please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Characterful and historic pub, in which service is efficient. Ale was in tip-top condition on my visit: a Scarborough IPA. Well worth a visit. 8/10.
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I have visited York a couple of times before but this place was always too busy when I passed. Just the sort of pub you expect to see in central York, hidden & well aged. Despite most customers being tourists (with their usual use of the pub as coffee shop & information bureau) the service was friendly & efficient and my pint of something from Greene King was only 3.55.
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Splendid if expensive old pub, Friendly staff great beer, interesting food.worth a look in!
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Not bad at all with lots of ale.
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A really good hidden pub good beer choice and a lovely roaring fire on a cold snowy day .A very knowlodgeable barman when we visited
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A classic olde worlde pub, with different sections and a cosy beer garden. TV on mute. Always 6 immaculately kept local cask ales on offer; Old Peculier being the regular. One of York's best.
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If you are up near the minster/shambles area look for the iron sign to this pub over the road, the tiny alley is beside that for you to get to the pub. This is a lovely pub design wise.... and is what you would really class as a classic english olde worldy pub.... There were 3 guest ales on show, and I sampled one from the Ossett Brewery which was OK.... HOWEVER, this pub due to its design and look is firmly on the tourist trail... in other words if you are at the bar you might be waiting ages while the bar staff serve food orders and all kinds of coffee's etc.... and its not cheap either... I have always had this pub on my route mainly for its charm.... would be better with another staff member behind the bar...
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Oh God I think I went here on Sunday evening but damnation I can't recall what beer I sampled and what it looked like inside. Yes, we were having a good weekend. I do seem to remember it was pretty acceptable and given what's been said previously I think it's safe to say this place should be visited again.
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You can spot the pub by the gallows sign which hangs across the street. Historic olde-worlde inn with a a main bar and other rooms off. You get to it up an alleyway and there is some outdoor seating by the entrance. It could do with a new carpet as the existing one is getting a bit grubby round the edges (probably due to the amount of beer being spilt on it). Nice atmosphere inside and I tried the Yorkshire Heart brewery JRT beer (not a great pint;kept well but not a great pint)but I did have the Revolutions Brewery "Milk and Alcohol" Milk Stout was was rather nice!! Stonegate is a small street full of bars (of the nicest type) and this is another one which you should try. Of course it gets popular with tourists but it's still worth a look.
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In York for a weekend. Dropped in for lunch and got good food and beer at very reasonable prices.
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This is a Grade II listed building and is a contender for the title of York's oldest pub with its entrance down a small snicket. which opens into a patio area. On my visit, there were a dozen young �chaps�, presumably on a stag evening. They were more likely to be students, as notwithstanding the fact that they were wearing tweed jackets, not one of them was sporting neckwear, and every single one was wearing Pantalons de Nimes!
The inn, itself is a lively multi-roomed affair and there is another patio area to the rear.
The bar area is not particularly large so it can get somewhat crowded. Yet another pub in York which is reputed to be haunted.
Ale on offer this particular evening were Ossett �Lion Brew�, Theakston �Old Peculier�, Sharp�s �Doombar� ( which seems to be coming even more widespread than Wells-Young�s �Bombardier�! ), Little Valley �Cragg Bitter� running in at �3.06, Harviestoun �Bitter and Twisted� and St Austell �Trelawny�.
A little disappointing which is reflected as 6/10.
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Visited last weekend. York was very busy as would be expected this close to Xmas. But it very difficult to find any town centre pubs with any free space.
However we managed to squeeze into one of the small rooms.
Interesting building with a fair selection of beers. But I agree that it is very expensive. Even the lower strength ales are priced at over three quid. I understand that this is right in the touristy section, but I think this is ripping off the public. That said the beer was nice and the food looked O.K. and reasonably priced.
Would have marked at 9 if the ale wasn't so dear. But will only get a 7 now.
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I like this olde worlde pub tucked along the alley but it is right in the middle of tourist mecca and hence suffers from being very busy and a little more expensive. Having said that we stopped for a light monday lunch which was very good value and there is also a fair selection of ever changing ales although I did have to wait a while at the bar before somebody decided they better serve some customers.
