Duck & Drake, Leeds

Several years ago when I worked in Leeds this was regular haunt of mine as I used to come and watch the jam sessions on a Monday. It's changed a little since then, but not enough to change the essential character of the place. PSM describes the pub in detail and I've nothing else to add except that I'm glad it's still almost the same as it was and my pint was in very good nick.

Approaching this pub from the direction of the Minster, the first thing you're likely to notice is the upright piano being played by a skeleton, which has been set up on a small patch of ground to the side of the pub, giving you a clue to the live music the pub offers. This connection is made clearer as you enter through the front porch which has a mural of a few famous musicians, and should you need it made any more explicit, a look into the main bar, through the left hand door, reveals more a larger mural and a stage in the front corner. This room is bare boarded and has some very hard, uncomfortable, tatty banquette seating around the perimeter and loads of room for vertical drinking between the stage and the bar. More musical items soon become apparent, with an acoustic guitar stuck to one of the doors, an electric guitar suspended from the ceiling and another incorporated into the mural. A shelf on the back wall held items of Elvis memorabilia and a rogue Cliff Richard LP. An upright piano stands in one corner and I'm sure I saw an advert for a good old fashioned sing-along courtesy of a local pianist. The room is pretty large and a lit fireplace on the back wall was doing its best to warm the place up. There is a smaller bar through the right hand door which is also bare boarded but offers much comfier seating in the form of standard chairs and banquettes. The artist who painted all those musicians has turned their hand to landscapes in here, offering a large painting of Leeds in days gone by. A big mirror dominates the opposite wall and some old fire extinguishers have been put on show in the rear windows. The servery is much smaller this side and has pint pots hanging down over the counter. There were a few slot machines in one corner with a TV screen above which remained turned off. I was too busy chatting when I visited with the PuG crew, so I failed to note the beers that were available, although I distinctly remember enjoying the Kirkstall Dissolution IPA. A return visit a couple of days later saw the following beers split between the two bars - make sure you consult the blackboards for the full range: Roosters Yankee, Wadworth Swordfish, Robinson's Trooper and Dizzy Blonde, Caledonian Autumn Red, Cottage SB, Duchess and Sterling Pale, Old Bear Hibernator, Theakston Old Peculiar, Revolutions Reward, Daleside Best, Taylor Landlord and Saltaire Blonde. I gave the Cottage SB a try on my return visit and was very disappointed, although I couldn't quite tell if this was a conditioning issue or just a poor brew (I suspect the latter). The staff seemed very friendly and one of the barmaids raised a laugh with her interpretation of 'Shout' by Lulu. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of food, although there were some tasty looking pork pies displayed at the end of the bar. I liked the feel of this place and didn't mind the slightly shabby interior, which I thought added to its character. The ale range is a good enough reason to return and I wouldn't mind watching some of the live music, as I suspect there will be a pretty good atmosphere. Another top Leeds pub worthy of inclusion on any crawl of the city.

The Duck and Drake consists of a small public bar where a roaring fire could be found during my recent Friday evening visit. In the sparsely furnished main bar area is a stage and an upcoming events sign informs readers that there is weekly live music from Thursdays through to Sundays. My visit was before any band had started to set up or play so the pub wasn’t overly busy. I imagine that the atmosphere changes somewhat when there is some music though. There is a large music themed mural on the wall that was cause of plenty of conversation with my fellow PuG crawlers. The bar is stocked with more than ten hand pumps and my pint was on good form. I think that the food stretches to bar food and I wasn’t overly impressed with the £2 pork pie. Out the back is a decked beer garden, as are the gent’s toilets. I’m not a big fan of music pubs so I didn’t appreciate this place as much as my compadres, but I wouldn’t want to put anyone off visiting.

We too enjoyed our visit here on the PG crawl. I tried my best to name all the images of the rock icons, but got stuck with one, Roger B and Gann told us it was Rory Gallagher. We called again the next day and enjoyed the back bar and a good pint of Roosters. One not to be missed.

This was a real drinkers pub and caters for music lovers as well as beer drinkers. We enjoyed our chosen beers here, Wadworth Swordfish and Revolutions Reward.

After a period of closure, the Duck and Drake has re-opened ostensibly the same as previous, a music and ale pub. 10 pumps offer a number of beers from smaller breweries with the odd national thrown in, though not all are flowing at any one time. The quality of mine were fine, no complaints and I was impressed to see a musical theme to one, ‘Le Freak’ by Revolutions brewery. The interior of the main bar area is a fairly sparse and scruffy affair with basic wooden furniture, the odd banquette and a well-worn wood floor. As mentioned elsewhere, the whole-wall mural of legendary musicians from a fading age is impressive. There’s also a rear room but I made no notes on this. The locals were chatty, if a tad eccentric; one or two looked like they’d been in since opening time when we arrived just on 4pm. Upcoming gigs are advertised on chalk boards above the bar, as are the ‘award winning pork pies and homemade mushy peas’. One of the pies was proudly displayed on its lonesome in a decorative cake stand at the bar which was promptly snaffled by a fellow crawlee (who I note has also left a review on this page…). Whilst the pub isn’t really my bag for a session, I’d certainly be happy to take in the gigs and beer if I lived locally.