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Chat about:
Pub annoyances #834 with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Handley Tap, York
Osbaldwick
Postal town: York
YO19 5UP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Old Boots left this review about Handley Tap
Brew York’s weekends only taproom based at their Osbaldwick brewery and HQ. The taproom usual of a large open space in an industrial building, most of it seems to be warehousing for canned beers and racks for cask conditioning in wood. There’s a servery to the right when you enter from the yard, the rest of the taproom is filled with seating comprising a mix of sofas and chairs and tables of every imaginable type, each table with a daft tea light, including the inevitable casks as tables and firkins used as table bases. There’s a pool table to one side and a street food stall in the front corner, Cluck N Dough today, not sure if that changes as at other taprooms. Gossamer fine banners advertising Brew York beers hang from the roof as decor. The counter has four hand pumps with three running today and 10 keg taps on the back wall obviously with a range of Brew York beers and there’s a couple of fridges. The cask was a touch tired and the keg over carbonated, cold but not dreadfully chilled. A screen above scrolls through the choices, this is repeated on an even bigger pull down screen, sometimes replaced with sport of some sort further back in the building. This is fed from a projector balanced on a Tun cask. Similar middle class clientele to Graham’s visit maybe less knitwear and certainly only a few rugrats and beards. Actually as I left a hill billy family with beards and brats arrived, I could almost hear the Duelling Banjos.
Is it worth the bus ride out*, well only if you collect brewery taprooms, I’ll stick with their place in Walmgate or even Leeds (when it’s open).
*other forms of transport are available.
On 1st April 2024
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3276 recommendations about 2982 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Handley Tap
To the back of a rather run-down industrial estate there is one modern building. Entering inauspiciously past the offices and toilets you find yourself in a large industrial space with a rack of beer-ageing barrels separating the brewing bit beyond. A homemade-looking bar stands to one side, with 10 keg taps on the wall behind and a couple of handpumps on the counter. Above is a screen detailing the brews on offer, all Brew York stuff apart from a couple of ciders. Prices seemed to be same as in town, where you get a better selection. There is a can fridge and a cocktail section also.
A good quantity of seating consists of a mismatched collection of large tables and chairs, with a few cast-off sofas for comfort. Catering is usually provided by a kitchen van of some sort outside, which means leaving the side access open to arctic winds, if you are not lucky. The clientele on a Saturday afternoon were mostly knitwear-wearing families out for a walk, beards obligatory (for males at least). Fair enough if you like brewery taps but not really worth the schlep out of town.
On 19th November 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3352 recommendations about 3289 pubs]