The Golden Lion, York

The Golden Lion is a Greene King pub that was busy with people who have no idea what a good pub is during a recent Thursday afternoon visit. The open plan floor boarded interior is split by a short central screen with beer shelves and high stools on one side and tables the other. Seating runs under the front windows and up the right-hand side. The bar counter on the left wall supports standard and premium keg alongside five hand pumps. One of them was being used to advertise the 10% CAMRA discount, so the cask options were GK IPA (x2), Abbot Ale and Lilley’s Bee Sting Perry. I went for the IPA which was almost as terrible as the service from the miserable barmaid who tried to palm me off with, literally, ¾ of a pint. Televisions throughout were airing muted cricket via Sky Sports whilst some background music played. This is an awful pub that would have closed down if it wasn’t in such a tourist hotspot.

I must have struck lucky compared to previous reviewers as, on a quiet weekday afternoon, this proved to be a not unpleasant place and the barman could not have been more friendly and helpful. The furnishings are clearly from the 'traditional pub' catalogue but the overall effect is fair, if unexceptional. Like many of the Greene King pubs locally, the beer range has sadly diminished to IPA, Abbot and a guest - in this case Old Peculier - but the condition was fine. Not a pub for a serious drinking session but quite adequate to drop in, especially if out shopping.

Official site of The Golden Lion - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The Golden Lion - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Called in here last month and chose Isaac Poad A Knight's Ale from the cask selection available.

Charmless sort of city centre chain pub full of tourists and loud sweary twenty somethings. Reminds me of those generic pubs that you get everywhere in the middle of London. stinks of food as well and pint of Dishwater IPA set me back £4.15 in here.

A Taylor walker chain pub and one of two in the center of York, Personally i prefer the other. This is a busy city center pub that gets very busy on evenings and weekends especially if there is a big sporting event. since Greene King acquired spirit pub company (and thus Taylor walker branded pubs) the Cask ale selection has worsened. Greene King IPA now sits permanently on the bar and a selection of guest ales hand picked by the brewery that are not the best. on my visit three were not in use leaving only Greene king IPA Taylor walkers house golden ale or london glory, non of which really appealed that much to me, I opted for a Guinness at a very expensive £3.75 A bit of a touristy place that can get over crowded and thus suffer in their drinks offerings and service, some of the measures they were giving out were scandalous. An ok pub to visit on a trip to York but usually avoided by locals.

A traditional looking pub just around the corner from The Shambles, it looks reminiscent of many of the Victorian pubs in central London, and I had high expectations of a suitably authentic interior. Unfortunately it’s clearly been “renovated” at some point, and whilst the style might perhaps still be described as traditional, it has none of the authentic charm or period features that I had hoped for. It’s a single room pub with some wooden balustrade and partitioning used to break it up in to different sections, some of which are a slightly higher than others. The walls had mostly dark wood panelling on the lower part, with gold flock wallpaper above. Flooring was mostly carpet with some wood strip near the bar area. A couple of plasma screens were showing a sports channel, although the volume was down when we visited so this was not too intrusive. A forthcoming fixture list was displayed though, so I suspect that this is not always the case. A few obligatory old black and white photos completed the interior. There was apparently a rooftop terrace garden, although we did not investigate this. The menu looked to be of the “pub grub” variety and offered an extensive selection of pies, burgers, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and sharing platters, with most of the mains being priced somewhere around the £8 mark. We didn’t eat on this occasion though, so can’t comment on the quality. Beers on tap were Old Peculiar, Eclipse and 1730 from Taylor Walker, Brass Castle Cliffhanger and Rudgate Grain Check. The solitary cider was Aspall’s Suffolk.