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Minster Inn

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Recently, we at thepubsofyork.com finished reviewing all the pubs and bars inside the City Walls. Like a small boy who’s allowed to play outside his front garden for the first time, York’s premiere pub review website could not wait to spread it’s collective wings.

But despite shedding the geographical constraints that had forced us to review hideous puking dens such as Nags Head and Rumours,  we didn’t initially venture too far from the stone walls that had previously restricted us.

There was no need to, for the Minster Inn, located on Marygate just behind the Museum Gardens, was always high on our ‘to review’ list.

Quite simply, it is one of the best pubs in the city, or any other city for that matter.

Iit’s not just us who think so. The Minster reguarly appears in CAMRA’s York branch ‘Best of’ lists, including most recently as the Winter pub of year 2009.

And there’s a whole host of reasons why everyone who finds it seems to like it so much. The mighty fine selection of well kept real ale it serves is certainly a big factor, as is the friendly and convivial atmosphere which we’ve always encountered.

Thankfully, this ambiance isn’t lost amongst  noisy fruit machines or down the back of comfy leather sofas, it is lovingly enveloped in all four rooms, by the attractive interior, which for the most part, is a perfect example of an Edwardian pub and still contains many original features.

We’re not suggesting that anyone visits a pub solely to check out their lavatories, but, if If you’re needing any more reasons why the Minster Inn demands you pay it a visit, then the outdoor (in the literal sense of the word) toilets that nestle at the back of the pub, next to the small beer patio, should seal the deal. Unfortunately for all you new fathers out there, these facilities do not double as a baby-changing area.


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Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

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Posted in Bootham, Gillygate & Marygate, Highly Recommended, Location, Real Ale, Real Ale Heaven | No Comments »

Masons Arms

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Chances are, if you’ve heard of the Mason’s Arms on Fishergate, it will be probably because of the food they dish up to to hungry customers.

Whilst it may not be winning Michelin stars anytime soon (and it certainly doesn’t deserve the twunt that is Michael Winner and his ludicrous dining stars venturing within a pork sausage of the place) the chips are chunky, the pies are prodigious and the prices are p, pr, por, par … sensible. Infact, thepubsofyork.com think this place serves up the best pub grub in the city. So there.

But what’s the beer like we here you yawp?

Respectably reasonable is our answer.

On our last visit, the (somewhat surly) barman could have filled our glasses with a Brains owned Hancock’s HB, a York brewery tipple in the shape of Constantine, Theakston XB or a Ruddles County from the Greene King Stable, which, despite not being approved of by a significant proportion of discerning drinkers, is enjoyed by at least one taste bud of thepubsofyork.com’s tongue.

However, despite this solid alcoholic line-up, if you visit when other patrons are hungry the chances are your pint will have to be drunk next to couples chomping their way through vegetable lasagne and old ladies wiping profiteroles from their husbands chins with a crinkly hankerchief, which to this website’s mind at least, just isn’t cricket.

It’s a shame really because the wood panelled walls and iron fireplaces (both apparently reclaimed from a nearby prison that was demolished) would provide a very pleasant drinking environment if only there was room to sit and enjoy your drink without being showered by peas from a clumsy cut with a steak knife or being inadvertantly pricked in the ribs by a wayward fork. We may be exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea.

We would usually mention the beer garden which takes the form of picnic bench tables that overlook the Foss and Ouse through railings, but this area tucked behind the car park and is not really worth mentioning.

Unfortunately, It just doesn’t feel quite right visiting this very nice pub for just a pint and so if you’re in this neck of the woods with a thirst  that needs slaking then the fantastic Phoenix is only a stones throw away.


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Rating: 3.0/5 (1 vote cast)

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Posted in Barbican & Fishergate, Food Available, Location, Real Ale, Within the ring road | No Comments »

Trafalgar Bay

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

The Trafalgar Bay is, apparently, the only pub that bears this name in Britain, which we think is quite nifty.

