UCI World Championships
To celebrate the UCI World Championship races, Otley Pub Club twinned every pub in town with a different cycling nation, and contacted all the relevant National Embassies, High Commissions and National Tourist Boards for help.
The Belgian Embassy put them in touch with the tourist board for Flanders (VisitFlanders), who agreed to help organise an event at the pub twinned with Belgium – North Bar Social on Bondgate, which was temporarily called ‘The Flemish Lion’ to celebrate Belgian ex-World Champion Cyclist, Johan Museeuw’s visit.
On Friday the 27th of September, Johan arrived at North Bar Social along with around 30 other cyclists on an organised cycle ride from Harrogate ahead of the UCI World Championships. They were greeted by our Chair, Tom Hatley, the Otley Town Mayor, Councillor Peter Jackson; and the Otley Bellman, Terry Ford. Otley BID not only co-sponsored the whole Otley Pub Club project, along with Otley Town Council, but had also paid for the provision of food for the riders. O’Deli café and Prosecco Bar had provided the sandwiches, and the centrepiece of the buffet was a specially-made pork pie from Middlemiss butchers. The pie – which had the words “de leeuw van vlanderen” baked into the crust as a further tribute to Johan Museeuw – was presented to him by Peter Middlemiss before being cut and shared between the cyclists.
Cyclists on the ride came from a number of different countries, and were delighted to see the Mayor and Bellman in their traditional costumes. Johan even grabbed the bell himself and rang it to announce when the ride was leaving on its way back to Harrogate! They were also extremely impressed with the pork pie – which was something many of them had never tasted before – and the buffet as a whole. North Bar social were thanked for providing the location and the free hot drinks, and Otley Pub Club expressed their thanks to Otley BID for funding the refreshments as well as supporting the project as a whole. Without this sort of financial help, Otley Pub Club wouldn’t be able to organise projects that highlighted the name of Otley in the media and attracted tourists to the town.