Leeds – BrewDog North Street

There are two Brewdog outlets in Leeds and this is the North Street location.

The ground floor of the Brewdog, which isn’t the largest of locations, but the window arrangement makes it bright and airy. The air conditioning seemed effective as it wasn’t too hot inside, otherwise I might have been less pleased about the situation. I also liked the number of power points located around the bar, which was quite handy, it was a modern feeling environment.

The beer board and the central bar. There was one staff member when I went into the pub, but he was friendly and engaging, being knowledgeable about the beer options. Another staff member was visible soon after, but it remained quiet during my visit so I’m not sure how much money this Brewdog is actually making at the moment.

The downstairs, which with its slight damp felt like a proper cellar, had shuffleboard tables in it. These seemed quite popular during my visit (I took the photo during a dull in proceedings), they no longer charge to use them and a few people came in to book times. Brewdog have these in a couple of their London pubs as well, but I’ve never quite got round to fully working out the rules.

Although they’re all switched off at the moment, there were a number of arcade games as well in the basement.

I only had one drink here, which was the Berry & Cherry Trifle by the Mad Scientist brewery from Budapest. I remembered the Blackcurrant Trifle that I had at Brewdog Brixton a few weeks ago and so had high expectations of this beer. I wasn’t let down with this one, there was a noticeable aroma of strawberry from the beer but the main taste was from the cherries, with a rich aftertaste of berries. I liked how subtle this beer was with the various flavours that it had within it and I decided that it also went well with the chicken wings.

The beer list, as would be expected from Brewdog, was sizeable and there were a range of different beer styles. For those who really couldn’t find anything they liked, there are also a fair number of cans in the fridges.

It’s Wednesday, so I had reserved a place for Wings Wednesday. They didn’t bring a larger portion for the first round as usual, but they were one of the most pro-active at offering more wings that I’ve had. I think I went for one round of five chicken wings more than I really needed, but they were a handy little snack (well, less snack, more complete meal or indeed two complete meals by the time that I’d finished).

The reviews of the bar are generally very positive, although I noted the 1/5 star rating as “I paid £4.85 for a pint of trendy ale!” as if that’s a lot of money for something decent. Anyway, I liked this bar, it was laid-back, informal and friendly. I had already tried many of the beers that they were stocking, but the Berry & Cherry Trifle was a decadent little treat here, so happy with that. And I also enjoyed the several rounds of chicken wings, so all really rather lovely.