The Palace, Leeds

Official site of The Palace - www.thepalaceleeds.co.uk

The Palace is a historic former timber merchant’s house, built in 1741 and converted into a pub a century later. Nowadays it is run by Nicholson’s, taking the form a of a single, elongated U-shaped room, although it’s not too tricky to imagine how the former multiple room layout, that was sadly scrapped in the early 90’s, might have looked. The main bar area has bare floorboards and a limited supply of seating under the large front windows. There is plenty of wood panelling, including much of the bar back, whilst a large, train station style clock hangs above the servery. On either side of the bar there are decent sized seating areas with banquettes and standard chairs around the perimeter and some entrance porches with stained glass inserts. I noted one TV over the front porch was turned off, whilst a second, to the rear of the flagstone floored right hand side of the pub, was showing some dismal daytime TV programmes. The large pavement at the front allows room for a few outdoor benches and there is a patio out the back, although this area doesn’t compare to the pub’s original gardens which apparently extended as far as the Aire and Calder Navigation, allowing one former landlord to indulge in a spot of boat building, constructing a tunnel from the pub to the canal from which he could launch his vessels. On the bar, the usual Nicholson’s mix of the familiar and obscure occupied the row of hand pumps. I noted Fullers London Pride, Tetley’s Cask, Bass, Woodfordes Wherry, Ilkley Norseman, War Lord IPA, Leeds Gathering Storm, Orkney Dragonhead and Weston’s Old Rosie cider. Intrigued by the War Lord IPA, I gave it a try but was a little disappointed with the quality which seemed past its best. This is clearly a place with an interesting history, but I didn’t get much of a feel for it whilst sat in here and I thought, unusually for a historic Nicholson’s pub, that the place had been neglected a bit. The usual decent ale range compensated somewhat, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with this place as I’d hoped to be. Certainly still worth a look, but I’m not sure it ranks alongside the city’s finest ale houses.