Within the Walls Blog

Welcome to Within the Walls Blog, a York Pub Guide which aims to review every pub and bar within and just beyond the City Walls,​as well as providing Pub Crawls and City Guides for the York Beer Scene. Visit the website via the link below.

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Within the Walls is changing on Facebook & Instagram.

As our wanderlust grows to explore pubs beyond the walls that's exactly what we will be doing. As we've already started doing, just with a bit more consistency.

A simple guide reporting back about the pubs we discover out there in the big wide world, aka Yorkshire! 😉

So Roaming the Ridings - A Yorkshire Pub Guide is born! 👶

We'll still be specialising in York Pubs of course, so you can expect the same content on that front but with just some more beer based exploration along the way.

Check out our links below, give us a follow and tell us where we should head next for a good pint?

A Yorkshire Pub Guide | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook | Linktree

Within the Walls / Roaming the Ridings (Specialising in York Pubs)

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The Within the Walls Winter Newsletter is here

https://mailchi.mp/364.../within-the-walls-winter-newsletter

New products in the shop, a Scarborough Pub Tour and details on futures events, check it out and subscribe to receive the occasional email direct to your inbox.  

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Pub of the Year 2022

Congratulations to The Golden Ball who have been crowned the Within the Walls Pub of the Year 2022, the same year they celebrated their 10th year as a co-op pub and what a perfect way to celebrate this great pub!

https://www.withinthewallsyork.com/poty.html

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Up Coming Events

The Snickleways Pub Crawl Sat 29th October This year our Autumn Pub Crawl will be an all new version of The Snickleways Pub Crawl. Inspired by the 1983 book “A Walk around the Snickelways of York” by Mark W. Jones it follows a route visiting 9 pubs throughout the City travelling by as many of the aforementioned snickleways as possible. Anyone is welcome to join our friendly group on the day or you can head out and do it yourself. We will be visiting the following pubs...

The Hole in the Wall

Cross Keys

Walmgate Ale House

The Blue Boar

Burns Hotel

The Blue Bell

Valhalla

Ye Olde Starre Inne

The Snickleway Inn

We'll be meeting at The Hole in the Wall at 1:30pm.

RSVP to the Facebook Event for updates. You can download your own map from our website.

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Tap Trips: Turning Point (Knaresborough) Sat 19th November Within the Walls presents Tap Trips, Pub Crawls that go beyond the walls to visit some of the best Craft Breweries in local Towns and Cities. Our first Trip will be to Knaresborough to visit the awesome Turning Point Brew Co. for one of their special weekend open days. We will also visit a few of the local pubs as well, RSVP to the Facebook Event for updates. We will be meeting at York Station at 1:30pm. All welcome.

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New Review - The Last Drop Inn

A great traditional pub with a welcoming community feel & a superb range of local craft beers. The recent refurbishment has done wonders.

Read the full review here.

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New Review - The Piccadilly 🍺🍺🍺

A pleasant little café bar that despite a fairly standard range of keg only beer is an oasis of calm away from the busy high street.

Read the full review here.

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Pub Crawl Events Newsletter

Firstly it was great to see so many people out for The 7th Four Towers Challenge last week. Some new faces and some older ones too. It was wonderful to get out for a proper day of pubbing after a 2 year hiatus. We did fail the challenge as we ended up a little delayed at The Rook. Thanks to Paul the Landlord for managing to fit us all in and feed us though, we only missed one section of the walls. I'll revise the Pub Crawl for next year to allow for this. Even if you didn't make it out you can do the Pub Crawl at any time, at least when there's enough daylight to get round the Walls. Check out the page on our website as the map will stay up until I update it for next year. The Four Towers Challenge

Our next event is something a little different but the 3rd year we've done this particular Pub Crawl as we enjoy it so much. On Saturday 6th August Within the Walls presents a 14 mile Cross Country Pub Crawl visiting 5 rural Pubs and The Towton Battlefield; the site of the most bloodiest battle in English history. Meeting at Cawood Castle Gatehouse at 11:30am and walking to The Fenton Flyer at Church Fenton, The Boot & Shoe at Barkston Ash, The Rockingham Arms at Towton, The Greyhound at Saxton and finishing at The Crooked Billet for food. Cawood is easily accessed via the No.42 Arriva bus for the meeting point. RSVP to the Facebook Event Here. For further info and if you want to download your own route map visit the website.

