The Black Swan, York

Listed as one of CAMRA's Heritage pubs, the Black Swan looks excellent from the oustside with its timber frame, whilst the 3-roomed interior is full of character. There are 2 rooms to the left-hand side of the entrance corridor, with the bar itself forming the dividing point. In addition, there is a further larger room off to the right-hand side with no access to the bar. Stone floors and low beamed ceilings make it all feel traditional. Handpulls can be found in the rear room. Timothy Taylor Landlord is the regular ale. Guests were Vocation Heart and Soul & Theakston Old Peculier. In addition, they had a Lilley's Gingerbread Cider. As with most York pubs, it was quiet on a Monday evening with just 2 or 3 people in each room. However, I had chosen this place as a convenient final calling point before attending a game at York's new LNER Community Stadium. The bus stop with park and ride buses to the stadium is just opposite the pub. However, I wish I'd stayed for a second in the warmth of the pub as the every 10-minute bus service took 30 minutes to arrive and I got to the other end only to find that the game had been postponed due to a frozen pitch! Regardless, I'm surprised that this pub has not been reviewed more often. It was one of my favourite new discoveries in York on this visit.

As described below , ancient pub with multiple rooms and low beams , lots old bits and bobs around , cosy bar area with 4 ales on TTLandlord , Old Peculier , Ghost Ale and a decent Bridgehouse IPA . Deserves a longer stay will happily call again .

a proper ancient pub that genuinely feels ancient inside. It’s well worth a visit for that alone but the well kept Old Peculier helps too. It has a big beer garden at the back which rarely gets full so this is an ideal spot for a warm afternoon. Food operation dominating today but of the traditional home cooked variety as opposed to tedious gastro.

Old style Theakston’s managed pub with a lot of history to it. 3 separate areas, the 2 rooms at the front are for diners with the food smelling good as we arrived. The snug back bar where we parked ourselves, had 8 hand pumps on with the 4 ales being repeated across the pumps. These ales were Timothy Taylor’s Landlord & Golden Best, Theakston’s Lightfoot & Old Peculiar. The Golden Best was a very nice pint and the wife enjoyed her half of Lightfoot. Large open fire with all the original fixtures and fittings. A very interesting pub that I hadn’t visited before, note the wonky stairs up to the women’s toilets.