The York tends to stand out in in the student-saturated suburb of Broomhill.
New additions to Broomhill's lineup of food and drink spots, like Five Rivers Coffee Company, wood-fired pizza place Proove and micropub The Itchy Pig, mean that it's now more interesting than ever; their openings are a refreshing gesture of trust in the occasionally-sophisticated tastes of students. And The York sits distinct and established in this line-up.
The York’s clientele is not simply resigned to parents who have come to drop their kids off at university. The cocktail menu and wide variety of craft beers is as impressive, if not more so, than most city centre bars. They also know a lot about gin. The gin menu alone makes up nearly half of the whole drinks menu, and is a great place to start if you want to widen some spirit-based horizons. It includes, among many other things, True North Brew Co’s locally produced Sheffield Dry Gin, and the option of a tasting flight of three.
As for food, The York is as much a restaurant as a pub. The menu takes pub-food staples of burgers, pies, fish and chips and executes them well, with high quality ingredients including meat and cheese from the on-site smoke house. At the weekends, the brunch menu is well worth trying out; there are all the variations on eggs and smoked salmon dishes you could dream of, plus porridge, French toast and morning-appropriate cocktails.
The building itself dates back to the mid 1830s, when it doubled up as a blacksmiths and an ale house for travellers. So as you might expect, it's crammed with interesting corners and features (watch out for the anvil). Find a booth in a tiled corner next to a fireplace or grab a seat in the unexpected beer garden, in a pub that manages to do quite a lot of things quite well.
- Words by
- Lucy Holt
- Images by
- Gemma Thorpe
