The Red Lion, York

We went in this pub as something of a lucky dip, as we were looking for a sandwich for lunch. And I reckon we struck lucky with this one. The front bar as you enter is fairly small, is carpeted and as you walk past the counter on the left you come into a larger area with a tiled floor and more traditional seating. There's another separate room to the left of the counter, with more traditional furnishings, and which appeared to be a bit less elegant than the room on the right in which we sat. The sandwiches certainly were of a high standard - or more accurately the sausage and fried onion sandwiches we had were. They cost somewhere between £6 and £7 as I recall. I saw some other customers eating pork, apple sauce and gravy sandwiches. I thought including gravy in a sandwich was quite bizarre, but our companion thought that this was a reasonable accompaniment and should be encouraged. As already stated, there were half a dozen ales on. The Rooster's Azacca I had was in fine form. This is another pub well deserving of our custom.

Obviously a very old building with wonky walls and a low beamed ceiling, I'd guess a traditional Tudor exterior rather than the 20th century fad, lovely stained glass windows, the rear area had a working Aga. Three separate areas, real fires around, white panelled boarded ceiling. Regular seating, some divided by screens, various mixed stuff framed on the walls. Exposed brick walls with copper pans over, the interior steps up and down a bit with the local terrain. Beers on were Rudgate Ruby Mild, Robinson's Dizzy Blonde, Rooster's Azacca, Hobgoblin, Purity Mad Goose, plus Little Brew Porter. Food is served, my colleagues had tremendous looking hot sandwiches with chips. A fine old pub.

We received a good welcome from the manager, who was friendly and chatty. He gave us great info about the pub and told us about the hidden priest hole in the chimney breast in the front room. The old cast iron cooker in the dining area was also of interest. Six ales in operation, we went for the Ossett Silver King which was well kept.

No visible cleavages on the two male bar staff on our visit. The last time I visited here was a good number of years ago. On that occasion I liked the look of the pub, but the beer selection was very poor and we hadn't been in since. However, Ouse Boozer and OB have both said that it had improved, so we called in. The pub has been well described by others, so I won't bother. Six handpumps on the bar with four beers available. The turned round clips both had Urban Hopwork Orange badges on. The others were Hobgoblin, and 3 from Rudgate. I had a pint of Rudgate Blonde which was in good nick and we started chatting to the friendly bar staff. It's now a pub that we will definitely call in again. Good turnaround guys, please keep it going.

Looks and location make this something of a tourist destination, it's old and not too messed about. Removal of internal walls means it's a flow of different spaces, although a room to the left side (from Walmgate) , all too close to the Gents, is a comfortable if cramped mix of the mediaeval, Georgian, Victorian and maybe some 20th Century bunkum. For the rest blackened beams, grizzled studs marking the site of old walls and a bit of olde world charm. The right hand room is as Soup Dragon describes. Three handpumps on each on the two counter faces with some decent local ales in addition to some national brands and kegs. Full of middle aged, tourist, diners on the lunchtime I called in. There seemed to be a cleavage of the month competition going on between the two barmaids so that's all good then.

Official site of the Red Lion - redlionyork.com