Kings Arms, York

Probably York's most famous pub due to being much photographed from the Ouse bridge and being on the telly news after being flooded yet again. The interior is flood proofed with striped back brick walls and a stone flagged floor. The fireplaces and wooden pillars are not so proofed although the bench seating is on brick bases and have leatherette cushions. A board in the corner shows the flood levels reached , the current highest being on Boxing Day 2015 that point being taller than my, admittedly short, stature. The counter, again in brick, has 15 little keg boxes but don't get carried away, four are for OBB, three for Sovereign, three more for Taddy Lager with one each for Double Four, Extra Stout, Alpine (man in a box / pratt in a hat) and two more for cider. The pub was called the Ouse Bridge Inn according to the etched windows on one side.

this rather spartan one roomed Sam Smiths pub is very incongruous with its surroundings- today loud hen parties, drunken groups of twenty somethings and foreign tourists. Maybe they couldn’t believe their luck when they got a £2.15 pint of lager, but only once they got over their horror at the absence of Fosters/Budweiser on the bar. Queues at the door and a strictly policed beer garden this Easter Saturday. the Extra Stout went down well. May be a very different place in winter but for now it’s a welcome antidote to the Slug and Bollocks nonsense going on around it.