York Tap, York

A misreading of the train timetable, not deliberate honest guv! allowed me a quick visit to the Tap to check on progress since it opened. All the opening week snags have been dealt with and a few details have changed, beer quality is still first rate. The platform side bar blackboard now lists all the cask beers on in both sides, the road side one just lists the kegs. The problems with the handpumps are sorted and the Gents looks to be behaving itself. Strangely the bar blocking “wall of arses” seemed to be just in front of the keg fonts, the approach to the pulls being clear.

Excellent newly opened bar on York station. They've done a great job with the refurbishment and have saved quite a few of the originnal features. The open fire was a much needed warmer during our visits. 20 handpumps including 2 for real cider and lots of craft keg fonts as well. We called in twice over our two days in York. On the second visit four of the ales had changed and a couple of the regular beers were being pulled through after running out. Good turnover for a Wednesday & Thursday. All 4 beers I had were in excellent condition and the Kirkstall 3 Swords won my personal Beer Of The Week last week. The only negative was that the service was slow, although friendly, on the Wednesday afternoon. No problem on Thursday night though. We're often in York and I can't see us visiting again without coming here.

I cannot possibly add any more in the way of a description to the excellent one below. Couldn't wait to get here, and yes, I agree that it is hard to leave. We found stools at the end of the bar and enjoyed cask beers from Tempest, Great Heck and Camden Town. Even tried a couple of the craft keg beers from Camden Town, but found them a little too cold and at £4.20 a pint a little too expensive for what they are. Cask prices were good though, with many still under the £3 mark. It was very busy with ebb and flow as trains came in and out and there were sufficient staff to deal with the crowds so waiting was not an issue. Called in again this morning when it opened so that I could take some photos, and there were 5 new cask beers on, so enjoyed beers from Magic Rock, Ilkley, a terrific Chilli Porter from Black Isle, and Thornbridge Yule a good 7.4%. They could do with a better board for displaying beers available, possibly a screen like others such as the Wellington in Birmingham have where it can be updated as a new beer comes on. The chalk board on the station side has the 20 cask ales named, but it was well out of date and some of the writing had rubbed off on clothes. The board on the other bar side has the Bernard Czech Lagers and the Craft Keg details on. A brilliant place and can only be a roaring success.

Official site of the York Tap - www.yorktap.com

Official site of the York Tap - www.yorktap.com