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Detail Pages
The Midnight Bell, Leeds
Leeds
LS11 5QN
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Midnight Bell
The Midnight Bell is a fairly new pub that is housed in an old building,i walked past it in the morning and did'nt notice it.
Once inside there is a L shaped room which has a tiled floor,the seating is mainly normal tables and chairs,there is also a decent room upstairs which also has normal tables and chairs.
The pub is a Leeds brewery tied house,there was a very good choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Leeds Best which went down well,the other beers i noted were Pale,Gold,Midnight Bell,Gingerbread ? and Intrepid Porter.
The pub was packed on my early Saturday evening visit with Leeds bright young people,background music was playing.
I quite liked it here.
Pub visited 13/2/2016
On 28th March 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Midnight Bell
We popped in here on a Sunday evening and the pub was completely empty. After a while we realised that the upstairs function room was packed out with one of their regular acoustic nights. The bar had the full range of Leeds Brewery ales, so I settled on the Leeds Best, whilst Mrs A went for the Leeds Gold. A well run pub, definitely worth a visit.
On 14th June 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Midnight Bell
This Leeds Brewery pub occupies a small part of the regenerated Round Foundry where engineer Matthew Murray produced the world’s first commercially viable steam locomotive, the Salamanca. The pub is a smart, modern affair with a fairly strong emphasis on food. You enter into the stone floored main bar area – a roughly L shaped space with windows at the front and back allowing a lot of light in on my lunchtime visit. There are plenty of tables of various sizes with standard seating, one high table without any stools and a carpeted front corner with a sofa, all of which should cater to most people’s needs. The servery has a bare brick bar back and some interesting panelling under the bar counter with the Leeds Brewery pump clip shape incorporated into each panel. Pump clips have been displayed over the bar and the pastel shaded walls boast their fair share of brewerania, mainly in the shape of enamel beer adverts, which makes the place feel a bit like the kind of craft beer bar you might find in the capital. A smaller room can be found to the left of the entrance with a slightly cosier feel to it appeared to be very popular with diners. Further seating can be found in the nice, open plan first floor space which is bare boarded and has various art works on display which are also on sale. Some large windows look down to the courtyard below which has plenty of seating and hosts summer parties according to various posters around the pub.
As you might expect, Leeds Brewery beers dominated the handpulls, with Pale, Best, Gathering Storm and the eponymous Midnight Bell all available alongside two guest ales – Roosters YPA and Farmyard Fruits Farmer Jim. Three third-pint glasses on a taster tray could be ordered for £3.40 if you wanted to try more of the ale range. A blackboard listed some bottled beers, mostly from Belgium and the US, whilst the keg fonts offered the likes of Corvus Stout, Liefmans Fruitesse, Aspalls cider and a couple of beers from the Brooklyn Brewery. I gave the Leeds Pale a try and thought it was pretty good, if not quite on top form. The popular menu listed sandwiches and chips around £6-7 and heartier main courses either side of a tenner.
Considering the pub’s interesting location, there is a sense that the pub doesn’t really capitalise on its heritage and in this respect I found this to be a bit of a missed opportunity. The gastro element of this pub seemed harder to avoid than in the neighbouring Cross Keys, but the main bar remained a nice spot to relax over a pint and all told, this is another worthy Holbeck pub.
On 10th October 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Midnight Bell
Modern 'L'-shaped bar in a converted building, with an upstairs seating and and a large patio beer garden at the back. Good range of guest beers as well those from Leeds Brewery (e.g. the eponymous Midnight Bell, £3.10 and excellent). Overall, well worth a joint visit along with the nearby Cross Keys. (NB - Review dates from August 2011.)
On 5th February 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Midnight Bell
A new Leeds brewery-owned outlet aimed at the younger, upwardly mobile punter. The interior is very bistro-cum-wine bar and rather uncomfortably clinical for my tastes, I prefer a bit more charm. Four Leeds beers on over six pumps and I was happy with my Pale. Also a number of high-end foreign bottles available in the fridge. Situated over two levels with a large (if characterless) courtyard area for summer drinking; a stab at the continental, maybe. Worth popping in if you want to stock up on the local wares but there are more worthy places to see if you’re a first-time crawler of the city. Still, it’s good to see a small brewery pushing their wares in surroundings that aren’t just aimed at old farts like me I suppose.
On 1st September 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Midnight Bell
Modern conversion from a Victorian building being used as an industrial unit. A small seating area to the left as you enter and a larger L shaped area around the bar. Upstairs is a larger area set up with dining tables and there's a decent sized outdoor patio. It's quite minimalist, like many new bars, including the Leeds Brewery Tap. They serve similar food to the Tap here using the same type of menu boards. Only 3 beers on when we visited all from Leeds themselves, Pale, Best & Midnight Bell. As we were in it's namesake I had a pint of the Midnight Bell, which was top class. Service was quick and friendly and we were lucky enough to get seats in the small corner seating area. Much to the disgust of an over made up redhead who was heading for the seats herself. She spent the next 20 minutes glaring at us which almost persuaded us to have another round just to stop her getting the seats. :-)) But The Grove was calling so we moved on. It's a decent place is this and makes for a good double header with the Cross Keys.
On 24th June 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3223 recommendations about 3134 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Chris 87 left this review about The Midnight Bell
This is a contemporary bar-style establishment, part of the Holbeck Urban Village development. It was thronging on our visit due to the weather and its spacious outside area, with tables and chairs, deckchairs and a small patch of grass. As the name suggests, it is run by Leeds Brewery and the interior bears a resemblance to its stablemate, the Brewery Tap. It features a range of premium lagers and stocks guest Ales, on our visit the hitherto-untried Eager Owl (a dark 4% beer which was much enjoyed). I thought the interior was a little bland all told, although I am glad that such a pub owned by a small local brewery is doing so well.
On 3rd July 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 179 recommendations about 179 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Midnight Bell
Crisp and modern wine bar style bar owned by the Leeds Brewery. L shaped ground floor, a very large outdoor area and, unexplored by me, an upper floor. 9 handpumps serving three beers from Leeds; Pale, Best and Midnight Bell plus a guest I forgot to note because my pint of Best was positively perfect in every way. Some of the “cooler” brands of continental beers also available here served in the appropriate glassware. Light wood furniture mostly of the hard seating variety and mostly arranged for dining. Tasteful décor in various shades of light grey with matt white woodwork incorporating the Leeds Brewery corporate shape as used on their pump clips and bottle labels. On the ball, friendly and enthusiastic, young team of staff. You may be able to guess the customer profile, young to youngish, trendy to trendyish, urbanite ubercools and those who want to be thought ubercool; oh and a couple of old farts like myself. A little pretentious but in a very Leeds kind of way. Although not quite up to the standard of Walters Bar in Hull, like the Cross Keys almost next door this is the kind of place that proves good ale doesn't need to be sold in some sort of doss house or museum.
On 24th October 2009
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3230 recommendations about 2939 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Midnight Bell
The Midnight Bell was the first of Leeds Brewery's pubs, being a converted grade II Victorian building. So it scores immediately for being a building of character kept alive by a new use as a pub.
However I also found the bright swanky wine bar feel and overly loud music on the evening of our visit not to my liking and we had to go to the upstairs area where it was quieter so that we could talk to each other.
Probably means it's popular with students and there were a few in on this weekend evening. But I'm way past that stage and the Cross Keys a few doors along was much more to my taste.
However the real plus of The Midnight Bell is the Leeds Brewery ales, which were excellent.
On 13th April 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]