Pivni, York

Interesting old building in a narrow alleyway. Very full early on a Saturday evening in each part so tricky to get served at the small bar and impossible to get a seat until I'd nearly finished my pint. Three cask ales on the five handpumps, including my Bread & Butter from Vocation (£5.10), along with some interesting craft keg and imported beers (mostly German) on the various taps.

Run by the same owners as the York Tap and also the Sheffield Tap, this bar is located in a narrow sidestreet in an old timber-framed building. There is a small, narrow bar on the ground floor, with further drinking space upstairs. On my 2 visits so far, I have managed to secure a table on the ground floor. So, I still haven't been upstairs. Nevertheless, there were clearly more people upstairs than downstairs, judging by the footfall. Real ales on were Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, Marble Manchester Bitter & Helmsley Howardian Gold. Ciders were both from Lilley's - Pineapple & Somerset Scrumpy Dry. Craft beers were Thornbridge AM:PM, Bristol Beer Factory Laser Juice, Full Circle Repeater & Rotator, Vault City Strawberry Sundae & Delirium Red. The two young barmaids were friendly and chatty and my Howardian Gold was in a decent condition.

Pivni is located in one of the tall and thin medieval buildings just off Shambles Market Square. The entrance leads to a flight of wooden stairs to the rear and a small tile floored bar area to the left. Seating runs along the front windows faced by the bar counter along the rear wall. Premium and craft keg were available and the five hand pumps were drawing Wilde Child’s The Italian Job, Redwillow Brewery’s Feckless, Vocation’s Bread & Butter, Pulp’s Apple Craft Cider and Lilley’s Mango Cider. It would only take ten or so people in here to make it feel very cosy. The aforementioned stairs lead up the timber building to a first floor seating area with a mix of armchairs, pews, benches and wooden chairs. A jukebox on the wall was supplying some background music, I can’t imagine any money had gone in due to there being hardly any other customers so it must have been on autoplay. The stairs also lead up to the second floor where, what looks like, purpose built benches with tables are found. I found the service to be friendly, and the building’s exposed brick and old timber frame give it a lot of character, so there was atmosphere even though quiet. Well worth a look, but not if you’re in a large group.

A strongly atmospheric bar stuck in an ancient half-timbered building with an excellent range of mostly obscure independent and craft beers on keg and handpump, plus a few interesting European brews. One day I will get round to investigating the 'more seating upstairs', but if you are lucky you will grab a seat near the bar. The music seems to have a tendency towards hard rock, which suits the place. Can be a bit pricey, but well worth a visit.

Building from the C12th, running over three floors. Its a shame in these times that you cannot get to the bar to see what is on offer - as they had 17 on tap and looking at everyone else's glassware - some exotic european numbers to try. To save my friendly barman (can I still call them that?) from reeling off all 17 brews - I stopped him at #2 and had a lovely Bristol Beer Factory Vale of Eden. Would love to come back in normal times.

Nice old building in central York, good real ale.

Really liked this place , lots of non mainstream kegs , 4 of the 5 handpulls on with beers from Tiny Rebel , Cwrw , Brass Castle and a very nice Totally Brewed Guardian of the Forest .

Lovely building just off the Shambles, and an alehouse that lives up to it. full of beer and brewery memorabilia etc so brilliant if you’re into that kind of thing. A very cosy atmospheric place downstairs and the room is tiny. Five ales i’ve never heard of but a stout/porter would have been nice. World beers galore in the fridges I believe, though I didn’t look today.