The inquisitive fellow who might think about how this boozer got such a unique name would probably link it to Nelson’s famous victory over the Spanish and French fleets off the Cape of Trafalgar in 1805. It would be a fair assumption, and one thepubsofyork.com made until having a look at Hugh Murray’s excellent ‘Directory of York Pubs’.

In it, Murray suggests that at about the time the pub started trading, it was customary for alehouses to prefix or suffix a famous or popular racehorse’s names with their colour. Pleasingly for fans of this theory, a horse named ‘Trafalgar’ finished 2nd in the Derby in 1806 and won two extremely valuable prizes at the Knavesmire, just a mile or so down the road the following year, with this in mind it’s perfectly reasonable that this unique name has equine connections.

Anyway, whichever theory you prefer, you could do a lot worse than mull it over in this Nunnery Lane hostelry which is not only a Sam Smiths house, but is rather nice too, unless you want to sit outside.

The beer garden wouldn’t look out of place behind a Bucharest police station, but thankfully you have the choice of three pleasant and comfortable internal rooms to sup in; a pool room which unsurprisingly boasts a pool table and two front rooms which are situated either side of the entrance.

The main room, where you will find the bar, has ample space for you to park your posterior and has a warm and cosy atmosphere which we put down to the traditional decor and real fires.

Whilst the the clientele always seem to be of the more mature variety and the locals a bit, er, local, it shouldn’t put you off visiting this place, not least for the famously cheap bar prices.

And if you get a bit bored of discussing the Horse v Battle pub name debate, then try to find the copy of the Reader’s Digest Road Atlas that is generally located in the bar area. Between the covers you will discover over 100 pages of colourful cartograhic enjoyment, with fancy folding out pages and accompanying geographical trivia. Smashing.


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Rating: 3.0/5 (1 vote cast)

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Posted in Bar Games, Food Available, Location, Nunnery Lane area, Sam Smiths, Within the ring road | No Comments »

Old Ebor

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Old Ebor was built in the latter half of the 19th Century and used the ‘Old’ epithet to distinguish it from the various other houses in the city with ‘Ebor’ in their names. Nowadays, the only real characteristic that differentiates it from other similar pubs in the city are the mystifying opening hours it keeps.

Keen observers (or chaps reguarly nipping into the ‘adult art’ emporium just down the road) would have noticed that the doors to this Nunnery Lane pub have been closed at 8pm on Saturday evening, yet open at 10pm on a wet Wednesday the following week. This is most baffling and seems to be a regular occurence.

Perhaps the large ‘For Sale’ sign plonked on the building’s facade could partly explain these circumstances, as could the incident that occured one December evening when a group of fellows decided to have a game of Baseball in the bar area. Without a ball. If you do happen to know the real reason, let us know.

By the time you read this, these strange temporal fluctuations may have been resolved and the doors could open and close as regular as clockwork, and hopefully so, because although the Old Ebor’s proximity to thepubsofyork.com HQ means it has almost certainly been visited a lot more times that it really should have, it has always been a good local boozer to nip in for ‘a quick one’, not least on New Years Eve when the pub was bustling with people (which admitedly doesn’t take much as it’s a bit on the ‘compact’ side) and a festive, jovial atmosphere.

However, the lack of any real ale, a Sky Sport showing televison and an underwhelming interior means we think it’s fair to say that there’s no real reason for you to visit this place unless you a) live within a 500 yard radius b) are partaking in a Nunnery Lane pub crawl (which this website has done and enjoyed on several occasions) or c) are calling in for a large dose of dutch courage before scuttling a few doors down to purchase Shaving Ryan’s Privates.


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Rating: 3.0/5 (1 vote cast)

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Bay Horse, Marygate

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

One of the finest pleasures York has to offer, especially on a fine summers day or a crisp winter morning, is a ramble through the Museum gardens.

