The Lamb & Flag, Leeds

Felt completely inauthentic to me - like a pub in an American theme park. Surprising, as its an old building and is kitted out pub like internally. GBG2025 entry, which surprisingly served a quite dreadful pint of Midnight Bell from Leeds Brewery. For which they are meant to be the flagship outlet.

A nice looking pub with a modernised and smart interior, a bit foodie and the whole thing seems a little faux to me, certainly a downgrade on the previous pub visited in the nearby Duck & Drake. Eight handpumps in all, I had an Ilkley Blonde in fair condition but not overly exciting, much like the pub, It's half decent but wouldn't go out of my way.

This is a lovely old building in the shadow of the parish church, or minster, as it's now called. It's been beautifully furnished and decorated, but it doesn't really feel all that comfortably pub-like. I was here at the quiet mid-afternoon period, and almost all the very few customers were enjoying the warm sunshine outside. This left me the chance to look around a little, while taking critical swigs of my half of Leeds Pale. My conclusion was that it was green, with flavours not fully developed, and a harsh fizz to the mouthfeel because of overcarbonation. This pub features in the Good Beer Guide, so maybe some of the other beers would have been in more acceptable condition. I may return to find out.

This is a relatively new, multiple room pub operated by the Leeds Brewery in the shadow of Leeds Minster. The pub has very bland gastro styling of the sort I don’t really associate with other Leeds Brewery pubs that I’ve been to, making it feel a bit bland and sad, especially when visited during a very quiet period, as was the case with our visit. You enter into a very plain bare boarded room with a compact servery in the rear left corner providing the only real form of visual distraction. Some decent seating was available around the perimeter of the room, but it all felt a bit empty and devoid of interest. This angular room gives way to a small side room to the right – another characterless space with a few more tables and chairs – whilst a door to the rear leads you through to a small rear patio with fine views to the Minster. On a hot summer’s day such as when we visited, most customers had taken their drinks out here and were perched on the Minster wall catching the last sliver of sun before the pub’s shadow blotted out the last rays. There is one final room to the rear which looked like it might normally be used as a more formal dining space, but there were at least a few pleasant art prints on the walls here – something the whole pub could do with a great deal more of. Five Leeds beers – Best, Pale, Midnight Bell, American Pale and Yorkshire Gold – were supplemented by guests in the form of Exit 33 Thirst Aid Pale, Camerons Fridge Magnet Pale Ale and Brass Castle Misfit. I tried the latter and found it a little lacking in flavour but kept perfectly well. The staff seemed really nice but didn’t seem to have a lot to do in their spotless, empty pub. Despite being open for a few years now, I felt this place still hadn’t bedded in very well and you could’ve told me it opened that week and I would’ve believed you. The decent beer and nice location make it worth investigation but it’s not really in the top tier of Leeds pubs in its current incarnation.

Fine Leeds Brewery pub, close by (but never connected with) a former brewery just along The Calls. Two banks of four handpumps, the first offering their own Leeds Pale and Best, Yorkshire Gold (£3.75) and Midnight Bell and the second for the guest beers: two from Ilkley, one from Roosters and Cameron Road Crew (also available in the keg version). Attractively refurbished (albeit in something of a gastro-pub style that won't appeal to everyone, with an uncluttered layout in the irregularly-shaped bar but there is also further seating at first-floor level. Another plus is the patio beer garden in a calm spot beside by the minster churchyard.