Verve Bar

The verve sits beside a parade of other small and trendy bars on an inclining road in central Leeds. A rather small sized wooden shack effect it has a bar-like perched seating point in its main window looking down onto the street life below,alongside a couch or two and a cocktail bar with moderately slow service but good quality cocktails. The room is lightened by funky deep bass music making it popular with a trendy crowd. It is apparent that this place is also popular in the Leeds gay community and one or two rather odd looking women who intrude on the business of big parties to beg for the money to buy a drink.

Overall a very odd venue but with an atmosphere nice enough to pull the trendy crowd and serving up a delight of good drinks 6/10

The Windmill Pub

Although carrying an age old name, the Windmill feels like rather a new place. An interesting choice by the landlord to serve up wheat beer alongside one or two other choice surprise beverages but the menu is not extensive. Its just a medium sized and not overcrowded pub with bar staff who aren’t quite with it. The bar is the most prominent feature, it sticks into the room like a catwalk and probably takes up too much space. Drinks in here are also a bit pricey but the sort of prices the after work crowd seem to enjoy. Many punters head outside for a drink and a smoke but u can’t stay outside late into the evening.

Overall not quite meeting up to the mark of other more worthwhile venues nearby 5/10

Davos Cerbeza Bar

When a bar restaurant that serves food early in the evening in Barcelona tells you they are open and your English stomach is rumbling you dash inside and hope for the best. The waitress that greets us tells us she No speak English even though an English menu is then offered to our party (although the English is very badly translated) then the staff have trouble understanding our order. Davos bar is basically a long thin venue with small polished wooden tables and a long bar near the entrance. There are One or two tellies on broadcasting music videos and smoking is permitted inside.

When we get our bill there drinks seem a little pricey but the food was not as awful as we had feared. But a pretty poor place with less than accompdaring service. Overall 4/10

Beach Boy’s Club

Never in my life have I walked into such an obvious attempt to pull in the cream of the underage crowd and bare-faced provide some of the poorest entertainment in Spain. The beach boys club is clearly the work of a few north England alcoholics opening a bar to stage a farce of northern stereotypes. In short its a massive dump  the occupants range in age from about 12 to about 70 where families come to knock back a few among underage drinkers with ultra cheesy music at the hands of a barmitzvah dj and a comedian whose attempt at stand-up made fools of himself and all the staff who work here.

The place is also badly decorated with Christmas lights plastic chairs and cheap garden furniture  outside. I wouldnt mind but the staff we also rude and the effect was shocking - an overall 2/10

Thames Bar

The Thames bar is obviously supposed to be a replica London pub or at the very least British pub in the heart of Calella on the Costa Brava. Entering through some mock wooden doors the layout within consists of a wide bar facing a small standing area at the foot of a wide stage with red bull themed table football tables with pillars dotted about the place, supposedly to hold the ceiling up. A small staircase runs along the right corner which leads up to the toilets. The Thames bar is open later than one or two of the other Caella bars, it Spanish staff unsure what to serve you if you ask for a pint of cider (yet they have posters for woodpecker cider on the walls) and at three euros for a shot of vodka the prices are pretty steep. As with most bars in the area you can still expect Spanish men to harass the ladies of your group but one plus is that (as I found) Londoners get in for free.

Overall for a bar that opens into the small hours this one is still pretty dire, there was little atmosphere when we entered at 3am and we left buying the barest of drinks due to the prices on offer for pints of beer but little else representitive of the great city of London - 4/10

The Oracle Bar and Restaurant

The Oracle is an esteemed venue by the canalside in Leeds catering for drinkers and diners that perhaps want a larger slice of the quality pie which does not conform to the usual student environment of other bars in the city. This venue has rope and carpet leading upto the entrance, burly doormen and within: a large circular central bar whipping up good cocktails and an assortment of dining tables and well presented staff leading up to a second floor where another bar is housed. The prices are high as would be expected but the quality both of food and drink within is relatively unmatched by any other bar or venue in the area and it is certainly a good place to bring a date either for casual drink or prime meal.

Overall a more up-market place to spend an evening but very well suited to the suited and beautiful views of the canal in this quiet corner of Leeds City Centre - 7/10

Victoria and Albert

The only pub within a short walking distance of the station is the Victoria and Albert which is often populated by Monopoly Pub Crawl revellers who require this dtation pub to complete the rounds. The pub is comprised of two interconnecting rooms, the first houses the bar and one of two high perched tables with stools and the second room contains a couple of pool tables with a high ceiling with space for a small crowd. The drinks aren’t cheap but it does serve as one of the more charasmatic station pubs I have ever been to even if the service is a little slow.

Overall a larger-than-expected pub well hidden in the corner of Marylbone Station and definitely worth a trip for a game of pool in a venue that is not likely to be crowded with its table’s users - 6/10

Proud Club and Bar

Well hidden in the central plaza building of Camden Stables Market is the club known as proud. It is a popular club where tickets are better if purchased in advance and door-staff are unreasonable and unorganised. Inside proud is made up I three rooms. The one on the far left dipped in deep red lights plays more popular and dancey tunes with a bar and the second room to the right is a very loud live acts and electro room with a stage. The third room off of the second is literally old stables which has been conveyed into private areas and a bar. Drinks are expensive at 8 quid for a double and mixer and going out of the venue to go to a cash point is strictly forbidden.

The issue really is that the staff are too bold and pushy and the music too loud to make this a great venue and it closes way too early in a Saturday night at only 2am with the emptying into some of London’s most unaccommodating pavement for some few hundred people. Overall 5/10 , the effect of the stables is a nice change but the customer service is spoilt by a few brutish doormen where many of the waiting staff are quite charming.

 Tags: table waiting services, more 5 out of tens , quirk wow décor, , ,

The Cock Tavern

Great Portland street plays host to a small but central pub of the Samuel smiths independent brewery chain.the interior is rather old fashioned with crowds perching on high stools at the bar and leaning on finely polished Walls and mantelpieces. People mill about outside for a smoke all throughout the day where punters are Pinned to the side of the building by a White line on the pavement.

The drinks are relatively cheap, as is the case with the full extent of this trail of independent pubs  and the atmosphere is busy but I wouldn’t say it was ultra cheery, folk appear to crowd here for a good old moan of a lunch hour or for after work beers but once again hits the mark on price so overall 6/10

The Globe Pub

The edges of cogent garden do host a breed of rare and interesting old pubs but the globe just misses the mark for obscurity. Instead the lobe is a pub that looks small from the outside but inside is a decent sized drinkers throughout the day to hold a small crowd. Relatively speaking the drinks inside the globe are cheap and comfort can be had on a sofa or two or by residing in one of the booths.

The appeal of this venue is really the community spirit of its occupants-people chattering outside the pub from different crowds appear to had histories with one another and the place does have a warming atmosphere about it. Overall 6/10