please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Now has cask Marstons Pedigree in the downstairs bar (only), in decent form. Same menu as the Headingley Taps - looks like both are owned by the same company.
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Good pub with many bars and an excellent beer garden. Only let down was no proper beeer. If they get that it would be an excellent place.
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Always pop in the The Oak when out in Headingley. Good crack sitting outside having a few pints in the sun in the beer garden. Canny bar!
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Big old juicer...but no good for fans of real ale!! Not a single one on offer. Newky Brown available however.
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Really can't understand the below review about the Oak being 'rough' and getting short changed. Can only imagine this person had a one off bad experiance.
The Oak is a brilliant pub for any twentysomething looking for a laugh and a good time. Yes, if you're old or a bit boring it probably isn't your cup of tea and the students could be annoying, but to anyone with some life about them the Oak is superb. Great atmosphere, brilliant beer garden, friendly regulars and a selection of women that make the Hollyoaks girls look like a bunch of munters. Not living in Leeds anymore, I miss this place loads!
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I can't understand why anyone would like this pub. It's rough - be careful whose eye you catch, if it is male they might want to get into a fight with you, it it is female expect a scowl or a rude remark. The service is dreadful - possibly the worst pub in Headingley. At both bars, the staff always pick on people they don't like the look of and refuse to serve them or leave them waiting around. The sad regulars always come first. Short changing is common. The atmosphere downstairs is slightly better than upstairs which is like a tacky 90s wine bar. The green is full of annoying students.
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Always start in here after work on fridays, use the back of the downstairs bar to get served quickest. Has started selling bottled beer outside now to save you queuing inside. Dont bother with the food, just drink and enjoy the atmosphere, staff are friendly if you are!
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No better place to be in the long evenings of summer, yes there are tons of otley runners but the beer garden is so huge you can easily avoid them. Also does a very good quiz in the oak room upstairs.
anonymous - 14 Mar 2007 20:28 |
This pub is the best, especially on warm summer evenings. Good mixture of students and locals. Most of the bar staff are the nicest, friendliest, heavy drinking people in the country. Don't listen to the guy who says they are rude, he's clearly an idiot.
Admitally no real ale - if you want this then Arcadia down the road is your best bet.
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I've seen people climbing over the 8 foot garden wall to get into this place during the warmer months (and so avoid the bouncers...) I can't see that it's really worth it and the place seems to be a haven for Otley Runners and p*ssed up students.
Avoid (if you're looking for Real Ale and somewhere relaxing to be)
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Best pun in central Headingley. Mix of locals and students during the day and early evening. Students take over later on weekday nights. Good beer garden and bbqs in summer. Interior now look scruffy but at least not transformed to bland chain pub 'style'.
anonymous - 15 Jan 2006 16:47 |
Probably the best pub in central Headingley. Packed full of students but you also get the locals in, especially if there if cricket or rugby on.
More traditional downstairs, with music upstairs and a massive beer garden. You will struggle to get in on a sunny day, but it is worth trying. If the queue is too long, either go to Arcadia or buy some tins and sit in the park.
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What can I say? This pub has the rudest staff in the world...they shout at you for ripping up a beer mat and throw you out at 11 on the dot. Nice. Don't bother going, it's over-rated and over-priced....
anonymous - 21 Feb 2005 23:53 |
great for students. reasonably priced drinks esp double vodka and coke only �1.50! sunday dinner is great after a night out on sat if u can make it!! good pre club pub or jus a chilled evening. occasionally, waits for the ladies on a friday and often a lack of seats when busy
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i love this place on a friday lunchtime! can have a good burger and some ok priced drinks. avoid the friday night queues and establish raport with staff so so get served that bit quicker! toilets are a bit dodgy and its not especially clean but its has a great atmosphere and little nooks and crannys to hid in! style crew love it despite all its fault, hoorah for the oak, but dont get run over outside! first weeks of term and bank holidays dont bother unless youre getting there at 11am.
becks - 28 Oct 2004 19:58 |
In my student days in Leeds it was rumoured that Paul Heaton from the Beautiful South drank here. Never saw him though...
Peter - 18 Sep 2004 16:39 |
Well, what can I say that has not been said, a very commercial bar, ram them in, get them drunk, chuck them out. Food is appreciated by students who think think beans on toast is a real cooking
Ed - 4 Mar 2004 12:36 |
This pub, located across the road from the Skyrack in Headingly, Leeds, boasts multiple bars, a no-wait gents' room (french-drain to piss in covering several of the four), clean (cleaner than most, at any rate) seating arrangements, a few out-of-the-way rooms do drink in, and one badass, massive beer-garden, worthy of song, especially in summer. The crowd was mostly students, mostly pissed and often composed of sport-types. After the Original Oak closes there used to be a food-cart outside on teh sidewalk which used to sell some mean sausage sandwiches...great for the pisshead set. I used to frequent this pub when I was a student on exchange from the USA.
Mind the pint glasses strewn around the grounds outside as you leave!
Also, this pub (and the Skyrack) are right on Otley Rd., meaning its possible that you can erupt from the front door of the place in a drunken fit and wander in front of a speeding vehicle by mistake.
One should avoid such behavior, its bad PUBlicity!
...and don't stack the shot glasses - they break VERY easily when they're stacked and sitting on a table in, say, a place like the Original Oak.
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This pub is fantastic. The atmospeare is brilliant and the price is reasonable.
Stuart Gardner - 22 Jan 2004 16:27 |
Over-rated. Rammed 90% of the time in the evenings, food (especially sunday buffet) is run of the mill, bordering on crap. Thursday night comedy is hit and miss. Good to watch the sport if you get there very early to get a seat. Not worth the large queues that frequently form outside it, but you're going to drink here anyway because of the HUGE beer garden.
Paul - 21 Jan 2004 17:02 |
Cracking Sunday lunch here, it's a buffet for everything except the meat but the plates seem to get smaller every time I go. Always fun to try to balance as many potatoes as possible and then try to navigate back to your seat. I read somewhere this was (or is) the second most profitable pub in England. I can believe it, the beer garden is always rammed when the sun's out.
Richard - 31 Aug 2003 20:36 |
A firm student favourite, and member of the Otley Run, this pub boasts a huge beer garden, with passable beer and food to boot. Comes into its own in the summertime, with a big barbecue for the peckish.
The interior is a bit worn, and it's often a good idea to brush couple of chips off the seat before you sit down, but you can get settled here without too much trouble. The three ground-level rooms surround the first bar, whilst up a short flight of stairs is a long conservatory seating area, with its own bar and buffet servery. Doors lead out of here to the extensive beer garden. Continue up the stairs and you reach the smaller, quieter top room, again with it's own bar. If you're in the area, it's worth a look-in.
Andy - 9 Jun 2003 12:30 |