Finally, here are some future dates for the diary... York Beer & Cider Festival is taking place on the York Knavesmire, 14th-17th September, I should be kicking about over a couple of days if anyone wants a beer, full reports across the socials as usual. You can find out more info about the Festival on their website. https://yorkbeerfestival.com Our Autumn Pub Crawl will be held on Saturday 29th October, we're planning to do The Snickleways Pub Crawl this year. For now save the date and I'll post more info nearer the time. Don't forget you can always check the Events page of the Website for the very latest info.

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The 7th Four Towers Challenge

The Four Towers Challenge is back on Saturday 2nd July after a two year hiatus! For those that don’t know the Four Tower’s Challenge follows York’s Bar Walls on a Pub Crawl visiting 9 fine Pubs along the way, the challenge is to get all the way around before they close at dusk.

We will be stopping slightly longer at The Rook & Gaskill for people to refuel on some fine food from their kitchen.

Feel free to do the Challenge in your own time but you are more than welcome to join our group for the day.

The pubs for 2022 will be:

Trafalgar Bay

The Maltings

Minster Inn

Eagle & Child

The Keystones

Black Swan Inn

The Rook & Gaskill

The Phoenix Inn

The Golden Ball

We will be meeting at The Trafalgar Bay at 1:30pm, for more details on the event and to download your very own route map visit The Four Towers Challenge page on our website.

RSVP to the Facebook Event here.

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New Review - Minster Inn ****

The Minster Inn is a beautiful little Edwardian pub just beyond the City walls, tucked down the narrow street of Marygate which runs along the section of walls surrounding the Museum Gardens and down toward the Rive Ouse. You enter via a central corridor which leads off to three small rooms and the rear beer garden. Despite the narrowness and room size access is pretty flat and decent throughout, there’s just the usual entrance steps to consider, not bad for such an old building. The first of these rooms is on the right-hand side is open to the corridor as it’s the most important in the pub, the bar. It’s a cosy little space with a real fire, timber floor and wrap around bench seating below leaded windows. These look out onto the walls and mature trees of the park. There’s just enough space here for a couple of tables and some stools at the bar so you can get huddled in with easy access to the beer. Speaking of which there’s a good range of four cask ales served at average prices alongside plenty of the usual keg staples, wines and gins, etc. Service is always great and the staff are very friendly. There’s a welcoming snug opposite with wood panelled walls and Victorian tiled floor and fireplace, warmly lit by antique industrial style lamps. The larger room to the back keeps that traditional feel but is a little lighter and more spacious, especially suited to sit with the family and enjoy one of the Minster Inn’s superb homemade stone baked pizzas. Out the back is a wonderful little enclosed courtyard partially covered with wooden roofed pergolas and with some built-in wooden bench seating, as well as a couple of standard tables and chairs. It’s lovingly decorated with all the old pub signs as well as plenty of flowers when in season. It’s a great little sun trap and the covered section certainly helps with the changeable English weather. Out here you’ll also find the entrance to the Minster Inn’s stable style toilet block but don’t let that put you off, there’s series of cubicles with a central sink area all finely decorated with fresh, bright and clean tiles and wooden shiplap panels, it’s one of nicest toilets we’ve found in our explorations of York. To summarise, the Minster Inn is one of the cosiest and welcoming pubs that we’ve visited, set in beautiful surroundings, it’s a true hidden gem. Because it’s a little way out of the centre it has a peaceful and welcoming air of a proper community pub, it’s definitely worth your time to pay them a visit.

