The Head of Steam, Leeds

Part of the well established chain of pubs, this is a well presented pub with a great location just around the corner from the main station. The pubhas a large island servery with an angular, many-sided counter and a nice central gantry topped with some unusual keg tap handles. The bar area is bare boarded and allows views up to the upper mezzanine level where large numbers of beer boxes have been stacked. An impressive spiral beer bottle sculpture winds its way down from here into the ground floor area and acts as a great centrepiece for this interesting room. Limited seating is available around the bar, included some backless padded benches, but there are raised seating spaces to the rear and right where plenty of banquettes and high tables and stools can be found. As with most Head of Steam pubs, the walls have been liberally decorated with a vast array of brewery signs, pump clips, enamel advertisements and beer bottles, whilst plenty of steam engine themed pictures fill in any gaps in the wall space. Even the light fixtures have been fashioned from old keg lines or wine bottles, giving the whole room a unified theme that makes it clear that it’s very much a wet-led enterprise. An eclectic indie soundtrack played throughout my stay which was pretty enjoyable. Two banks of handpulls mean you are required to do a bit of exploring to check out the full range, but I was able to note Adnams Ghost Ship, Turning Point Rising Tide, Taylor Boltmaker, Tiny Rebel One Inch Punch, Ilkley Tribulus, Camerons Strongarm, Leeds Yorkshire Gold and Two by Two Granola Porter, the latter of which I sampled and found to be in excellent condition. There is a beer menu on each table which lists a massive range of bottled beers from all over the world, should this extensive cask range not meet your requirements. I generally enjoy pubs in this chain and this place was no exception. I really liked the quirky interior, the ample breweriana which you could spend hours sifting through and of course the great many well kept ales. This place has good revisit potential and is another fine pub in a well stocked part of town.

I liked this pub. Its open plan but the centre of the pub is dominated by the island bar. Loads of 'craft' and keg beers plus 9 handpumps for real ale and cider. The seating surrounds the bar with 2 raised areas to the left. A place worthy of a visit.