House of the Trembling Madness, York

Reputed to be a medieval drinking hall, in reality it could have been anything, but the building is undoubtably very old. One main room with a small side room as you enter at the top of the stairs, which is where we sat. There's a box on the wall in here that says "Giant Spider, Do Not Open". Who knows what's really in there as you can't see in, but we didn't risk opening it either :-)) Lot's of old chunky furniture, stuffed animals and furs aroud the wall. I'm pleased to report that there is now a newly installed handpump on the bar. This was serving Thornbridge Ashford when we called in which was well kept. It must be a hell of a pull up from the cellar in the basement. It's a quirky little place, typical of York. We called late afternoon, I think we'll call in when it's dark outside next time as I suspect it's very atmospheric in the evening. A great addition to the York real ale scene.

OK, some of the mammals are small (mouse, mole, rabbit), but there's also a lion and what I think might have been a jaguar. Space is limited - we arrived to find a "bar full" notice at the back of the off licence, but 45 minutes later we returned and made our way upstairs. Most of the space is taken up with tables which were occupied by diners but after being buffeted by waiters for a few minutes we found a bench at the top of the stairs which was OK for as long as it took to drink a half of 8.4% tripel. An interesting experience - not sure how much of the “medieval drinking hall” is genuine, though it looks pretty good - but not really what I would call a pub.