Brown Cow, Leeds

The Brown Cow is an Ember Inns pub adjacent to a Premier Inn, but other than sharing a car park it is not affiliated with the hotel. Inside a central U shaped bar serves floor boarded front and rear seating areas. To the right is a carpeted seating area that is split by a large chimney breast with double sided fireplace and log fire. There is an additional seating room in the left front and a function room is advertised. Televisions are found throughout, but these were all off in favour of some lunchtime background music. Standard and premium keg was available and I counted five hand pumps, four of which were in operation. These were drawing Black Sheep’s Blitzen (my visit was before Christmas), Wainwright, Leeds Brewery’s Leeds Pale and an excellent Titanic Plum Porter. This is a popular food destination, the burgers start at around £11. The service was friendly, but the measures were a bit short and out of four pints I had to ask for two to be topped up, the other two were borderline so I let it slide. This was from two different barmen so I wasn’t very impressed, especially considering the price of a pint these days. This place is handy for a pint if staying in the hotel, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit.

Substantial Ember Inn, featuring a partially opened-out layout with multiple seating / dining areas around the central servery. Usual, semi-modern furniture and inoffensive light decor. Although there are a total of 13 handpumps on different parts of the counter, the choice boiled down to the 'house' Pale Ale, Black Sheep, Bombardier, Leeds Pale (£3.05) and Old Rosie cider.

Many years back this used to be a multi roomed place with the pool room to the left. This now appears to be a function room and the rest is one large room round a central bar. Ten hand pumps were on offer with a lot from the Leeds brewery. A decent selection of ales means I will definitely revisit this good pub.

Official site of The Brown Cow - www.emberinns.co.uk

Official site of The Brown Cow - www.emberinns.co.uk