monday through to Thursday there are meal deals on such as buy one get one free.

I tried the Garlic Dough Balls priced at £5.25 for starters - very doughy indeed but wholesome and very filling.

For my main I chose the Gnome's Revenge chargrilled burger which had 2 beef patties, pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheddar cheese and bacon. A very beefy burger that was just as good as you would get in one of those upmarket burger restaurants.

Unfortunately my fries were cold as were my partners - I got the impression that they had done these first and were waiting for the other items to be cooked.

Fortunately a dish of hot piping chips arrived within minutes of my request for something a bit warmer.

My partner's Grilled Minute Steak usually comes with skinny fries but chunky chips (which were piping hot) were substituted at her request. A melt in your mouth steak seemed good value at £10.95.

The dessert menu is not that extensive and all puddings are priced at £5.25. We decided on the Brownie served with vanilla ice cream - a guilty pleasure, very sweet and full of chocolate. Bang goes the diet!

The Lemon Tart was tangy and full of zest.

The Potting Shed deserves to do well as the staff seem eager to please. There are plenty of sealed off areas where you can escape to and the atmosphere is stylish yet not elitist.

The cocktails they serve seemed very popular - they do 2 for £12 Sunday to Thursday.

We decided to visit the competition next door after leaving the Potting Shed to get a contrast - what a difference - my partner said if we ate in there it would be like eating in a busy canteen.

If you fancy something a bit different with good food eaten in stylish and sympathetic surroundings then you could do a lot worse than visiting The Potting Shed in Harrogate.

The Potting Shed, Unit 3, Royal Baths, Montpellier Road, Harrogate HG1 2WL
www.pottingshedbar.com