House of the Trembling Madness, York

The original bar of this name above the specialist bottle shop at street level. Not much space in this rustic alehouse bar, even with the side snug. I found three of the four handpumps on, with cask ales from Verdant and Two by Two in addition to my Half Brick Centennial from The Kernel (£5.20) along with nine crafty beers from the keg taps - all unlabelled, so you need to refer to the electronic display board.

As described in more depth previously, this is an upstairs bar over a bottle & tin shop with considerable character and some very fine beers but which often suffers from being over-popular. It describes itself as a "medieval ale house", where each of the three words is true but doesn't necessarily make the whole phrase! Very happy to call in though and check the beers out, especially if lucky enough to bag a seat. Cask ales on this visit were Verdant Burnthouse Porter, Two by two Autumn Pale and Elusive Stand up and be counted, with a fair range of craft keg also.

I didnt really take to this place , its well described in previous reviews and normally the sort of place i like , friendly staff , decent beer my Northern Monk Dont Mess with Yorkshire was a good pint , a decent mix of customers , lots of quirky stuff scattered around . Maybe i was just in the wrong mood .

Well described below and, as ever, Mr PSM nails the details. I found the hidden bar inside the bottle shop fun and it was liberally decorated for Christmas on my visit. My daughter was very fond of the place feeling as though she was in a Harry Potter film. The staff were busy but efficient and chatty nonetheless and all the food is prepared behind the tiny bar. It's done well though and I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch here from the slightly quirky menu. Cask beers were: Howling Hops XX, Vocation Life and Death and Abbeydale Methuselah. They're not frightened of strong ales here and I enjoyed those I tried. There are also six kegs offers which included beers from Deya, Siren Craft and Northern Monk on my visit. The barman told me that as they have so few pumps they aim to put the best available beers on. I can't argue with that! The only thing to be aware of was that it became very busy and we often saw queues for the bar in the bottle shop and spilling on to the street. Such is York's popularity during the Festive Season so it's worth picking your time to visit. A unique and engaging spot with great beer.