Fenton, Leedsback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Visited mid afternoon and found it to be a pleasant experience. It doesn't look great from outside but inside still includes many of its old features. The central bar serves all sides of the pub, and there was a good choice of real ales including beers from ilkley and Rooster breweries.
The locals and students frequenting the place were friendly, but not as much as the dog who clearly likes to welcome everyone and gave the place some character.
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Stopped doing decent food recently, the bar staff are surly, not knowledgeable about their beers and the entire back end smells slightly of urine. It's a shame, the beers are often nice and I used to really enjoy going, but I'll be going anywhere else instead now.
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I am looking for a friend of mine who I am told runs a pub in Leeds but I don't know which one. I would love to surprise him with a visit so if anyone knows an Irishman named John Byrne and his wife Katherine who run a pub in Leeds could you please e mail me at [email protected] and let me know I would be very happy.
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Great pub, bar staff go above and beyond what is expected of them and most of the regulars in the pub are the best kind of people you could ever know. Shame it has a certain element spoiling it for the rest at the moment, though I have no doubt they will soon be drinking elsewhere.
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After a fifteen year hiatus, pretty much how I remember it, as regards the lay-out.It's a shame the original features that 'karloff' mentions have been largely negated by a bland, unsympathetic decor.
Quite busy for a Monday lunchtime,there was a lively crowd in the lounge, probably made up of staff from the nearby university.
Just two real ales on my visit- Tetley's and Greene King IPA. (The Deuchar's was 'off'). A surprisingly good pint of IPA.
The barman was friendly and obliging.
Judging by the pinned up flyers, it's a popular music venue these days.If you're 'of a certain age',as I am, it's probably not the place to go for an evening drink, unless you want to be made to feel very old.
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Unchanged pub favoured by students and university staff. The real ale has improved over the last few years, and is still Leeds' number one punk/emo venue.
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Excellent pub. I used to drink here in 1975 to 1979 and it's hardly changed. (Actually I suspect it has changed, but has since been changed back again to how it was!)
If only more pubs were like this: dark wood panelling, frosted glass windows, several small cosy rooms, excellent real ales, and a real sense of history!
Don't anyone dare change this pub.
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I used to go to this pub 1996-2000, it was then great. Fastasic seats! I'm scared now when i read that is has been refurbished and lost it's soul. Has it changed a lot? I can't rate it now but at the time i would have given it 8.
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If I were designing my ideal pub, it would be something pretty close to this.
Pool Table, seperate rooms, bands upstairs, open fireplace, good mix of people and a jukebox. What more do you want? The only improvements I could think of would be a better selection of beers (and a beer garden - but that if somewhat impractical).
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Bit dingy years ago....went through a refurb where it lost `its soul`....but back to a pretty decent pub now....the last (proper) stop off on the way back to central Leeds from Headingley.
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Not great in the evening, but a fantastic place to go during the early afternoon for a pint and some food. Less dingy than the other 'real' pubs nearby, but still has the right charm.
Matt - 20 Oct 2004 19:11 |
Full of goths and weird-arse locals. Cheap drinks on a Thursday (�1.25 a pint) mind.
Marce - 29 Apr 2004 14:51 |
Good pub this. Surprisingly free of students given it's right next to the university, but that's a good thing. Popular with BBC hacks from across the road, as well as Goths and weird locals - all friendly though. My girlfriend used to work here, spent much time inside a few years back. Food used to be good especially cheap burgers, not sure what it's like now though.
Richard - 31 Aug 2003 20:41 |
If you're not scared of a bit of rock, and like a decent pint, then come to the Fenton. Many hours did I waste in there, pork scratchings and Black Sheep ahoy.
The bar is more-or-less in the round, situated quite close to the front doors and serving both the front and back rooms. It offers a number of hand pulls, alongside your normal smoothflow and Stella. The front room has an open fire, and the building as a whole has quite a number of original Victorian features. Unusually for a 'rock pub', all the internal glass on the back corridor is original. ;o) The pool room, offset to the right, has its walls coated with many posters of gigs gone by.
If you're fearful of the locals, stick to the front room, which isn't as busy (or frenetic, one of the two!). Also, there is some bigotry over Scottish notes, so avoid if that's all that's in your wallet. Had a big argument with them over that. I was right, but I still walked out. :o)
Andy - 9 Jun 2003 14:52 |
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