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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Falcon, York
York
YO1 6JX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Falcon
First revisit since the reopening by Turning Point, and the layout has certainly changed, with the alehouse-style bar now at the front. The rear room is now a quieter and plainer lounge, with just a pump less serving hatch at the back of the central servery. Three cask ales on handpump: the brewery's own Wavelength (£4.90), it's Tonka & Vanilla Stout collaboration with Vocation and Beartown Bitter as a guest. Also has various crafty keg beers on an eight-tap fount.
On 23rd November 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Falcon
An unexpected reopening of an in my previous experience, not that good a pub, into a pretty well regarded craft beer* bar but also with three well chosen casks, there’s eight keg taps as well. The main counter with the pulls and taps is in the smaller front bar, there’s a larger sitting room at the back with a serving hatch. Little in the way of soft furnishings and the small size makes it noisy. Cask beers from Fyne Ales, Half Moon and Turning Point on this occasion. The white walls are decorated with a few large photos in a sort of Blade Runner style, others are of Falcons (the birds). Unisex bogs at rear. I like what Turning Point have done here the beer is good and the service friendly.
*(going with the most usual definition, ie kegged, cold, fizzy; often cloudy or murky produced by a small brewery perhaps located in a shed or a garage or even a small industrial unit, characterised by over heavy hopping with new world hops or the addition of non beery ingredients. The brewery will either soon go bankrupt or manage to get bought up by a multinational.)
On 24th December 2022
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3599 recommendations about 3279 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Falcon Tap
Excellent atmospheric beer house with no pretensions but some excellent ales. Sadly it closed on 29 April 2018 following a change in ownership of the building, which apparently is going to be mainly converted to accommodation. A licensed premise of some sort may reopen on the ground floor in due course.
On 30th April 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3641 recommendations about 3576 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Falcon Tap
This pub was featured many years ago in a local precursor of what became Camra's inventory of nationally important pub interiors, but by the time I came to check it out it had been converted to a late night drinking den. Remnants of the latter are easier to spot in this new incarnation than the older features for which it was once celebrated - the corridor from the front door has been preserved to a certain extent, but multiple applications of wallpaper and paint mean the imagination is overstretched when attempting to appreciate what was once here.
The bar, strangely, is in the back room and had five hand pumps at the time of my visit, with three ales and a cider. The ales featured three beer types that I normally avoid for one reason or another: oyster stout because I'm a vegetarian, and pale beers flavoured with New World hops because I know from experience that I don't like them. (I went for the mosaic rather than the chinook, just on the basis that is was lower abv.) Anyway, the long and the short of it is, I can't find the same enthusiasm for this pub that the previous reviewer had. A combination of the disappointment in the way the old pub interior has been mucked about and the beer offering being too modern and trendy resulted in an underwhelming experience.
Date of visit: 21st October 2017
On 6th November 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 4273 recommendations about 3935 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Falcon Tap
Excellent pub now under the stewardship of a real ale aficionado. The front room is fairly bare and only had one punter reading a newspaper in it on our first visit. The rear bar is where the action is. Bare brick walls and some bits of breweriana dotted about. The fireplace has 6 kegs in a pyramid in it. Six handpumps on the bar with two from Big Smoke. One each from Brass Castle and Bad Seed and two I didn't note. All were in excellent condition. Over our 2 days in York we visited 3 times, there was a different barman on each visit and all were friendly and knowledgeable about the beer. We also got talking to a couple of the regulars, it's an easy place to end up chatting in. Probably my favourite "new" pub in York.
On 4th March 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3286 recommendations about 3196 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Falcon Tap
I've been hearing some good reports about this pub in its new guise so I had a flying visit while otherwise occupied in York. The front bar was fairly desolate with no beers showing and just a couple of odd punters. Through the back things have certainly looked up since my last visit. There are now six hand pumps plus five keg taps and suitably hipster looking staff. Quality was spot on although my beer was decidedly "murky" (it was meant to be and was badged as unfined). Still a little spartan but a vast improvement on before.
On 8th November 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3599 recommendations about 3279 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Falcon Tap
Very much improved since my previous visit. Interior smartened up with 6 real ales and "craft keg" served. 2 real ale taps in the front bar and 4 in the bar at the rear. 2 floor patio area at the very back.
On 7th November 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2933 recommendations about 2866 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Falcon Tap
I liked this friendly pub we called in a couple of days ago. The beer chosen was Cotleigh Honey Buzzard and Brass Castle Mosaic from the selection on offer. A corridor separated the 2 bar areas front and back, and there was a drinking and smoking area set up at the back, plus some stairs to a comfy terrace with plenty of tables.
On 3rd August 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Falcon Tap
The Falcon Tap consists of two bars, the smaller of which is found at the front of the pub. In here is some seating and low background music. The only television screen is for the security cameras so don’t expect to catch any football. On the bar are two hand pumps and some premium lager options. The rear bar is larger and labelled as a lounge bar. To be honest I found this bar to be more comfortable than the front. The bar supports another four hand pumps alongside the same draught options as encountered previously. An advertisement promotes a ‘buy five pints and get the sixth free’ deal so groups are welcomed, unlike some pubs in the area.
Out the back is a covered smoking and seating area and an upstairs seating area that was closed for refurbishment.
This may not be a remarkable pub, but I found the service to be friendly and would have no problem popping back in if passing.
On 19th April 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5965 recommendations about 5931 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Falcon Tap
Interior as described below. 4 real ale taps all off.
On 28th July 2014
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2933 recommendations about 2866 pubs]