The Fox, Holgate, York

My first heritage pub of the day on a brief visit to York, and despite the early hour (4:30 in the afternoon) it was fairly busy, which is good. The main room, at the front on the right, was fairly crowded and I couldn't get a particularly good look at what was on, though there's also a blackboard on the wall to the left of the counter (five Ossett beers and two guests, of which one was Tetleys Bitter and the other something from Brew York). Actually, as it's an Ossett pub all I was really looking for was Silver King, whose pump clip was initially hidden by someone's shoulder. I took my pint (NBSS 4) and tried to find a room where the rather loud background music was less unignorable than everywhere else, and succeeded to an extent in a small side room towards the rear. This is a lovely pub and it's good to see it so well used by local people.

Another decent pub in Holgate, this is a multi roomed pub with lots of interesting features. We ventured into the small front bar and enjoyed chatting to the locals and received some very precise notes on a quick way back to York Railway Station, which shaved off a good ten minutes walking. Seven pumps in operation, five Ossett, a Tetley's and one cider.

This was once a Tetley Heritage pub and it shows. It's now under the stewardship of Ossett brewery who have a very good record of keeping good looking pubs at their best. There's a long corridor straight in front of you as you enter, but the bar is off to the right. There's a multitude of rooms, some quite small and all with different styles. We ended up sitting in one of the rooms on the right hand side and got chatting to the other people in there almost immediately. Several Ossett beers available along with a couple from their satellite breweries Rat & Fernandes and a single guest ale from Acorn. The plan was to call in here for one and then walk back into town via the Volunteer, which we did, but only after having two in here, both of which were in very good nick. It's a very good pub and we'll be back soon.

Situated in the Holgate neighbourhood, but still a relatively short walk from the train station (albeit in the wrong direction for the city centre), this is a great community local run by the Ossett Brewery. The pub was built for local railway workers in 1878 and retains a traditional multiple room layout to this day. Entering into a corridor, the main front bar is immediately to the right, in a small but smart room with a tiled floor and dark wood servery which has a simple frosted glass bar back. A curved button backed banquette runs along the front wall and there is a nice tiled fireplace on the end wall with a huge Ossett mirror above. The walls have been decorated with a large collection of fox themed artworks, which I thought looked really good. The corridor hosts a few slot machines, which is a bit out of keeping with the rest of the pub's look, although there were a couple of TV screens showing an England football match throughout the pub. Moving on, there is a smart lounge style room to the left - a bare boarded space with banquette and low stool seating, broken up by partitioning screens with fox motif stained glass inserts. A large pub mirror dominates the décor, which includes all sorts of old odds and ends and probably merits further exploration. Further back, past some pump clip wallpaper you find a small rear bar (the 'tramcar room') with parquet flooring and button backed banquettes with luggage racks filled with suitcases above. Another tiled fireplace can be found on the far wall. Finally at the back, two snugs appear - one with curved padded banquettes and another with basic seating and access to what appeared to be a massive beer garden. Ossett stable beers took up much of the space on handpull, but there was space for a few guests, with the full range on this visit comprising Ossett Yorkshire Blonde, Excelsior and Silver King, Fernandes Folk Lore and Jackdaw Mild, Roosters 41 Degrees South, Exit 33 Blonde and, in a nod to the pub's former owners, Tetley's Cask. My pint of the Roosters was fantastic and I found the staff and locals to be very friendly and accommodating. This is a pub that seemed to attract a good customer mix based on my Friday night visit, by appealing to the pub traditionalist, beer lovers, sports fans and creating an environment in which people can feel welcome and comfortable. I really enjoyed my time here and thought it was a great showcase for the Ossett Brewery.