The Duke of York, Cowes

The Duke of York is situated at the edge of the town centre near the marina and has been run by the same family for over 40 tears. It functions as both a pub and hotel (12 rooms). It looks very presentable from the outside with fresh, tidy paintwork and a few benches at the front. Internally the pub is divided into front and rear sections with a narrow strip of bar adjoining the two. The front area is itself divided into a loungey sofa area to the left of the main entrance and a more traditional pubby section to the right. The rear is mainly used for dining. Like most pubs in Cowes, and indeed on the Island in general, it has an obvious nautical theme with numerous trinkets and curios that make the place worthy of a wander. Pride of place must go to a ships mast that dangles from the ceiling stretching the whole length of the pub (just how they got it through the front door is anyone’s guess). Some of the stools are also made out of sliced up bits of ship masts and there are plenty of displays, model ships (includine a large replica of the Cutty Sark), bits of rigging, ship wheels and so on. Some of the furniture is awkwardly laid out which may suit large groups but isn’t very convenient for couples. There were 3 Real Ales (Goddards Fuggle De Dum, Ringwood Best and Doom Bar) plus Old Rosie cider.available with the quality decent enough and pricing par for the area. It was fairly quiet for our early evening visit but I didn’t get the impression that it is a place that gets too rowdy or raucous except maybe in Cowes Week when I would think every pub would be a place to avoid. Overall, this was probably my favourite pub in Cowes and well worth the few hundred yards from the town centre to find.

Official site of the Duke of York - www.dukeofyorkcowes.co.uk