As you wander merrily around the potted borders, you can cast your inquisitive eye over a Roman Tower, 1800 years old, clamber over the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey (at one point the most powerful and wealthiest abbey in the the North of England) or feed the pigeons, squirrels and chavs with your left over pasty.

As nice as all these activities most certainly are (apart from feeding the chavs; they only accept White Lightning and Benson and Hedges) you would do well to carry on through the museum gardens, emerge onto Marygate and get yourselves into the Bay Horse, a smashing pub that is deserves your custom, not least because it could quite easily have been a dozen or so swanky flats.

The Bay Horse had been serving drinkers for more than a century, before closing in late 2003. It appeared the writing was on the toilet wall when the building was the subject of two planning applications to convert it into residential use, after being laid empty for five years or so.

To the delight of pub-goers, the developers failed in their bid and the premises was bought shortly afterwards by the Little Pub company, who set about a programme of renovation and re-opened as a pub in the Christmas of 2008, and thepubsofyork,com are most certainly glad it did, for it is a cracking pub.

The stylish wallpaper, comfy upholstered seats and contemporary lighting may be a bit too ‘modern’ for some purists but seeing as though it was so recently and extensively renovated, anything else would probably feel a bit contrived (and if you do want ‘traditional’ head up the road to the Minster Inn which is as traditional as they come).

Six hand pulls are readily available at all times and on our last visit, Greene King IPA and Rocking Rudolph (by the same brewery) were sampled and both were well kept and eminently drinkable.

The friendly bar staff can also serve you a packet of ‘Real Crisps’ which has been stated before on these pages, are the greatest crisps known to man and there’s even a plasma screen in the corner which shows live sport, so football fans needn’t miss out on their weekly fix of Uncle Jeff.

In fact, thinking about it, bypass the Museum Gardens and head straight here, you won’t be disappointed.


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Rating: 3.0/5 (4 votes cast)

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Posted in Bootham, Gillygate & Marygate, Food Available, Live Sport, Location, Real Ale, Real Ale Heaven, Within the ring road | 2 Comments »

Oscar’s

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Oscar’s used to be situated where Stonegate Yard now resides and after a bit of a fight over naming rights (see that review for brief details), Oscar’s set up shop next door to it’s alcohol purveying sister, the Biltmore.

It was always renowned for it’s food and this doesn’t seem to have changed in the new premises, in fact, since it re-opened Oscars seems to be almost totally focused on dining. The new food serving times (’til 11pm) and dedicated waitresses (you used to have to place your orders at the bar) corroborate this notion and the shiny ‘please wait here to be seated’ sign which greets you as you enter, kindly remind anyone in any doubt.

So nowadays having a drink in Oscar’s, as thepubsofyork.com did most recently one December evening, is unfortunately a rather uncomfortable affair and whilst your portly reviewers could have possibly sat down on one of the few vacant tables rather than prop up the bar, being sat next to an army of diners happily chomping and chatting away whilst nursing a bottle of lager gives a very uneasy feeling which we imagine is similar to inadvertantly finding yourself at a Cliff Richard convention dressed as Johnny Rotten.

Although it sits outsite the reviewing remit of this website, thepubsoyork.com is pretty sure that the food served up here is very good. With this in mind, it’s worth saying that Oscars looks like a fantastic place for a group of girls to sit down to share a bowl of nachos and a bottle of wine while discussing Jude Law’s latest film.

It’s a shame that drinkers (or at least these drinkers) feel pushed out, as there are some fantastic bottled beers on offer; Vedett, Duvel, Leffe, Innis and Gunn to name but four and with Frulli fruit beer and Grolsch wheat beer as the pick of the pumps, Oscars should provide a pleasurable drinking experience. But it doesn’t and it’s not really surprising when considering the Oscar’s website only invites you to ‘pop in for a quick drink’.

If you want to pop anywhere for a quick drink, thepubsofyork.com think there are much better alternatives nearby and suggest the short walk to Pivo where you can have a beer and enjoy a meal in a bag (in the shape of a packet of crisps).


