The Hop, Leeds

Quite a roomy space on two levels encompassing two railway arches, a little dark inside on a sunny day it did give an atmospheric feel. The long bar supported eight handpumps of Ossett related beers, I went with an Ossett/Kelham Island(Thornbridge) collab , Silver rider, as the name implies a hybrid of Silver King and Pale Rider, two favourites of mine and it was superb, despite the slightly gloomy interior a found it a quite lively and vibrant place, certainly revisit material.

One of the three Ossett/Salt bars in the Granary Wharf development. This is the Ossett Brewery attempt at an atmospheric railway arch pub and certainly feels more traditional than the other two. It is mostly brick and woodwork, with some historic touches including old street names, but they couldn't resist a few arty touches. The beer range is by far the best of the three, with a wide selection of cask from Ossett and guests, plus a few craft IPAs on keg. Even the music seemed better!

With the nearby Salt Granary Wharf having already closed before 11pm on our weekday visit, we did manage to find the Hop still open. So, we chose to finish our evening here. Whilst situated in the railway arches for the nearby Leeds station, you soon forget that your in an arch when inside, apart from the occasional rumble of a train overhead. The pub has two floors and feels quite spacious too, where many of the warehouse/brewery type bars often feel cramped. The bar itself for this pub can be found deep in the arch and around a corner. Being owned by Ossett, there is a good selection of their cask ales. Regulars are Silver King, Butterley, Yorkshire Blonde, Voodoo & Excelsius. The White Rat clip was turned round. Guests were Ossett Strawberry Fields, Rat Rata Nui & Brass Castle Bad Kitty. There was also a good selection of ciders - Lilley's Tropical Cider & Weston's Family Reserve & Old Rosie. Voodoo is normally a very palatable orange stout, but we could instantly tell that this was way past its best. The barman said that it must be near the end of barrel and offered to replace it. We chose the Bad Kitty instead, which was far better. I have to say that the Strawberry Fields was also very nice indeed and all 3 ciders were in good condition, having been fetched directly from the cellar. A friend had the Rata Nui, which was as bad as the Voodoo. That was replaced by Excelsius, which was worse still. He ended up with one of their keg beers instead, which was fine. But it is beyond me how so many of the cask ales could be in such poor condition. It is also really bad practice to leave all 3 dodgy beers on. Whilst the White Rat clip was already turned when we arrived, none of the others were turned despite us returning a total of 3½ pints to the bar. This pub is useful to know about, as it seems to be one of the few to stay open until 11pm around here. It did in fact stay open until almost midnight. But the beer quality and shoddy cellarmanship would deter me from heading back here.