The Golden Lion, York

It always used to puzzle me that this pub was a regular in Camra's Good Beer Guide, as it's one of the worst tourist pubs in the centre of York. OK, if all you care about is beer there's good beer to be had here, and some from breweries that you might not find represented elsewhere in the city such as Black Dog of Hambleton's Rhatas. But the general atmosphere is "don't care", with second rate pub furniture scattered about the room and loud, no - really loud - music being blasted out of the loudspeakers for the benefit of their only customer. If I'd obeyed my initial instinct and turned around at the door, they'd have had no one to share their music with (apart from the rest of the street).

Situated in Church Street is The Golden Lion. Outside the pub, an information board tells us that the pub was first licensed to sell ale in 1771. It had a spell when it was named "The Nineteenth Hundred", but, following a refit in 1983, the pub was renamed The Golden Lion. Inside is a rather standard open plan chain pub interior, with little of specific note. The pub is in the Punch Taverns portfolio. On my recent June lunchtime visit, upon ordering my pint from the bar, I was told, admittedly in a reasonably polite and friendly manner, that I could not sit at any of the tables marked as "reserved" and where cutlery had been laid out. It transpired that this was effectively 95% of the pub and that drinkers such as myself were effectively banished to several tall tables and chairs by the front windows. I should have been a bit quicker on the uptake when several serving staff started bringing out cold salad starters to all the reserved tables, but, at 12.15 on the dot, in walked a group of around 60-70 foreign tourists. In true tourist fashion, they seemed to spend an eternity deciding who was going to sit next to who and where, and then spent a further period of time taking pictures of each other standing up, sitting down, holding a beer glass, not holding a beer glass etc. It all seemed quite comical at the time. Beers on included beers from Northumberland, Abbeydale and 3 Wentworth beers, of which the HPA - £ 2.94p - was a surprisingly good pint. A rather large buxom lady - who I presumed was the duty manageress - was wearing a black T shirt with the words " Do you love my pub ?" on the front and kept walking past bringing food to the masses, who were now all finally settled and sat down. I resisted the temptation to provide her with my answer to that question

A T&J Barnards, Georgian styled, terraced city centre pub and eatery, with an undressed brick and black frontage. The interior is open plan on with a slightly raised area, with the serving bar in the far left on entry. The place is predominantly food orientated, with tables and decor looking a little tired. The decor is cream and wood panel, with some red patterned wallpaper and a red ceiling. There is also a fireplace on the raised area. There were several TVs on at my last visit, with the footy on and the music was mixed and at a decent level. Old photos of York adorn the walls along with some sporting posters. The service was fine, the clientele mixed, but it wasn’t that busy. In fact, it has always been quiet when I visit – luck of the draw i guess. I didn’t eat here, so i can’t comment on that. Beer; tap stuff with John Smith Cask, Greene King IPA, Theakston’s Old Peculier and a range of Wentworth rinks; Early Fruits, Keppel Column, Summer Luvin’, MILD and Stout. Whilst all were not to my taste, they seemed to be kept well. I am always happy to pop in here. The place itself is quite generic inside as regards pub/eatery places, but it has a different choice of beers.