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Ye Olde Kings Head, Chester
Chester
CH1 1RS
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Very dark pub which was full of tourists eating fish and chips during our visit, which meant that the pub smelled like a chippy. Looks very old, but how much of it is original is anyone's guess. Only Doom Bar available from the 4 handpumps, but surprisingly this was in good nick and was as good as this pretty ubiquitous beer gets. Next time we're in the area we'll miss this one out though.
On 28th November 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
I think I’ll side with Steve C rather than Sam Hodgkinson, you really have to be clueless to mess up keg beers like Guinness or John Smiths, clean the lines; wield a spanner; job done; it’s a skill free job. Lots of dark old wood and decorated and furnished in keeping. There’s a suit of armour in one corner, a pub pretty much aimed at the tourist market I would suggest. Six pulls, two in use with an odd and poor local beer and Doombar. Two T-bars of standard kegs. Nah.
On 25th August 2022
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Sam Hodgkinson left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Great pub. Very dark which adds to the charm. Staff polite. Well kept John Smiths and Guinness. Good range available.
On 12th June 2021
- rating: 8
[User has posted 12 recommendations about 12 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Ye Olde Kings Head consists of a dimly lit L-shaped bar area to the left and a rectangular Tudor style booth seating area to the right, complete with Henry VIII portrait. More seating is found in the bar area where there is a fireplace, which was bedecked with fairy lights. Hopefully this is just for the summer months. There is no television, but there was some low background music playing.
Available from the bar was a standard and premium keg range and I counted six hand pumps. Two of these were unused leaving Black Sheep and Sharp’s Doom Bar alongside Pennine Amber Necker and Heartland. The menu is made up of traditional pub fayre, the burger is priced at £12.95. I found the service to be polite, but I saw nothing here to make me revisit.
On 28th July 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5254 recommendations about 5222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
looks like a promising ultra old pub from outside but doesn't really live up to that which is a shame. has been knocked through completely and the real ale was an underwhelming choice of Lemon Dream and Doom Bar. still it isn't unpleasant and worth popping in for a swift half I guess.
On 1st December 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Oggwyn Great left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Popped in here for a last drink of the night and ended staying for an hour or so , there was an exellent acoustic guitarist/singer playing and a pleasant atmosphere , a couple of real ales on Doombar and Beartown Kodiac , customers were the more mature type and staff quick and friendly .
A pleasant suprise
On 6th May 2017
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 797 recommendations about 683 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Not the best pub on the road but its just about worth popping in. As others have noted it is very olde worlde. Its split into 2 areas with the right side of the pub set up more for dining and drinking. The main part of the pub can seem quite dark and slightly cramped. Usually has a lovely roaring fire in winter months. Real ale today was Dunscar Stout and Erddig Brewery Jolly Rambler.
On 1st March 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Virtually next door to The Brewery Tap in Lower Bridge Street is Ye Olde Kings Head.
Externally, it’s a typically impressive and imposing black and white Tudor style frontage, so prevalent in Chester’s city centre. The pub sign tells us that it was established in 1622. The familiar blue plaque on the outside wall tells us that it was the home of The Mayor of Chester, Randle Holme from 1633 to 1634.
Inside we find black ceiling beams, wonky floor to ceiling timber framed beams, leaded frosted windows and, with little natural light, a rather dark interior. Furniture is the usual spindle back chairs and wooden tables.
A separate sturdy oak door entrance, but seemingly part of the same premises, leads into The Renaissance Restaurant, but this seemed to have closed for the afternoon on my recent late afternoon September visit.
Nobody would say that Chester’s Lower Bridge Street is underpubbed and, based on my visit, Ye Olde Kings Head is struggling with the competition. At 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon, when other pubs nearby were reasonably busy, the only customers here were a passing pub anorak – yours truly – and an elderly silver haired lady sitting on a stool at the bar and who all the staff ( of whom there was certainly no shortage ) addressed as “Our Beryl”.
On the real ale front, beers on were advertised as being Hobgoblin and Doom Bar, but the latter had just gone off. It was being replaced by Deuchars IPA, but, for some reason which I never established, despite extensive efforts with the screwdriver, the bar staff seemed unable to affix the pump clip to the pump and finally seemed to give up, leaving the pump clip bare. How, if at all, they eventually sorted this difficulty out, I never discovered.
This is yet another attractive looking Chester pub – and there’s more of a genuine olde worlde feel than the nearby Bear and Billet for instance – but, based on my visit, it’s some way off the pace and, with an uninspiring beer range, it’s probably worth giving a miss
On 5th November 2012
- rating: 5
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Oggwyn Great left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Nice looking olde world pub , opened out inside but with plenty of original features . 3 ales on Deuchars IPA , Brakspear Bitter and i had a Black Sheep Bitter which was just about OK not bad enough to take back but not far away , lots of people eating but a large group on a Stag Night were upsetting a lot of them (good natured but the language was choice and loud) with yhe landlord seemingly not bothered . The beer and atmosphere well down on my last visit
On 2nd May 2010
- rating: 4
[User has posted 797 recommendations about 683 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about Ye Olde Kings Head
Perhaps the nicest looking of all the pubs in Chester; it is a large corner terrace pub, in black timber and white render, with some stonework.
The interior is spacious and open plan, with a great stone fireplace, and continuing the black ceiling and support beams and white look, with a mainly wood floor. There were a few brass ornaments, but no real pictures. Service was ok, the clietele few, but mixed. The backgroung music was 60s, but a bit loud.
Beer; tap stuff, with a decent Adnams Broadside on handpull, along with Wells Bombardier.
I enjoyed my visit here and will happily go back.
On 9th November 2009
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]