Lendal Cellars, York

Lendal Cellars page at a Greene King site - gkpubs.co.uk

Lendal Cellars page at a Greene King site - gkpubs.co.uk

Situated virtually opposite Harkers, on the other side of the road, is the Lendal Cellars, a former Hogshead pub, but now a rare Greene King outlet in this neck of the woods. Arriving at the front entrance of the pub, down a small slope from street level, we see an information board telling us that the pub stands on the site of an Augustinian friary traced back to the 13th Century. Inside, the pub is much larger than expected, with a number of interconnecting rooms with low arches and much exposed brickwork, as you'd expect from what were, presumably, at one time, cellars. There's something of that chainy pub feel to it however. Outside is a large seating area around three sides of the pub. Loudish music means that the pub is evidently trying to appeal to the younger drinker and, on my recent June early evening visit, a few reasonably well behaved hen/stag groups appeared to put down roots for a long stay. Interestingly however, it was advertising itself as a World Cup free zone. Being a Greene King pub, the beer is not much to write home about. The IPA was not on and, for some unaccountable reason, I went for the Ruddles County - £ 2.65p - in preference to the guest beer from the Warwickshire Beer Co. It wasn't very good at all, but not bad enough that I could justifiably take it back. In retrospect, I can't imagine there's much real ale trade here at all. Whilst not being a particularly bad example of that genre, this pub is probably more suited to hen/stag parties and the circuit crowd. If you don't come into that category, I'd be inclined to give this one a miss.