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Detail Pages
Garden Gate, Leeds
Hunslet
Postal town: Leeds
LS10 2QB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Garden Gate
What a great privilege to have visited this stunning pub. I had wanted to visit here for quite some time to marvel at the curved ceramic bar counter, one of only 14 remaining in the UK. Also of equal interest was the ceramic green Edwardian fireplace, which was lit on our visit. As soon as we entered the bar, we were made most welcome from the locals, who were proud that we had taken the time to visit.
There were 6 handpumps in operation, we went for the Moorhouse Pride of Pendle, Moorhouses So We Shall Again, Sonnet Steam Beer and a Leeds Pale, all were in fabulous condition. The pub was quiet on our Saturday afternoon visit, which gave us a good opportunity to have a good look round.
To get here, we took a mini cab from the Adelphi pub in Leeds at a cost of £3.50, as it is quite a long walk. Buses here are the 12 or 13. Pub opening times are Mon-Thur 12-3 5-11, Fri Sat 12-11 and Sun 12-9.
On 6th April 2015
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Garden Gate
One of the real pub heritage gems, thankfully having found a new lease of life as a community local and real ale destination pub following its acquisition by Leeds Brewery. The façade, finished in various shades of reds and browns, turns out to be much more ornate than it first appears from a distance. Fantastic interior, with features of interest throughout the almost untouched layout. Main bar in the front-left Vaults plus the Smoke Room to the rear (with popular dart board) served by a hatch. Counter in central corridor to serve two side rooms (the front-right Tap Room surprisingly the quietest when I visited). Also has a couple of patio tables out front. Nine handpumps in total, with a range including Leeds Pale and Best, three from Moorhouse's (including So We Shall Again, £2.80) and Doom Bar. A 'must visit' if you have time to get out from the city centre.
On 8th March 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Garden Gate Hotel
A cracking survivor in the total wasteland that is Hunslet these days. OB describes the pub in great detail, so I won't bother. Only 2 of the handpumps in use on our Friday afternoon visit with Leeds Pale & Best on the bar. My pint of Pale was very well kept. It's a fantastic pub, but there's nothing around it to back it up. So I'm afraid I'll probably not visit again, but I'm glad I did visit.
On 22nd September 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Garden Gate
A magnificent heritage pub (CAMRA listed) hidden away off the main road and semi-subsumed into a grim 1970’s estate in run-down Hunslet (easily bussable from Leeds city centre, not sure I’d advise walking myself). OB describes in detail below, so I’ll limit myself to repeating the immediate stand-out features – multi-roomed, etched glasswork, cacophony of glazed tiling and intricate mosaic work, magnificent bar back, mirrors and fireplaces. Very little has changed in the intervening century. Incredible to think that this was slated for demolition in the 70s; you can imagine the travesty that would have been planted in its place simply by standing outside. This place used to be owned by Tetley’s but is now under the wing of Leeds Brewery, who are at least putting their money where their mouths are. There were three Leeds ales on my visit and my Midnight Bell was in good shape. If you have the time to spare it’s well-worth getting a trip in. Though I don’t think I’d want to chance it on my own after dark.
On 1st September 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about Garden Gate Hotel
An absolute stunner of an ornate pub. Set in an urban waste land area once famed for heavy engineering and the manufacture of traction engines, you would never expect to find such a fine example of the art of the late Victorian encaustic tile industry. A red brick building, terracotta and tile faced, entering the lobby the floor has Garden Gate picked out in mosaic, to your left is the door to the Vaults and ahead through etched glass double doors is a corridor tiled with Ars Nouveau patterned cream tiles down one side and a mix of etched and stained glass down the other. Leading off this corridor is a tap room with no counter, some service rooms and a serving hatch opening onto the counter of the Vaults. Beyond that but sadly closed off for cleaning on my visit, is another bar and the Smoke Room served by a hatch. In the Vaults the entire room is either tiled or etched and stained window, the ceiling is moulded and the floor is mosaic. The bar counter is a magnificent tiled edifice similar to the one in the Black Horse in Preston and the bar back is a splendid mahogany example. There is a rather plain tiled fireplace and a freeze of superb Ars Nouveau decoration. A large screen TV dominates one end of the bar and looks very incongruous but pubs have to respond to the customers changing needs. Seating is traditional benches and stools with “sewing machine” style cast iron tables. Only Tetleys Cask occasionally sold alongside a standard range of lagers and smooths etc from Becks, Strongbow, Guinness, Tetleys and John Smiths. A very quiet session with just a few old lads in enjoying the sport on TV and a friendly landlord keeping busy about the place and popping his head in the bar now and again to check on things. If you love the ornate this is a don't miss pub in the same class as some of Liverpool's finest. A Tetley Heritage pub and obviously on Camra's National Inventory it featured in the May 2002 edition of What's Brewing.
===Update 2011===
Now purchased by the Leeds Brewery so there's no excuse for not going out to Hunslet to enjoy the magnificence of the Grade II* listed building and the fine beers.
On 24th February 2011
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]