The sun was shining down as I joined a group of friends on the annual Good Friday day out which this year returned to Leeds for the first time since 2016. Read on to see where we went....
It was a glorious day as the train pulled in to Leeds station. We'd enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Station Cafe in Brighouse and then in Leeds we were due to meet up with the rest of the guys who were arriving from different parts of West Yorkshire for our annual Good Friday day out. Unable to establish phone contact with them we headed off to our first port of call situated in the Granary Wharf area beside the canal, a few minutes' walk away, passing a weird and incongruous replica dinosaur marooned in one of docks in this attractive spot, which marks the start and end of the 127-mile trans Pennine Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
Having passed the Ossett run Hop we shortly arrived at one of their craft-themed bars operating under the Salt banner, located on the ground floor of a round tower of apartments. Here the rest of the guys met us, swelling our numbers to 19, ages ranging from late teenage up to the early 70's, a new generation hopefully maintaining the continuation of this tradition which has been happening since the 1990's. This Salt - there is another in the city and there are others scattered over the country - was new to me, a lovely, smart modern bar, clean and set up for the day, 2 handpumps dispensing cask, whilst the colour-coded fonts tempted us beers with the Salt keg range. The cask beer choice on offer not inspiring, so I went for the 4.2% Jute from the taps, an always reliable choice, and we took our drinks outside into the sun to enjoy whilst overlooking the sights around the canal basin. The staff were great here but I do think that if it was my only drinking option in these parts I would soon get bored.
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| Salt, Granary Wharf, Leeds |
We finished our drinks and crossed over the canal via an old stone bridge, passing several older buildings in this historic part of the city, the so-called Holbeck Urban Village, which have been joined by an ever-expanding number of modern apartments and office blocks. Some of these older buildings have been attractively restored, one of them being the second stop of our trip, situated next door to the historic Marshall Mill, the Grade II listed Old Flax Store which houses the Northern Monk Refectory LDS, which is also the site of their original brewery. There is a large beer garden outside whilst inside visitors are accommodated in an attractive room on the first floor with several handpumps and multiple taps. The decor is industrial-style as befits the building's past with exposed brickwork, stripped wooden floors, and pipework, somewhat Dragon's Den I think. I went for another safe option, a pint of Faith from one of the taps, which was as enjoyable as ever.
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| The site of Northern Monk's LDS Refectory |
We re-traced our steps and a minute or two later we were at the Cross Keys, which dates back to 1802 when it first opened to slake the thirsts of the workers of the many foundries that had grown up in this part of Leeds. Today it as an attractive free house with stone floors, wooden bar, and exposed brickwork, the L-shaped downstairs room spotlessly clean throughout (there is a further room upstairs, along with the toilets). Four handpumps greet you in the centre of the bar, flanked by tall fonts on either side dispensing a range of craft beers, lagers. and cider. I ordered a pint of Three Swords from local boys Kirkstall, which was in fine form, and we all went outside into the attractive courtyard beer garden, leaving several diners to enjoy their meals in peace after the arrival of a mixed bunch of 19 thirsty Good Friday revellers had disturbed the general unhurried calm and relaxed atmosphere of the place. As I can confirm from an impromptu visit a couple of days later with family including my two year old granddaughter the Cross Keys is a very welcoming and chilled out place in which to call in for a drink or to enjoy the pub's home-cooked food.
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| The Cross Keys, Holbeck, Leeds |
A little further along Water Lane from the Cross Keys is the Midnight Bell. This is a brick-built pub which is owned by Camerons Brewery but reflecting its former owners, features a number of Leeds Brewery beers alongside other breweries including Camerons themselves. It was quite busy when we walked in, and the situation wasn't helped when our group walked in. There seemed to be only two staff serving on the bar, which seemed a bit light on a bank holiday considering the size of the pub, but we eventually got served and went out into another pleasant post-industrial beer garden to enjoy our drinks in the sun. The Midnight Bell is a smart and attractive pub, but the beer I tried here, one from Camerons whose name I didn't note, was unfortunately a little thin and disappointing.
