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Halifax Crawl - 21 June 2024 with sheffield hatter
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Detail Pages
Foley's Tap House, Leeds
Leeds
LS1 5RG
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Foley's Tap House
Foley's re-opened earlier this year, after a few years of closure. The last time I visited here on a early Saturday evening in the summer of 2017, it was packed with a lively atmosphere and a great selection of ciders, in addition to the real ales. I remember seeing around 7 ciders that I'd never tried before and making a valiant effort to try them all on what was the last stop of a lengthy crawl. I remember falling 1 cider short, but the atmosphere which included a drunken party of women who had been to the horse racing, one of whom was determined to give us a flash of her bottom, was what stood out.
Just over 5 years on, we visited at a similar time of the evening, albeit on a Tuesday night, to find an almost empty pub with a completely different feel. There are now only(!) 10 ciders in boxes at the rear of the bar in addition to the selection of Black Sheep beers and guests. The 3 Black Sheep beers were Best Bitter, Riggwelter & Islander. Guests were York Guzzler, Neptune Shifting Sands, Mobberley Citra & Drop Project x Wimbledon Sparkler. Ciders were Snail's Bank Parma Violet, Lilley's Gladiator, Crazy Goat, Mango Cider & Rhubarb Cider, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask, SeaCider Blood Orange Cider, Gwynt y Ddraig Haymaker & Weston's Old Rosie & Cloudy Vintage.
The bored-looking barmaid was bemoaning the fact that people don't seem to come out much during the week now. Although, we had seen other pubs with much more trade. The interior has supposedly had a makeover, but it did look very similar to how I remember it, being split over different levels.
Last time I rated the pub a 9/10 and my favourite in Leeds. I'm reducing that score to a solid 8/10, but the lack of atmosphere means it's no longer the best pub in the city. Bring back the racegoers!
On 1st September 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2454 recommendations about 2453 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Foley's Tap House
despite some eye watering prices I quite liked this pub - it had atmosphere without being rowdy. good range of ales with some strong and dark options as well as your standard Black Sheep, it also had a huge selection of ciders at the back. The place is designed for comfort and relaxation and i felt comfortable and relaxed so job done. I liked it , but without really warming to it that much.
On 21st September 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about Foley's Tap House
One of the better Leeds pubs in my opinion. Went in last night and the service was excellent as was the beer with ten hand pumps plus two for cider. In addition there were 23 cider boxes behind the bar and the pub has won many awards for its cider selection. Also a fine assortment of whiskies were on offer. We sat on the balcony overlooking the bar and watched the world go by. A fine pub.
On 30th April 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
We've visited this pub numerous times since my last review and it's always been top notch. Sadly, this time the staff were very poor, they seemed to have been so distracted by being asked to put up Xmas decorations, that they'd forgotten that their real job is to serve customers and clear tables. Many tables still had glasses on them and the staff were shouting to each other about who was serving rather than acrually doing it themselves, My pint wasn't particularly good either, when we eventually got served. It's a good job it wasn't our first visit or they'd be getting a 4. Sort yourselves out!!
07/02/2011
This pub is one of my favourites in Leeds. I can't remember the last time I visited Leeds and didn't visit here. The pub is as described by John B below. It's only a couple of years since this pub changed it's name from Dr Okells. Nothing else has changed really except that the pub now has York beers rather than Okells. They've always had a good range of guests, all very well kept and this visit was no different. The only tiny negative is that they don't give discounts to York Brewery Club members. All the other York brewery pubs do. The landlord keeps saying that he will do, but he's been saying that for 2 years now :-)) It's a very good pub. Don't miss it on a crawl round Leeds.
On 1st December 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
Mr. Foley’s Cask Ale House consists of a ground floor bar area with standing room only at the front and a surprisingly large amount of seating that is accessed up a small flight of stairs towards the rear. The seating is split into a balcony area that overlooks the bar, seating to the right and a sunken sofa seating area to the right rear. There are a couple of plasma screens that were showing muted Sky Sports News during my recent Friday afternoon visit. I didn’t see any live sport advertised, but I’m pretty sure that the Sky Sports News channel is only available with the full Sky Sports package. The toilets are located down a flight of stairs to the rear.
