The Botanist, Leeds

Official site of The Botanist - thebotanist.uk.com

You enter down a few steps where to the right is an open kitchen frontage with external tables and chairs if you want to eat al fresco.On entering the building there was a strong smell of fish,not unpleasant but a reminder than food is probably the main draw here.The interior is reminiscent of an up market garden centre,wrought ironwork, pastel shades and that remarkable chandelier mentioned by PSM.However there is also a bar with the same selection of ales as on the previous visit.My Ilkley Lotus IPA was outstanding and probably worth the £4 price tag.The bar staff are young and keen ,much designer stubble on show with one barman bearing a striking similarity to Jack Whitehall.I felt more like his dad. I am sure this place will appeal to women,and a meal with your loved one might earn you brownie points unless you get distracted by the many glamourous singles and yummy mummies that gather here.For the drinker,top quality ale but I can't imaging staying here for a heavy session,despite the talent on show.Always worth popping into if on a crawl however.

This is an interesting craft beer style bar, hidden away behind the Holy Trinity church on Boar Lane. The pub has an unusual stylistic theme centred around gardening, which could perhaps have been deduced from the name, but is nonetheless still unexpected. You enter into a bare boarded room with walls painted in light shades and a lot of decorative metalwork touches. The servery runs along the back wall and has an interesting wavy shaped counter with an upright piano at the far end. Some high benches with stools fill the space opposite under some small picture frames and a crazy chandelier made from old bottles and glasses. A modern etched glass screen acts as partitioning from the front part of the pub which is similarly styled with a good amount of standard table and chair seating, ideal for those wanting to eat. To the left of the bar and the front area there are two more rooms which have a lot more character thanks to their quarry stone flooring ,wooden beams, wall panels and heavy duty door frames. These rooms have a heavier emphasis on the gardening theme, with one looking a bit like a garden shed replete with gardening tools, flower pots and the like. There is a decent looking area outside the front of the pub, which is set far enough away from the road to make it a pleasurable space to relax. I visited late on a Tuesday night and was surprised to find it still pretty busy, with loud music playing and a young crowd in. Four ales were advertised on a board behind the bar, each dispensed from a tap on the bar back rather than a handpull. The options on my visit were Ilkley Lotus IPA, Phoenix Arizona, Cumbrian Legendary Loweswater Gold and Beartown Peach Melbear. I, rather naively, opted for the latter which, despite being in good shape, really wasn’t to my taste and the overwhelming taste of peach was quite off-putting. There were plenty of keg fonts on the bar, but they seemed to be unlabelled, so I’m not sure what these were dispensing. I noticed a bottled beer menu (or ‘almanac’ to use their own words) – a beautifully put together document with hand drawn images of each bottle accompanied by tasting notes. Separate cocktail and wine menus were available as well and food is also available but these menus had been cleared away by the time I arrived, so I’m not sure what sort of fayre is available. This is quite a fun pub which didn’t seem like an obvious choice for a drinking session but would certainly be worth a visit for a couple of drinks or a meal. If the gardening theme really grabs you, they have a sister pub in Alderley Edge which might be worth checking out too.

An interesting rustic and gardening (!) themed bar on the edge of Leeds' new Trinity Centre. A multi-space cellar bar with an outside drinking area under a canopy and decorated with cast iron plants. At the back one area is greenhouse styled. The counter is rear centre and is home to a series of non-proprietary keg fonts, the cask ales are served from "barrels" behind, there are two taps to each of the two barrels but I have no idea about the means of storage and dispense here. The beer quality was OK, a touch warm and nearing the edge of acceptability. There is a pretty good bottled beer list in a book titled "Almanac" on some of the tables. As described below there is eclectic lighting throughout along with modern but in some cases rustic furniture. It's a good wheeze as a theme.