The Fleece, Otley

A good pub this one so shouldn't be missed out on a visit to Otley. We left this as our last pub to visit on the day and then it was only a question of crossing the road and cutting through the Waitrose car park and getting the 10 min bus ride back to Menston. There were 8 handpumps, with 6 in use on our Saturday afternoon visit. We went for the Wharfebank Washburn and the Tether Blond, both beers were very well kept. The barman in here was very professional and had no problem serving a party of people, who arrived just after us. The pub attracts a lot of diners and still has a lot of room for us drinkers.

The Fleece is a decent looking stone built pub that is to the west of the town centre. Once inside there is a small square shaped room to the front left,the main bar room is square shaped with the serving bar on the left side,there was an open fire roaring away in the middle of the room which was nice to see,the front area of this room is bare boarded,the rear area is carpeted,the seating is a mix of types including bench seating some tall tables and chairs and more normal tables and chairs. All of the seating to the rear had was in use so i could not see the river views from this pub. The pub has big ties with Wharfebank brewery,there was a good choice of their beers on the bar plus some other guest beers,i had a drink of Wharfebank Washburn Best which went down very well in a really nice warm pub,the other beers from Wharfebank were Printers Ink /Tether Blonde and Othello Gold,the one guest beer i noted was Jennings Cumberland. I quite liked this pub,it was nice and warm on a cold day and had a good choice of real ales on the bar. Pub visited 8/11/2014

A short walk to the west from the town centre, the Fleece is a pleasant riverside pub that was taken over by the local Wharfebank Brewery a few years ago. You enter into a particularly large, open plan room, divided only by a single section of wall in the middle with a large fireplace which was lit on my visit. The servery runs down the left hand side of the room and can also be accessed from the small bar in the front left corner, which was furnished with some decent looking button backed banquettes. The main bar has something of a gastro-pub feel to it, with all tables in the rear section, including those along the rear wall which have nice views out towards the river, set formally for diners. At the front of the room there is a snug type area with bench and standard chair seating which has been decorated with various old photos and a brewery mirror. The wall at the far end of the servery is tiled and had been used to list extensive food and drink options which was quite handy. A barrel near the front door had the day's papers stacked on top and I noticed some local CAMRA magazines perched on the end of the bar. Ales were split between Wharfebank (Best, Camfell, Slingers Gold (£3.00), Tether Blonde and Aztec Orange) and the confusingly named Otley Brewery from Pontypridd (Colomb-O and O Ho Ho), with a final pump dispensing Weston's Old Rosie Cider. I opted for a pint of the Slingers Gold, served to me by an attentive barman, and I thought it was in pretty good shape, if not the best pint I tried that afternoon. I wonder how many people drank the Otley beers, thinking they were sampling a local brewery. I was the only customer for most of my visit, so I don't think I really saw the best of this place. It was certainly nice and tidy with a few comfy spots to enjoy a few pints (I bagged a seat right in front of the fire which I was loath to leave), but it seemed to lack a bit of character which perhaps a bit of a crowd might have helped draw out. With lots of good pubs in Otley, I'd say this one is worth a look now and again.

called in this pub on sat night to find it rather quiet i tried a pint of slingers gold and to be honest this was stale to say the least the tether blond was just as bad we took a look at the food menu is this a pub or a restaurant steak at £18 a bit over the top

Well I nearly got into the pub but expecting the garden to be open and completed from the 30th April 2011 pic was asking too much for the middle of August. So it turned out to be just a quick visit to the small car park. Was not impressed at the garden still being unusable. Perhaps the brewery is better run than this enterprise Paul Hudson Leeds

We have visited The Fleece 2 times the 1st being a Monday just for a drink the 2nd to try the menu. The 1st time we were greeted by a very friendly young man, very chatty great service. The second time we received a slightly different experience. We got our drinks and sat in the snug the décor is lovely and very inviting. When ordering food we got grunted and tutted at when wanting to change some side dishes due to dietary requirements. Our food was delivered by a certain Scotsman can only think it is the same one as mentioned in another review it seemed like we taking up to much of his time and an annoyance to him. One of the dishes were meant to come with chips but when asked we were told it wasn’t even tho when we checked the menu afterwards it stated served with fat chips. I thought all the food was tasty and good value. Service really needs to be worked on as it did put us off returning. 6 stars for food 2 for service