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| Making an entrance at The Midnight Bell |
We headed back towards the city centre, crossed over the River Aire, and walked down Sovereign Street. There on the corner with Swinegate we stopped off at North Bar, which was very busy, but by now splintering into smaller groups and more spread out we soon got served, and even managed to get some space out front in the sun. I'd gone for a pint of the 5% Sputnik in what is a caskless, as well as cashless, bar, and as ever it was a most enjoyable glass of beer.
Next up, we went to a cafe bar cum venue which I'm not sure was even open the last time we'd done a Good Friday in Leeds. Certainly a lot of the guys had never been in Northern Guitars before, and the musicians in the party enjoyed looking out the guitars on display downstairs and in the guitar shop upstairs. There was only one guy working behind the bar so as more and more of us arrived, it did take a few minutes to get served. We repaired to a semi-covered yard at the back of the bar with an attractive mural where we were afforded a close up view of the trains passing on the viaduct a few yards above us. I'd ordered a pint of Three Swords from the choice of 5 local-ish beers on cask, and it was in great form. A great little bar that is well worth visiting.
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| Northern Guitars; beers and music |
After the cool, modern vibe of Northern Guitars and North Bar, it was firmly back to the traditional. We walked past the Corn Exchange, and turned right down towards the imposing Duck & Drake, situated on a corner of Kirkgate. A spectacular example of a two-roomed Victorian street corner pub with many traditional features, it features a function room with stage to the left as you go in, with a another room to the right, both served by a large central bar. The pub features 10 changing beers from mainly Yorkshire breweries, with regulars including Landlord, Theakstons Old Peculier, and Roosters Yankee. I went for another Roosters beer, the 4.3% little brother of their flagship which was on pretty good form. The presence of the stage and the fact that the pub was used in the recent feelgood Netflix film Bank Of Dave prompted some of the group to get up there and belt out one of the tunes from the karaoke scenes in the film shot here. Some of the others had played in their band on the stage, whilst my own memories of the pub go back to when it was acquired by Jim Wright's Fighting Cock group back in the 1980's and it was close to where I caught my bus home when I was living in Morley. Great to visit here again, a real traditional Leeds pub.
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| The Duck & Drake: a Leeds classic |
From there we headed through the bustle of the Bank Holiday Leeds streets to the predictably busy Turks Head Yard, the setting for the institution that is Whitelocks. I hadn't been here since before lockdown when I first encountered Taylors re-badged version of Ram Tam, Landlord Dark, for which I was asked to pay £2.50 FOR A HALF which is bad enough now, but back in 2019? You do know you are going to have to pay the price when you come here, but the pub is a historic gem dating from 1715 and with its polished brass, ancient mirrors, dark wood, glazing, and attractive tiling, it has hardly changed since the 19th century. There was no chance of us getting in to the main pub, so we made our way through the attractive but busy yard which, with the white painted walls was almost Mediterranean in feel, to their separate bar, the Turks Head. It wasn't quite as busy here, so we managed to get served relatively quickly. Only one of the two cask beers was on, with more to choose from on tap. There is a connection with Five Points, whose brewery I'd visited a few weeks ago when I spent an evening in Hackney, but that was the beer that was off so I had a pint of the much more local 4.1% Eternal from Northern Monk. The beer was fine; the price of course was on the upper end of the scale we'd been paying over the day.
At this point the group separated. The prospect of going to more places further from the station was not for everyone, so I joined the smaller (and it has to be said, older) splinter faction who opted for the safer option. But we still had a beer in us, and so it was to the Banker's Cat that we called next. It wasn't too busy, either, and we managed to get a seat at a table after we'd ordered our drinks. I went for a pint of Thornbridge Astryd, this 3.8% pale was in the excellent form as I have come to expect on my fairly regular visits to this relative newcomer to the Leeds beer scene.
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| Banker's Cat, Leeds |
And from there it was off to the station to catch our train back to Brighouse after what had been a great day out. It had been really good to catch up with friends some of whom I don't get to see as much these days as I used to. And we'd had some good beers in some fine places, ranging from traditional pubs to modern, shiny bars. I'm already looking forward to next year....
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