The Fox, Holgate, York

My first heritage pub of the day on a brief visit to York, and despite the early hour (4:30 in the afternoon) it was fairly busy, which is good. The main room, at the front on the right, was fairly crowded and I couldn't get a particularly good look at what was on, though there's also a blackboard on the wall to the left of the counter (five Ossett beers and two guests, of which one was Tetleys Bitter and the other something from Brew York). Actually, as it's an Ossett pub all I was really looking for was Silver King, whose pump clip was initially hidden by someone's shoulder. I took my pint (NBSS 4) and tried to find a room where the rather loud background music was less unignorable than everywhere else, and succeeded to an extent in a small side room towards the rear. This is a lovely pub and it's good to see it so well used by local people.

Another decent pub in Holgate, this is a multi roomed pub with lots of interesting features. We ventured into the small front bar and enjoyed chatting to the locals and received some very precise notes on a quick way back to York Railway Station, which shaved off a good ten minutes walking. Seven pumps in operation, five Ossett, a Tetley's and one cider.

This was once a Tetley Heritage pub and it shows. It's now under the stewardship of Ossett brewery who have a very good record of keeping good looking pubs at their best. There's a long corridor straight in front of you as you enter, but the bar is off to the right. There's a multitude of rooms, some quite small and all with different styles. We ended up sitting in one of the rooms on the right hand side and got chatting to the other people in there almost immediately. Several Ossett beers available along with a couple from their satellite breweries Rat & Fernandes and a single guest ale from Acorn. The plan was to call in here for one and then walk back into town via the Volunteer, which we did, but only after having two in here, both of which were in very good nick. It's a very good pub and we'll be back soon.