Church House, Pontefract

the new land lord is really good and frndly plus the pint is fantastic

Marked as open

They had GKIPA, London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord on, as well as a Bulmers Perry and the usual array of lagers on tap. The Pride was OK. They've smartened it up a bit since the last time I was in here – gone has the pitted and scruffy black floor covering to be replaced by bare boards. I think that the last time I was in was before the smoking ban so not surprisingly it looks a lot cleaner overall. The clientele seemed to be mainly office workers enjoying food from the Thai menu. There's a large TV screen on one of the walls, showing the news when I was in, but with the sound muted and with subtitles. Watching the unscrupulous and venal antics of some MPs I had a nasty taste in the mouth, and it was nothing to do with the beer. There was some music playing but it was not loud enough to be a nuisance. The young girls behind the bar were friendly enough, enjoying some friendly banter with a few drinkers at the bar. This bar is somewhat off the beaten track, and is another of those decent but unremarkable pubs that I quite like. In some ways it is better off for being off the main roads from a punter's point of view, if you're looking for a less crowded backstreet pub.

The Church house is now open again and is a really nice place [admin note: marked as open again 22/02/2010]

Marked as closed

The Flying Horse is a very good unpretentious traditional corner pub, close enough to be a decent alternative to the sterile bars in the Broadgate centre. The ground floor L shaped bar provides a traditional wood panneled interior decor and has a flat screen tele and a couple of Fruit machines. The bar supports six handpumps but were only dispensing GK IPA, Courage Best and Ringwood Best at the time of my visit, but the Ringwoods was a very nice pint. So I found this to be a good comfortable tradition type pub close to the city and only really missing a more interesting ale choice from the six pumps available.

CHURCH HOUSE Closed at the moment [admin note: marked as closed 18/02/2010]

2 bars and a beer garden with good value food.