See the full scores on the main website here.

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York Pub Guide Map - UPDATED FOR 2022

Created by Within the Walls this Map has been ​lovingly crafted for you to assist in the exploration and navigation of all the pubs within and just beyond York's City Walls.

Now available as a high quality laminated folding Pocket Guide, perfect to take out with you in your explorations of York's Pubs. The Guide includes all the details you'll need to find the very best drinking establishments, public transport locations, cash machines, local landmarks and of course all of the City's Pubs and Bars with their review score, address and details on whether we recommend them for Cask Ale or Beer Gardens, etc... This is the most up to date and comprehensive map of York pubs out there, your essential guide when visiting the City.

Digital version also available. 

Check out our website for more details.

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Valhalla - Updated Review *****

Since York's first Viking themed pub opened its doors in 2017 it has been a very popular destination for many people, residents and tourists alike. The mix of authenticity, eye for detail and design drew in all lovers of those Norsemen to qwaff the evenings away. To some extent though it was a bit of a victim of its own success and small size, we hadn't been able to get in as often as we would have liked over the years. But in 2021 we discovered exactly just what Valhalla has been doing during the pandemic, and that was making the most amazing expansion of the bar into the two floors above. Valhalla is accessed down a narrow corridor which features a staged archaeological dig beneath a glass panel within the floor, a nice nod to the glass floor of the Yorvik Viking Museum. The corridor leads off to the tiny little individual toilets which are just as detailed in their design as the rest of the bar, solid sturdy doors and cheeky Viking graffiti but not much room to manoeuvre. What used to be the main room has now had the large central table removed along with new access through the back wall to the rest of the building. This all opens up the ground floor space making it much more accessible, which is especially important when you want to get to the bar. It's not just the capacity of the venue that has increased, so has their drinks offering, with some exceptionally good beers brewed by Half Moon Brewery specifically for Valhalla. There are 3 casks and 6 kegs supplying a quality range of local craft ales and cider at average City Centre prices, alongside their usual large range of mead, you can't have a Viking themed bar without mead of course. There is still some seating around the edge of the ground floor but where Valhalla now really excels is upstairs. Climbing the creaky wooden staircase takes you to a wholly deeper immersive experience, the first floor is mostly one large room with chunky wooden furniture, low wooden beams and swathes of real stonework low lit by large groups of candles casting their glow over mounted deer skulls and a fantastic hand painted mural. There's a snug off to one side with a large fireplace and even larger set of antlers wielded by the stag skull above. Here are more traditional chesterfield style seats if the wooden seating of the rest of the bar isn't to your liking. Helpfully there's also a little mini bar providing  a reduced range of the larger one below. On the top floor is the All Father's Hall, a stunning smaller space up in the rafters of the roof. With another hand painted mural of Odin gazing across the large banqueting table, a magical space which can also be booked for private functions. There are also more compact toilets on this floor as well and I nearly forgot the other toilet on the ground floor which is tucked under the staircase. Valhalla have really utilised every single inch of space exceptionally well. With everything beautifully handcrafted, the love and skill that went into creating this venue from what was just originally a standard retail unit with a flats above shines through. It can be a little awkward to navigate around due to the tight spaces but there's reasonable access on the ground floor if you can't make the stairs. They also now have several cleverly installed tables with benches outside on the street for a bit of alfresco drinking. Because there's more space it's also seems a bit more family friendly than before which is great because I'm sure kids will love it just as much as us big kids. ​ All in all this extension has firmly pushed Valhalla into the top tier of York pubs, somewhere that we can't wait to returns to and whole heartedly would recommend to everyone. It's not just some knock-off themed bar, to be honest if you didn't know the history of the building you'd probably just assume it was medieval. All I can add is get down there, grab your pint pot and quaff like a Viking in the hall of Valhalla, where the brave of York shall live forever, or at least till closing time. Skål!

See the full scores on our main website here.