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Rating: 2.5/5 (2 votes cast)

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Posted in Food Available, Something for the Ladies, Within the city walls, Within the ring road | No Comments »

Vudu Lounge

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Come on, be honest, you’re probably thinking that thepubsofyork.com must have looked as out of place in the Vudu Lounge as Delboy and Rodney did when they turned up at a wake dressed as Batman and Robin in the 1996 Christmas Special of Only Fools and Horses.

The bars name may well give away that it is a cocktail bar and a favourite haunt of York’s young and beautiful people, and while thepubsofyork.com’s two authors are relatively young, they’re far from being beautiful.

It wouldn’t be right to criticise the sparse selection of draught beers, as although there is only Kronenbourg 1664, John Smiths Extra Cold and Heineken on top of the bar, to visit this place in search of a pint of beer would be sort of missing the point. The fridge is quite well stocked with Moretti, Cusquena and Desperados chilling on the shelves, but its what is on the cocktail list that makes this place what it is.

We are reliably informed that only Bobo Lobo and Evil Eye can rival this place’s in the cocktail stakes and those same people who know what they’re talking about will tell you that the bar staff here are experts at mixing a mojito and serving up a Sex on the Beach. Although if you want thepubsofyork.com’s opinion (and you probably don’t) you really shouldn’t be drinking beverages that take more than sixty seconds to serve and cost more than a Bernard Cornwell novel.

The entrance should give sufficient warning to those who may be averse to fruit based alcohol drinks. When entering Vudu Lounge (did Noddy Holder write the sign for these guys?) you trot up a broad staircase from the front door located on Swinegate and head up to the bar area, which although luxuriosuly appointed, strongly resembles a strip club (so we’re told).

The squarish main room wraps around the top of the staircase and red leather sofas flank the perimeter walls of the dimly lit room which features a DJ booth and stylish chandeliers. While this poorly written description may sound like heaven to York’s young posers, to thepubsofyork.com it reads like a warning message to not visit again.


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Rating: 1.5/5 (2 votes cast)

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Posted in Late Night License, Something for the Ladies, Within the city walls, Within the ring road | 1 Comment »

York Arms

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

This pub is managed by Sam Smiths and subsequently serves up the very affordable and tasty offerings from the Tadcaster based brewery. York’s most up-to-date pub review website quite likes Sam Smiths pubs, but like the Hansom Cab, one of it’s fellow city centre siblings, the York Arms has a bit of a seedy feel to it.

Rumour has it that this place is a gay bar, and the wholly male crowd that filled the small front bar room during thepubsofyork.com’s previous visits would certainly back this up (so to speak).

There’s nothing massively awful about the pub, but the mainly brown decor feels more tired than rustic, and the crowd always seems a little rough around the edges – but like Wetherspoons, it suffers from the fact it serves cheap beer and is subsequently more likely to be frequented by those patrons who make up grade ‘E’ in the NRS social grade definitions.

It is also always hard to ignore the nagging feeling that there are many superior pubs a tiny toddle away. The Three Legged Mare and Ye Olde Starre Inne are both within a two minute walk and offer, as far as thepubsofyork.com is concerned, a more enticing ambience, a better range of beverages and an altogether superior pub experience.

One thing that the York Arms does have going for it is an extraordinary view to the left upon exiting. It sits in the shadows of York Minster, which along with Cologne Cathedral is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe (cheers Wikipedia) and this is one of the most stunning sights thepubsofyork.com have ever seen upon leaving a pub.

However, if your favourite part of a pub is the view it affords upon leaving then its probably not worth entering in the first place, that’d be like a football team getting itself relegated just so it can experience the euphoria of promotion.


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Rating: 2.0/5 (2 votes cast)

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1331

Monday, December 28th, 2009

1331 is York’s only bar with actual digits in its name (apart from pubs such as the Three Cranes and Three Tuns etc who are refered to in the more traditional alphabetical way).