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This wasn't on my list of pubs to visit when I visited last Saturday, but the sign saying "Yorks oldest pub" had me intrigued. A narrow entry leads to a small yard with tables and benches and then into the pub which is quite small. It wasn't too busy for a Saturday afternoon. I wasn't impressed woth the choice of ales on offer but went for a pint of Hobgoblin. I had to give the barman a double-take when he said "that'll be �3.01".
It was a good pint in a friendly atmosphere and the barman was helpful and pointed me in the direction of the Last Drop Inn.
�3.00 and a penny though!
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I used to work in this pub 30 or so years ago, but moved away from York, and now call in occasionally. I was very surprised to see, during Race week, how empty the pub was in the middle of the evening (9-9.30). It may be a sign of the changing times, but we used to have to have bouncers at the end of the alley to control numbers - now it looks as if you need someone at the end of the alley to persuade people to come in?
Apart from its age, and it having outside seating - what else would make this a pub of choice? Beer was OK, but the Olde Starre looks tired inside - fabric on some of the chairs looked like it hadn't been changed since I worked there!
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Did not enjoy my visit to this historic pub. Found the beer mediocre and the staff were incredibly rude, bordering on vicious at closing time, which was totally unnecessary.
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Just down the road from The Punchbowl, and down an alleyway, is Ye Olde Starre Inn.
The first thing we notice is the pub sign straddling the street way above our heads pronouncing the pub as "Yorks Oldest Licensed Inn 1664".
As we approach the pub, a blackboard by the entrance tells us that, in 1552, Edward VI restricted the number of inns in York to 8 (!) and that it is possible that The Starre was one of those 8. In 1644, the Roundheads used the inn as a billet hospital. The sign over the street was erected in 1792.
It's an attractive looking whitewashed building with hanging flower baskets outside and criss crossed leaded windows.
The interior is carpeted, comfortable, with a couple of snug type rooms with wood panelling and fixed seating and a main bar area. There's some oddly positioned coloured glasswork denoting "Star Inn" with bell pushes underneath, which caused me to wonder what the original pub layout was, as it would seem to have been different. For cricket fans, there's plenty of pictures of old cricketers.
It's a Punch Taverns pub offering a standard pub menu, although an open kitchen slightly hidden away down a side corridor looked a bit gastropubby and incongruous with the rest of the pub.
Beers on were John Smiths Cask, Old Peculier, Youngs Bitter plus 3 Wentworth beers. The Wentworth Summa Luvin was a pleasant pint.
Despite a bit of a chainy feel, particularly in the main bar, I quite liked this one.
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Went back here last weekend and was still a very pleasant place to visit. Not crammed full of tourists as we didnt go until around 9pm, but still busy none the less. A large range of draught ales, but nothing over 4.5%, so for any that prefer the stronger/premium ales, you would be dissapointed.
New management so i'm told, which hasnt done many favours (again, so i'm told), but I still enjoyed a nice pint there.
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A place to visit for its history, however just about every tourist (us included I suppose) makes a bee line for it, its all a little overwhelming and the beer could be better.
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Rightly proud of its history, this little snug is very much worth a visit. Best place for listening to the Minster chimes as well, and good pump selection. Yet there's some intangible that stops me totally enthusiastic about it, (the shrugs of the staff maybe?)
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This is an excellent pub, I make a point of visiting it everytime I'm in York. They've got an excellent selection of real ales, and the food is amazingly good and reasonably priced. The staff all seem really friendly, even when they're rushed off there feet at busy periods.
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Late comment from November. The food was brilliant, but would not change the beer that tasted of weak TSP. The other two beers we had with the food were fine.
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Always good. Lots of space and always 5-6 real ales on at any one time. Good history here and very accessible to the rest of York!
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Great old pub tucked away in the innards of York down an alleyway. Good range of ales including local brews - barmaid seemed to know her stuff too.
Plenty of different rooms to retire to with your pint and unobtrusive background music - not heard 'Dancing Barefoot' by Patti Smith for a while.
