The Pack Horse, Leeds

Tucked away down an alleyway off of the Briggate shopping street, this isn’t somewhere you’re likely to stumble across by accident, but was nonetheless quite busy on our recent Saturday afternoon visit, perhaps on account of the forthcoming Euro’s match, although fortunately it was Shania Twain at Glastonbury who was on the screens when we arrived. That didn’t last though, once the football was underway it was switched to that, and the volume ramped up considerably with sound even piped to parts of the pub that did not have a screen. You couldn’t even escape to the courtyard, there was a further screen here and yet another speaker at the end of the alleyway to annoy any passing pedestrians. Internally it’s presumably been opened out at some point, and consists of a series of interconnected rooms, each broadly similar in terms of style but slightly different décor. Flooring was either black and white chequered tiling, flagstone style tiling or old wooden boards, whilst the ceilings were mostly painted dark green with some old wooden joists in some areas. A plethora of plastic footballs hung from the ceiling and there were numerous flags as well, both large and small, all around the pub to compliment the TV screens. There were a few old pictures dotted around the walls, as well as a large old map of the city filling one wall. It was interesting how many of the terraced streets have the same name but with a different suffix, e.g.; Clark Mount, Avenue, Crescent, Terrace, Road, View, Lane and Grove. The room at the rea was a little more contemporary perhaps with some sort of aqua blue shade of paint on the walls with black wood panelling down below, but the obligatory TV screen on the wall spilt the ambience somewhat. Beers on tap were Ossett White Rat and Timothy Taylor Landlord, whilst the cider choice was a disappointing Strongbow and Strongbow Dark Fruit. Not one I’d bother returning to unless at a quieter time perhaps when there was no sports on, but even then there are far better options nearby.

nothing special at all , but it did open its doors an hour earlier than the other alley pubs. food is being pushed at every opportunity and the alleyway stinks of it. not too bad a selection of ales but at premium prices. Maybe worth visiting, once.

The least attractive of the four pubs "hidden" in alleyways off Briggate, though to be fair it's a long time since I was in the Angel, so I can't be sure about that one. Any pub painted in a shade of battleship grey is never going to be attractive in my book, so I think I'm on fairly safe ground. Once inside, there's a deal of modernisation (which is not something anyone could accuse the other three of) but it's not unpleasantly done. The five hand pumps on the bar had a reasonable selection (see photo), of which I selected Doom Bar for some reason - may have been a new year's resolution to do with not letting prejudice get in the way of beer tasting. My notes fail to mention whether it was any good. There's a 10% discount for card carrying Camra members, but it's available only to those who visit the toilet before ordering their beer, as that's the only place where it is mentioned. Naturally, I failed to claim it, but now, readers of this review can skedaddle down to the Packhorse and claim their 10% discount without having to use the toilet first! Hurrah for Pubs Galore! Date of visit: 8th February 2018

A pleasant enough pub down an alleyway this is apparently the oldest pub in Leeds. Its been modernised but still retains a traditional pub feel. There are only 5 handpumps on the L-shaped bar and the beer selection was quite good. The pub has 3 levels consisting of a stone flagged bit, up a step to a chess board tiled middle bit where the bar is and an upper part depending on which entrance you use.