Two sisters in Skipton

Today I had something that is quite rare in my life… A child-free day off! So my sister and I headed in to the little market town of Skipton. We spent many years of our childhood visiting here with our gran when we all lived in Ilkley. Heading to Bizzie Lizzies for fish and chips and popping in to The Stamp Man in Craven Court back when stamping used to be my only hobby.

Today we had one mission: To visit all the charity shops!! Our favourite little pastime. How it is possible to have so many charity shops in one place I do not know.

We arrived around lunch time and with rumbling tummys we headed to Morrisons, grabbed a meal deal then enjoyed our lunch on the edge of the canal in the shade. This UK heatwave is really quite something at the moment! 30 degrees at 6pm? Wild!

After our catch up watching the world pass by and admiring all the narrow boats and their decorations we walked into Skipton town centre.

A couple of charity shops in and we learnt something we knew already, Skipton charity shops are not cheap. Okay, they are still cheap compared to Harrogate, but they are not Armley cheap. Funny how price inflation is a real thing, even in towns so close to each other! If you aren’t a charity shop connoisseur you may never notice but once you’ve been in your fair share of them you soon learn how widely different the prices can be. Snapping up a book for £1.25 in Skipton might feel like a bargain but if i’m shopping in Kirkstall it’s 10 for £1 – Quite a significant difference! Nevertheless, we had a blast walking around and as usual managed to walk away with lots of Christmas presents in August and piles of more junk we don’t need.

Resting our legs we sipped on a refreshing Pepsi Max Cherry at The Devonshire Inn. I like the Wetherspoons in Skipton for it’s central location and large suntrap beer garden. It’s absolutely perfect for a quick stop and I only wish the Spoons near me had a beer garden like this one!

Over the road we popped in to The Geek Side which is a shop I’ve driven past previously and always wanted to go in. This shop is like walking in to my brain on a happy day. It’s filled with all my favourite shows, films, trinkets from anything or everything I’ve ever been interested in. It’s a Disney, Marvel, Simpsons, Sponge Bob, Stranger Things, Pokemon, nerdy haven.

If you consider yourself to be a geek – You must visit this store! Me and my sister had to resist the temptation to spend every penny we had in here.

Before long I noticed an intriguing sign leading to Through the Dumble Door! What a fantastic name and an absolute Harry Potter treasure cove! This magical wizardry shop is within The Geek Side and is filled to the brim with all things Harry Potter. Anything you can think of is in here.

The merchandise in here is absolutely epic. I’ve never seen so many Harry Potter things in one place before and I’ve been to both Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Hollywood, London and the amazing Wizarding World in Florida! It was even more impressive than the little stores in York and that’s saying something!

After our 15 minutes of transporting into a fantasy world we stepped back out into the Yorkshire heat and back to reality. Luckily we were able to take a nice stroll along the canal, this time on the other side to where we ate lunch earlier.

There were so many busy pubs along this walk which was quite impressive for a Wednesday. I think everybody wanted to escape the heat of their houses and enjoy a refreshing pint with a view.

We said hello to Rosie and Jim as we walked by then headed towards the castle as I knew there was a few places we could stop for a drink nearby.

Not wanting to sit in the sun again we tried a little bar that was nicely shaded instead. It was named Two Sisters and this felt appropriate given I was out with my sister.

Inside was warmer than we hoped for so we headed upstairs. It was a little quirky, dimly lit cove full of board games dotted about the place. I loved the lighting here and attention to detail with the decor so we grabbed a pint and charged our phones for a bit.

Our day in Skipton ended up going from a couple of hours charity shopping to a full day of getting our steps in. We even managed to get lost on the way back to the car confused what street we’d parked on! I loved that the street names matched the names of places in Lancashire where I got married. If i’d have taken any notice of the street name being Clitheroe Street perhaps we’d have saved our feet from more steps than was needed.

Skipton has so much to offer with a train station, large market, indoor shopping centre with cute little shops in, a big bus station, large supermarkets as well as many independent shops and a bundle of charity shops. Not to mention the canal walks, boat tours and parkland nearby. Another beautiful area of Yorkshire well worth a visit.

~ Visited Skipton in August 2025 ~

If you are looking for a local walk, I wrote a few years back about my walk from Skipton to Gargrave > Take a look!

Walking the canal from Skipton to Gargrave

A short walk along the Leeds and Liverpool canal in North Yorkshire.

by Sophie Beau 24 Sep 201825 Mar 2025

Just down the road from Skipton is Clitheroe. One of my favourite places to visit alongside Stirk House, I’ve written about this area a few times too. Please have a read if you are interested in the area, I highly recommend the trip.