The Artful Dodger Bar, York

Still something of a heavy metal bar, also heavy on black clothes and tattoos. A long narrow place stretching upwards, with lots of Dickensian artworks on the walls. Again, nothing was available on the 3 handpumps, but they were still displaying the local CAMRA mag and Whatpub claims they serve Locales so presumably they are used sometimes. Otherwise just a couple of craft on keg or John Smith's Smooth. It didn't do a lot for me; even the music was a bit bland.

A serious heavy metal bar with music to match, this was a down to earth place if a little intimidating at first. Eventually managed to spot a few craft beers at the far end of the bar though all cask was off. it was a little strange but ultimately not a bad pub compared to some of the tedium on Micklegate.

Enjoyed our visit to this pub last month. Friendly staff who advised on the beers available. Chose Eyes brewery Run the Juice, and Nomadic Elysium which was a fantastic chilli beer. Worth a look in when in the area.

More than a touch of Gothic and metal about this three-room pub, with tattooed bar staff that must have matched the job description perfectly! Anyway, there is limited seating in the main bar area at the front, none at all in the central part of the bar, and a bit more in the deliberately gloomy rear room. However, three of the four handpumps were in operation, with Bad Seed Session IPA, Brass Castle Vanaheim (£3.10) and 7.0% Sublime Chaos Breakfast Stout from the Anarchy Brew Co. on offer. Several Bad Seed and Bad Co. keg beers also noted.

The Artful Dodger is a long and thin pub that is split into three sections. At the front of the pub is a seating area and then the bar runs up the left hand side of a thin middle section. At the rear is some seating and room for standing. The bar supports four hand pumps that were all drawing cask ale and there is a standard draught range. The music of choice was heavy metal and the pub was starting to fill up with the Saturday night party crowd during a recent 16:30 visit. I found the service to be very friendly, but I think I’ll leave this pub next time I’m in town.