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Pub of the Year 2021

Congratulations to our 2021 Pub of the Year The Waggon & Horses

The Waggon has done a fantastic job battling though the tail end of the pandemic, especially utilising their fabulous Beer Garden when indoor restrictions were in place. It became a haven for many wanting a decent well kept pint.

There's always a warm welcome and a great range of traditional ales served in this gem of a pub so we heartily recommend heading beyond the walls to discover what it has to offer.

https://www.waggonandhorsesyork.com/

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Within the Walls Pub of the Year 2021 - Voting is now open!

This year's nominations are:

The Waggon & Horses

The Maltings

Pivni

The Swan

Cast your vote here:https://www.withinthewallsyork.com/poty.html

Voting closes on 29th November. Multiple votes from the same person will not be recorded, so please don't cheat.

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Walk of the Roses - Saturday 31st July 2021

Within the Walls presents a 14 mile Cross Country Pub Crawl visiting 5 rural Pubs and The Towton Battlefield; the site of the most bloodiest battle in English history. Meeting at 12:20pm at the bus stop in front of Cawood Castle Gatehouse and walking to The Fenton Flyer at Church Fenton, The Boot & Shoe at Barkston Ash, The Rockingham Arms at Towton, The Greyhound at Saxton and finishing at The Crooked Billet for food around 8:15pm. Booking recommended. Cawood is easily accessed via the No.42 bus from York for the meeting point. The bus leaves from Piccadilly at 11:45am. You must arrange your own transport. Download the route map from our main website here.

RSVP to the Facebook Event here.

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York Pub Guide Pocket Map

Your essential guide to 133 of York's Pubs & Bars, within and just beyond the City Walls. For just £8.95 including 1st class free delivery you can own your very own high quality Pocket Guide to assist you on your exploration of York's great Pubs. Check out the Map page on the main website for more details and how to order.

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2021 - An Update

So here we are 2021, basically 2020 part 2...

I’ve been rather lax on blogging for obvious reasons. Not really much to write about during a Global Pandemic when it comes to pub reviews or pub crawls. I felt it would be unfair to review any pubs that I did briefly manage to get to during the Summer as these are quite extenuating circumstances for all. I’ve also been pretty much isolated to Cawood as our evening bus services has not been running since April and living in a shielded household means I have to be especially careful with where I do go.

I’ve held back releasing our Pub Guide Map in physical leaflet form until this is all over and we know which pubs have survived and which haven’t. I already have a couple to knock off sadly. You can still get the digital copy though if you do so require from my Etsy here.

There’s still quite a few people landing on this Tumblr Blog through web searches, so just a reminder that the full website is now at www.withinthewallsyork.com.

While we battle through our third lockdown it’s important to do what you can to support our local Breweries, Indie Beer Yorkshire is a fabulous resource which should really help you out sourcing great local beers.

What of the pubs though? A great place to start to help them out would be to support the Campaign for Pubs, while everything is closed it’s about all we can do apart from hope that by the end of 2021 things will be starting to get back to some sort of normality and that they will have all weathered the storm.

I’m taking a bit of punt with the hope for better times by setting a date for one of our Events, the Walk of the Roses, a 14 mile cross country pub crawl from Cawood to Saxton on Saturday 31st July. Although I’m not overly confident for then, but who knows. You can find more details about it here.

So for now, batten down the hatches, stock up on craft ales, stay home and stay safe. I’ll see you on the other side, whenever that may be.

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Pub of the Year 2020

2020 a year that will certainly not be forgotten in a hurry and our Pub of the Year has battled through like so many but having really pushed their innovation in such difficult circumstances. Whether that be a great range of takeaway beers, a weekly live online Quiz, serving brilliant food or using Lockdown to improve the Pub even more The Rook & Gaskill is truly worthy of the title this year and through into 2021. Gathering 47% of the votes the people definitely agree. So congratulations to Team Rook lets hope 2021 is a much easier year for business.

You can read our 5 Star Review of the pub here.

​www.rookandgaskillyork.co.uk