Will definitely return even though there are 74 other real ale pubs to get through in York.
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Cracking pub, one of the best i've ever been in. Had a lovely selection of ales on and the staff were efficient and friendly.
If you enjoy old pubs with a lot of character and appreciate decent beer that isn't Fosters or Carling then i need say no more... The Starre's your best bet!
Lovely stuff!
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A personal favourite of mine, with 6 real ales on tap, including Old Peculiar. The ales are not quite as well kept since former landlord Stuart moved on, but are still above average. Always busy whether indoors our out, and always the same 80's cd on repeat play, if it's on loud enough to hear above the buzz of conversation.
Side note, don't be fooled by the "olde worlde" feel of the place and name, check out the drinks prices. Futuristic !!
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A nice introduction to a York pub, very central and Olde.
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This is by way of an apology as it was not this pub where the lady left the bar to serve food. I had no problem with service here.
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A lovely old pub with a great interior. Good choice of Wentworth beers on. Had the Rampant Rudolph at a good 6.2% and it went down very well. Service not too good as the one girl working kept having to leave the bar to serve food.
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The lovely old style pub that has not deemed it necessary to update its decor to appeal to the modern drinker. A nice selection of guest ales (which seemed to be updated on a daily basis), friendly staff and a nice atmosphere made this a lovely pub to spend some time in. Recommended.
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Busy pub with good selection of real ale. A nice stopoff on a city tour.
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Good beer, with Old Peculiar being a standard pint, this pub has loads of character but the food is mediocre and the Sunday lunch I had was risable.
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Visited recently and found this pub really friendly with plenty of staff so no problem getting served and beer on top form,3 seasonal ales were on, along with john smiths & old peculiar (the 2 regulars).We also had some food and no complaints at all.Definately worth a visit.
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Busy pub but that's due to it's location on the main tourist drag, food was fine and beer well kept.
anonymous - 12 Dec 2006 14:15 |
nice pub, good atmosphere, could do with refreshing though... the open mike on thurs has a good laid back atmosphere about it and the food is good, the pub is obviousy popular too, cause it's almost always busy, although the stonegate placing helps this a lot, beer selection could do with an improvement though, they're good quality and obviously well looked after, but often very poor ales in themselves... alround good place for afternoon lunch though
anonymous - 22 Nov 2006 20:32 |
Good pub, good food, good beer.
Choice of outside areas, recommend the back as it seems to be the last to fill up and doesn't have the traffic of the front, or the lack of space of the side.
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A very nice little city centre pub. Plenty of good beer on, and interesting surroundings all add to the experience. It claims to be the oldest, continually licensed premisise in York, having been used as a pub since the early 1500s. Down points are that it can feel a little unwelcoming with an "in-crowd", but the place is large enough to avoid that. It is also quite expensive as one might expect from a litrally city centre pub. They serve lunch time food too, but I think it is pretty basic pub grub.
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Well worth the walk from the Station along the city wall. Food was good, decent ales, service was good
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Picked up again after a few years in the doldrums.
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Great pub. Full of atmosphere. Really friendly bar staff and good food. Barman Danny has the nicest bottom in York - OFFICIAL!
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This is a cracking boozer. One of York's gems. Steeped in history and in the centre of town. Caters for all ages, families and groups. Food is excellent and plenty of choice. You can tell the beer lines are cleaned regularly and the cellar is good from the quality of the pint. Atmosphere is fantastic. Try Thursday night open mic hosted by Rob (one of the barman) for a good night. All the staff are great and very friendly. I love this pub!!!
anonymous - 19 May 2005 16:26 |
"The oldest licensed premises in York" said the sign across the street. Up a little alleyway to something looking pretty dull for the 16th century. Has little charm considering its age.
Not terrible but not great either. There are several smaller rooms to hide away in. No complaints about the beer (York Terrier the guest and the best out of the usual Scottish Courage range), the food was all right but not wonderful.
Just lacks atmosphere, probably due to it catering for tourists (like me).
palmwinedrinkard - 17 Sep 2004 14:21 |
