The Black Rock, Wakefield

The wonderful tiled archway and etched glass windows of this pub's frontage effectively set the place up for a fall, as the hopes raised by such a fine exterior were unlikely to be matched by whatever was on offer inside. The pub has a simple L-shaped layout, with a good deal of banquette and low stool seating throughout and the odd drinking shelf here and there as well. The floor is a mix of carpet and some nice old tiles, mainly skirting the perimeter, but putting this aside, there wasn't all that much in the way of interesting features, presumably the result of one too many refurbs over the years. Music played fairly unobtrusively throughout our visit and there are a couple of large screen TV's towards the rear of the room. There were four ales on the pumps - Tetley's Cask, Partners Aunt Agatha, Bateman's Rosey Nosey and North Cotswold Winter Solstice, the latter being close to undrinkable, whilst the Aunt Agatha was better, if not exactly earth shattering. The reviews below and the pub's entry in the 2012 GBG suggest that the bad beer may have been a one off, although equally it could be seen as a sign that standards are slipping. This is a decent enough place to stop off for a drink, but I can't imagine wanting to spend a long time in here and would probably drop it from any future crawl of Wakefield in favour of spending more time in some of the town's more reliable pubs.