So why this numerical moniker thepubsofyork.com hear you shout?

Surely it can’t be in honour of the battle of Plowce which was fought on the 21st of September 1331 and featured the wonderfully named Wladyslaw The Elbow-high at the head of a five thousand strong Polish army? Probably not. It is almost certainly not an affectionate nod towards a centered heptagonal number either, so thepubsfoyork.com can only assume it’s a lazy and uninspiring numerical palindrome based on it’s address of 13 Grape Lane (if you should know any difference, do get in touch). Feel free to ignore thepubsofyork.com’s lack of enthusiasm towards this bars name though and don’t assume that you should be put off visiting, because its actually not that bad.

1331 Bar and Restaraunt (to give it it’s full title) is a lively and vibrant establishment spread over three floors and as it’s Sunday name suggests, it is focussed just as much on the food it cooks as the beer it dispenses.

thepubsofyork.com can’t comment on the quality of the cuisine on offer but if it’s as good as the drinks, then it shouldn’t be too bad at all. There’s a good selection of continental bottled beers and cocktails the odd Belgian beer on tap and you can enjoy your tipple in several different rooms within the walls of 13 Grape Lane.

There’s the central courtyard which is an attractive prospect in the summer and a cosy seedy snug area just off the upstairs bar. This higher bar services another two adjacent rooms which at the weekends are filled with smiling faces and music from resident DJ’s.

Of all the places in York that thepubofyork.com don’t really venture to, this place is probably the best of the bunch. A good atmosphere and quirky interior make for an interesting visit and your thirsty pub reviewers would much rather have a pint in here or Wildes next door than many of their contemporaries.

However, 1331 has far too many young/good looking/expensively dressed people in here to make it just a bit too cool for these scruffy cats. You’re a lot more likely to find your rotund pub reviewers in a hostelry named after a member of the monarchy, an inanimate object or a bird.


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Edward Balliol (c.1283 – 1367), (a.k.a. Edward de Baliol), was intermittently King of Scotland from 1332-1336
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Rating: 3.0/5 (4 votes cast)

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Biltmore

Monday, December 28th, 2009

The Biltmore sits on Swinegate in a lovely part of central York that seems to be home to trendy hairdressers and lots of cobbles. It is close to Vudu Lounge and (the “new”) Oscars and if you know these other two bars you’ll probably think that it is more than likely that the Biltmore is an uber trendy, wine-bar style establishment … and you’d be correct.

As the bars’ website kindly tells us, the it is housed within a former Elim Pentecostal Church and this architectural good fortune means that there aren’t many more impressive venues in which to enjoy a drink in York city centre.

The space is bright and vibrant and impressive looking light fittings plunge down towards the glass fronted bar from the high ceiling – saying that though, there is a distinct lack of cubicles in the Gents toilets.

Despite the stunning decor, thepubsofyork.com isn’t really at home in this type of bar; there’s no cask ale and in place of delicious packets of Seabrooks Cheese & Onion crisps and Sky Sports the owners of the Biltmore have opted to offer it’s customers cocktails, fine wines and tasty food from the impressive looking menu.

In the face of thepubsofyork.com’s lack of complete affection for the Biltmore, it is occasionally sober enough to recognise that this place isn’t completely unworthy of a visit. Taking a girl here on a first date would probably induce a big metaphorical thumbs-up and it is no suprise that this bar finds it’s way into our “Something for the Ladies” section. In fact, if thepubsofyork.com could only recommend one bar that ladies should visit for cocktails and chats with their female friends, it would probably be this place.

Whilst it isn’t the favourite watering hole of York’s most handomes and suave pub review website there are plenty who find much to enjoy about this place. It’s striking setting and impressive drinks menu ensure that there are certain occasions that might mean that a visit here needn’t be too much of a painful experience.


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Rating: 1.7/5 (3 votes cast)

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