Fox & Newt, Leeds

A relatively short walk to the west of the city centre, the Fox and Newt is a warm and welcoming brewpub, housing the Burley Street Brewery in its cellars. The pub is a fairly straightforward affair with the main bar in the mid section, opposite the front door. The servery runs along the back wall with a stained glass canopy and a brewery sign on the bar back designed to look like a road name sign. There are a couple of tables with low stools opposite the bar, but the room opens out a lot to the left where more comfortable seating options, mostly tub chairs, can be found. There was also a large projector screen at this end, a juke box and a TV screen which was showing rolling news on my late Saturday evening visit. A few reproduction adverts for various drinks are dotted around the walls and the beams have been decorated with a fine collection of pump clips, carefully ordered by brewery. The right hand side of the pub is raised and has more comfy seating focussed around an attractive fireplace. A large board details the pub's bottled beer options and I noticed boards elsewhere listing food which included 'exotic' burgers using unusual meats such as crocodile, llama, springbok and kangaroo. Another seating area can be found upstairs in a room that seems to have a separate performance area, perhaps used for the live music I noticed promoted throughout the pub. A decent indie soundtrack was playing at quite a loud volume throughout my stay, but it wasn't loud enough to prevent conversation with the friendly locals. There were three Burley Street beers on handpull - The Brickyard, Laguna Seca and Spa Francorchamps - supported by Acorn Golden Embers and Fox Glove Slightly Foxed, with Hop Studio Porter not quite ready to come on. One real cider was also available. I gave the Laguna Seca a try, which I enjoyed very much and was also able to squeeze in a pint of the Spa Francorchamps before time was called, which turned out to be even better. The staff were a friendly bunch, considering the late hour, and didn't rush us out as we polished off the last of our drinks. This is a great pub that really should be included on any crawl around Leeds. It's position outside the ring road makes it seem a bit isolated, but it's only a five or so minute walk from the likes of Veritas, so is easily incorporated into a walking tour of the city. Thoroughly recommended and a fitting end to a day filled with excellent pub visits.

A student-oriented pub just outside the City’s ring-road. Do not despair though, as it is also home to the Burley Street brewery and three of their beers are available from the bar alongside some other Northern breweries – six in total on my visit (over eight pumps), reasonably priced too. I tried two of the home brews and found them to be fairly good and in decent shape; there were also beers from Moorhouse and Roosters available. Service was friendly and the heavily-tattooed barmaid was certainly a good ambassador for the pub. The interior is a fairly unremarkable open-plan affair, though the small red-painted raised area to the right with a pretty fireplace, nice dado and modern leather banquettes is worthy of note, as are the stained glass panels above the bar. A range of burgers are served. A tidy place and worth the extra few minutes’ walk to sample.

In the time since Old Boots reviewed this venue, things have improved immeasurably (not that there was a bad review given). The beer has been spot on. Their Burley Street Brewhouse is pumping out some excellent beers and I truly recommend the Laguna Seca, which is only available here. Food is very good too. I would suggest coming here for a few pints as the beer is good and contribute to a pub which is on the edge of town staying open.