I wasn’t surprised that there were no generic lagers available due to the pub’s name and the German bunting that adorns the walls. Premium draught products are aplenty and I counted around ten hand pumps, a couple of which were unused.
I had a very enjoyable pint and this is certainly a must visit for any beer aficionados out there, but even with a large group of PuG crawlers I thought that the place was a bit sterile.
On 16th December 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5254 recommendations about 5222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
This York Brewery pub is located inside the former Pearl Assurance building - a fine granite edifice opposite Leeds Town Hall. The rather clunky name refers to James Foley who was not only the president and founder of the Pearl Life Assurance Company, but also laid the foundation stone of this building back in 1910. A large statue of Mr Foley can be seen looking down on the Headrow from high up at the front of the building. The interior regrettably fails to match up to the splendour hinted at from outside. You enter into the main bar area with the servery on the left hand wall in a brick floored room with a few high tables and stools and plenty of room for vertical drinking during busy periods. The rest of the pub is set out over a variety of different levels including a raised seating area on the opposite side to the bar with standard tables and chairs under the large arched windows and a sparsely decorated rear room with comfier lounge style furnishings such as button backed sofas. A small gallery on an even higher level looks down over the main bar and has room for three tables and one more sofa. The servery has a very high dark wood bar back and was decorated with large beer steins and German flag bunting which was in aid of their German Beer Festival, although we could only see one German brew available on draught. A couple of TV screens were showing Sky Sports News throughout our stay whilst music played quietly in the background.
Two York Brewery beers - Guzzler and Terrier were available alongside Anarchy Grin and Bare It and Crime Scene and Wharfebank Aztec Orange. Not a bad selection, but there were a significant number of unclipped hand pumps which suggested that we might not have seen the ale range at its strongest. The keg range was eclectic and included several foreign beers that I'd not seen on draught in the UK previously.
I thought this was the sort of bar that would be good to drag workmates along to as it has a broader appeal than some of the city's more traditional pubs. Whilst the interior left me a bit cold, I thought the interesting beer range and the prospect of a wider ale selection were reason enough to consider making a return visit.
On 14th December 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
Missed this one on previous visits to Leeds and glad we managed to take it in this time.
Housed in a fine looking Grade II-listed building, opposite Leeds' impressive Town Hall, fortunately it had quietened down a bit for our late afternoon visit and no problems getting served. As mentioned, more of a vertical drinking venue on the ground level , but then some comfy seating on offer on the floors above.
Most of the ten handpumps were on the go and tried a couple of the available York Brewery Ales and they were in good nick.
On 8th December 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
Included on our recent PG crawl around Leeds city centre, this was more of a vertical drinking venue and after trying one of their American craft beers, I was just about vertical. This York Brewery pub had three of their ales on handpump. Mrs Ale went for the Anarchy brewery ale called Grin and Bare It. Anarchy Brewery from Morpeth Northumberland, was formely known as Brew Star, until Brewster's brewery forced a name change, as they said it sounded too similar in name to them.
On 25th November 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
This is an impressive building with a variety of seating styles on various levels inside. We stayed in the front bar which had a few York brewery beers, and guests, and we chose 2 beers from Anarchy brewery, Grin and Bare It, and Crime Scene. They were unfiltered beers so not clear, but they tasted fine. The disabled toilet is on the ground floor, but it is used as a store room and my husband said walking disabled were fine but a wheelchair would not have got in. It was clean but very cramped.
On 23rd November 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Mr. Foley's Cask Ale House
Earliers reviews decribe it well. I had the advantage of visiting at a quiet time in the afternoon and it was exceptionally pleasant. Also sampled the food, which is predominantly burgers, but they are very good. Definitely recommended.
On 14th August 2012
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]