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The Swan, York
York
YO23 1JH
Pub Type
Punch TavernsReviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Swan Inn
Quirky old style pub with the bar in the middle of the corridor and rooms either side. Six real ales on and two ciders. The pub is dog friendly. The pub makes a good triple header with the slip inn & the golden ball.
On 13th December 2014
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Swan Inn
A good pub to finish our day round York as we stay close to the Swan and the Slip, and it's early evening opening times it just right too. Love the place, with it's 2 rooms and large corridor bar area. There is actually a decent outside area too for sunny days. Beers chosen were Dark Munro from Highland, and Foxy Blonde from Scottish Borders. Not our last visit while staying at the nearby caravan site.
On 20th September 2013
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Swan Inn
Am a great fan of pubs with their heritage interiors and the Swan certainly delivered. We also liked the layout of this pub and enjoyed a few well kept ales in the front lounge admiring the terrazzo floor. Six ales and two ciders, the Tyneside Blonde was great.
On 11th August 2013
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Swan Inn
The Swan is a fantastic Grade II listed inter-war built pub, modeled in the late Victorian style and retaining a great number of original features. A pub has been on this site since 1861, but its present incarnation dates back to a late 1930’s remodeling by the then owners, Tetley’s. You enter into a sizeable lobby area with a servery hatch on the left hand side underneath a glazed screen. There are a few bar stools here but, for the sake of comfort, most customers were in one of the two rooms either side of the servery. The front room is the public bar and has terrazzo flooring, some dark wood paneling and banquette and low stool seating with the bell pushes still in evidence. A small hatch again gives access to the bar, although the hand pulls can’t be viewed from here. The second room is a comfortable lounge bar, again with its own servery hatch. The room is carpeted with more banquettes and bell pushes, a tiled fireplace with CAMRA magazines and Good Beer Guides on the mantelpiece and an art deco mirror above. Some old pictures of the pub hang from the walls and there is a good framed collection of pump clips from the Salamander Brewery. A large dog lay spread-eagled in the middle of the room during my stay and kind of summed up the relaxing vibe of the place.
Given the pub’s association with Tetley’s over the years, it was only right that Tetley’s Cask was available alongside Taylor Landlord, Saltaire Cream Stout and Blonde, Wharfebank Best Bitter and Tempest Emanation. I gave the Cream Stout a try after much deliberation and was served a fantastic pint in tip-top condition. The staff seemed very friendly and there was a good group of locals in just after opening at 16:00. The pub seems to be very well thought of locally and I remember when we stayed in a nearby B&B last year, the owner was insistent that we paid a visit to the Swan as it was, in his words, ‘the best pub in town’.
Personally, I’m not sure it’s possible to pick a ‘best pub’ in a city blessed with so many contenders, but this is certainly one of the front runners, not only for the wonderfully preserved interior, but also for the warm welcome and good beer selection and quality.
On 22nd February 2013
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Swan Inn
Long established GBG regular and it is featured in the 2013 guide. This is a Tetley Heritage pub and it shows. It has what is known as a "West Riding" layout with a central bar dispensing beer to the main room and both the side rooms. There are some great photo's on the walls of local pubs and a real fire in the lounge. 6 handpumps for cask ale serving Tetley Bitter, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Saltaire Blonde and 3 changing guest plus a couple of real ciders. Every pint I've ever had in here, and I've had a few over the years, has always been in very good nick. There's also a small walled garden which is fantasic in summer, but not so good when it's freezing like it was on our recent visit. It's a great pub.
On 9th December 2012
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Swan Inn
Always enjoy our visit to this 2010 Good Beer Guide pub whenever we are in York. Love the style of the interior, although it can be difficult to see the beers on offer for the folk sitting on stools in front of the bar in the corridor. Shame about the 4pm opening as it means it is nearly always at the end of our York pub crawl, so we are running out of capacity, but we did enjoy the Goose Eye Sunchaser. Will be moving on tomorrow so will miss the beer festival of 40 beers being held next weekend between them and the Slip Inn down the road.
March 11 update.
Had one of our best beers of the week last night here. Ridgeside Brewers Reserve was excellent. Also enjoyed Revolutions The Original 33, a tasty mild beer. Friendly staff even at the end of the day as they were starting to clear up. Dog friendly pub too.
On 16th March 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Swan Inn
A recent winner of the local Camra pub of the year, a well-deserved accolade for this excellent pub. There were six ales on hand pump on our recent visit (Saltaire Blonde, Salamander Dark Side, Tetleys Bitter, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Ossett Revolution and Doctor Morton's Duck Baffler from Abbeydale). There was also a cider and a perry available on hand pump. There was a good, friendly atmosphere though the pub was not particularly busy. The lounge has a coal fire, and pictures on the wall of other local pubs, which is a nice touch.
On 13th March 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3751 recommendations about 3486 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Swan Inn
Situated in the residential Bishophill area of the City, in close proximity to The Golden Ball, just outside the city walls, ( indeed you can see the pub as you're doing your tourist bit and walking the walls ) is The Swan, a splendidly traditional street corner pub that is included in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.
It's a multi roomed pub with a large central drinking lobby and bar counter, off which are a number of rooms each serviced by a hatch from the main bar. Note the glazed screen above the counter, the old bell pushes in the lounge and the tiling in the gents toilets.
It's badged as a Tetley's pub and is one of their Heritage Inns.
On my recent evening visit, beers on included Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and beers from Stonehenge, Saltaire and Nook. The Golden Pippin was in good form. The pub is another CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular.
Several flyers in the pub were advertising quiz night at The Slip Inn, a pub which is nearby and, according to the friendly locals, is "worth dropping in on sometime".
This is one of my favourite York pubs, but, as with The Golden Ball down the road, it doesn't do lunchtime opening during the week.
On 15th October 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
I L left this review about The Swan Inn
What a wonderful street corner pub this is. There are not very many pubs where the corridor is the largest area of the pub and to add to this the main bar is in the corridor. Don't let this put you off as there are seats and tables in this area with numerous smartly kept rooms off this. The range of ales is also very good. Although this pub doesnt look unpleasant from the outside, the inside is miles better. This pub well deserves to be in CAMRA national pub inventory. A varied range of clientele adds to this pubs appeal. Well worth the 10 - 15 minute walk from York railway station.
On 27th August 2010
- rating: 9
[User has posted 287 recommendations about 284 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Swan Inn
Famous for the quality of the ale and its unspoilt thirties interior in a multiroom interior with a slight twist on the drinking corridor theme, the counter is central in a broader section the corridor rather than the cosy bar rooms. Great choice of well kept ales, shame it doesn't open before 4 during the week.
On 1st August 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3276 recommendations about 2982 pubs]