My girlfriend and I decided to visit a nearby city one Friday night, having attended a good few beer festivals already this year. But in consequence this meant we missed out on the local real ale pub scene. We decided to rectify this and picked straws between Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester. Leeds won the draw and so we booked a cheap room at The Jury’s Inn in Brewery Wharf, travelling by train. We got a good deal on both but had to try and ignore the rather depressing view of the historically and regionally significant Tetley’s brewery, mid demolition.
We started at The Grove in Holbrook which is tucked away behind Yorkshire’s tallest building; Bridgewater Place. A traditional pub; bar in the middle, 3 smallish rooms around it and a larger room at the back. If you don’t dive into the front room as we did but continue down the central corridor you will see a beer list on the wall to the right. The barman was helpful enough though when I asked about the beer range across the nine hand pumps. There is live music every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday in the back room with some theme nights every month on other days. It was busy to say it was half seven with the clientele consisting of both young and old drinkers, so I was quite surprised to learn it was an Enterprise pub. I struggle to think of a Sheffield Enterprise pub that is busy; perhaps it is down to our prominent brewing culture and associated pubs. I had a pint of Dissolution IPA (very hoppy) from Kirkstall Brewery (5.0%) and the Mrs enjoyed a pint of Daleside Blonde (3.9%).
The Scarborough Hotel is a well known establishment near the railway station with 9 pumps in total, one dispensing a cider. As we were now past 8pm it was busy and standing room only. For such an imposing frontage it seemed to lose its stature once inside, with the central bar dominating the space. Despite it being busy glasses were cleared promptly and beer was dispensed in the proper manner. Not everyone was drinking ale but it’s good to mingle with the other half now and again (!). I had a fine pint of Somerland Gold (5.0%) from Moor Brewing Company and the Mrs sampled a pint of Leeds Pale (3.8%) which she took to instantly.
Our next stop was just round the corner according to the CAMRA Good Beer Guide App (a must have for out of town real ale crawls) but we were searching for a while until we realised it was up a storey, on the same level as the station. Leeds Brewery has five venues in the city but The Brewery Tap was the one most convenient to our crawl. Definitely a bar rather than a pub; think the Wig and Pen but with more real ale and less pretentiousness (apologies if you’re a fan!). Also quite busy, we luckily managed to snatch a seat straightaway. The first observation was that the clientele were mainly young professionals, most drinking beer, but nonetheless you wouldn’t have pegged it for a brewery outlet. Good food was on offer and a Bistro menu is laid on every month with dishes matched to certain ales. I was a little disappointed when I learned the Ladies has random trivia on the walls but no such quirk in the Gents! We both had a pint of Yorkshire Gold from Leeds Brewery (4.0%).
From there we made our way up into the central retail area in search of the next entry on the App that I had deemed worth a visit. Now this place really was hidden; do drinkers in Leeds like to keep good pubs hidden away?! Without the App I don’t think we would have ever found it but I’m glad we did. The only way you would know it was there was if you spotted the pub sign hanging above an alleyway, in between the retail brands. Turns out there are three pubs down alleys off Briggate, the main shopping strip. However I doubt that the other two are as unique as Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar, the oldest pub in the city. Its rich history is proclaimed proudly on the walls in various displays and the bar and tables are copper plated. Indeed, you struggle to find anything that hints at the 20st Century, never mind the 21st, with even a news article from the 1930s describing it as ‘old world’! A pure delight it was not busy and offered beers from 10 hand pumps from which I had Three Swords from Kirkstall Brewery (4.5%), and the Mrs had White Rabbit from Cameron’s (4.0%). 
For our next visit we headed North West to find Mr Foley’s Ale House on The Headrow, close to the impressive Town Hall. A multi-levelled interior with 7 out of 9 hand pumps in use it was popular with younger drinkers and was showing sport on the T.V. It was busy enough that we had to stand and, as we favour quiet ale pubs, it was probably the place we felt the least comfortable in. Not helped by an initial beer that was far from good and which we ended up abandoning. But the visit was rescued by the very pleasant Guzzler from York Brewery (3.6%) of which we shared a half.
We weren’t sure that we’d make it to the next place as it was a little out of town, near the university. But a phone call established that they were serving past 11 pm so we set off in earnest as this was another brewery tap; The Fox and Newt by Burley Street Brewery. As you would expect this was set out as the student pub it clearly is, but the students had moved on at this time. 6 out of 8 hand pumps were in operation from which we both sampled excellent in-house ales, me; SPA Francorchamps (4.0%) while the Mrs had Laguna Seca (4.0%). Worth mentioning that this was by far the cheapest place we drank all night; most pints were £3+, but £2.50 here. God bless brewery taps! A chat with the barman revealed that we had chosen some good places to visit as outsiders. I mentioned we had one place left to get to but we weren’t sure as it sounded like a bar, albeit one that served until 2am. However he informed us that his girlfriend worked there and while it was certainly a bar he insisted it was definitely worth a visit from an ale, and city, point of view.
And so, armed with local knowledge, we made our way to North Bar on New Briggate, back towards the way we came. This venue was also easy to miss on a busy Friday night, granted we had a few drinks at this point, but it was a very unassuming venue in a medieval sized plot; long and thin. More bohemian than cool and perhaps biased towards younger drinkers, but nothing here would alienate the traditional real ale drinker. The music being played was all 1960s and 70s but it was not too loud as to obscure conversation. The other half was initially less than convinced, it being a bar and all, but I pointed out that if anything the clientele were mainly art students and the like. The modern day hippy if you will, not to horrify rockers! In context; it was late and fairly busy but the bouncer was visibly bored and kept wandering up and down, always a good sign It was a great way to end the night, especially as we often end up in a Wetherspoons; having reverted to spiced rum and apple juice. My first pint here was Wild Mule by Roosters (3.9%), and my second was Prototype 2, a collaboration between Kirkstall Brewery and North Bar (4.0%), of which my lady had a half.
All in all we had a very enjoyable visit to Leeds and found the real ale scene to be more than worth our time, having missed out a few desirable places due to time constraints. There are a couple of places that we would perhaps not prioritise on the next visit, but plenty that we are eager to return to. I would definitely recommend a visit to our fellow Yorkshire City, for their real ale scene has much to offer if you fancy a change of scene.
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