survive in street names nearby. In fact, on 20/11/17, Doug and I had visited the Brudenell Social Club, listed in the GBG, on a previous visit to Leeds by train. Following a sensitive refurbishment inside it was reopened in 2017. There are eight handpulls on the beautiful, curving central bar, giving drinkers the chance to try some of Kirkstall Brewery’s own beers. The one we both went for was Kirkstall Black Band Porter, a superb 5.5% porter described in the Good Beer Guide as “dark-coloured, smooth and complex with sumptuous fruit cake flavours, hints of malted chocolate, coffee and liquorice plus occasional smokiness”. Dangerously drinkable, it went down a treat. Food is also served here, in what will undoubtedly end up being another flagship public house in the Kirkstall Brewery empire, the other one being The Bridge, Kirkstall. It’s a pub at the heart of its community which has now
been given a new lease of life and proved to be my favourite pub in Leeds. It was actually built in 1896 and is a classic Grade II-listed Victorian pub with four separate rooms off the L-shaped bar. It has fine woodwork, etched glass and ornamental ceilings and looks absolutely magnificent. It will be even better if plans to restore the derelict Cardigan Arms brewery come to fruition, which still exists in the back yard of the pub. My colleague Mike Perkins will be extremely pleased to see a pub from his home town featured in one of my articles at last, a pub he no doubt knows well. Next time he is going back to Yorkshire to visit relatives, ask him for a lift as this pub really is unmissable.
David Williams
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