-Stonegate Yard-
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Look & Feel:
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Toilets:
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Review:
Stonegate Yard is nestled down Little Stonegate in what is probably the most trendy area of York known as the Swinegate Quarter. The bar itself is situated within a beautiful Georgian townhouse with the main access down a narrow alleyway which opens out into a wonderfully quaint courtyard. There’s a good amount of seating, plenty of heaters and a large awning which can cover the whole area in colder, wetter times. It’s extensively planted and secluded from the street, it’s pretty much the perfect example of a pub courtyard in the city. The rest of the building is split over two levels; the ground floor has a main room with seating, access to the first floor and the small bar, while a narrow corridor leads through to a more homely series of little spaces which are generally used for the dining. There are open beams and featured brickwork throughout showing the age and beauty of the building, while the top floor has a large vaulted ceiling giving a breath of space from the closeness downstairs. But again this area is mainly focused on dining and private bookings. Upstairs you can also find the toilets which were very well kept, quite strange being in a toilet that clearly used to be another room in the house with a fireplace, very quirky. Behind the bar is a little disappointing though, with just one bog-standard real ale and a rotating guest, although this was off when we visited. There is a little more on offer with bottled beers and keg, but it’s all a bit pricey. Accessibility to the courtyard and first floor is good enough considering the age of the building and because it is more aimed towards dining than drinking it can be pretty family friendly, we did indeed visit for food on the last occasion with our daughter and were very disappointed with the quality, we were offered money off our bill which was a positive but can’t say we’ll return for food again. All in all it’s definitely worth visiting to sit in the courtyard for a drink, if you can find a table, but other areas do let it down. Beer is obviously big thing for us so hence our lower final score despite some good marks in other areas.
Stonegate Yard is nestled down Little Stonegate in what is probably the most trendy area of York known as the Swinegate Quarter. The bar itself is situated within a beautiful Georgian townhouse with the main access down a narrow alleyway which opens out into a wonderfully quaint courtyard. There’s a good amount of seating, plenty of heaters and a large awning which can cover the whole area in colder, wetter times. It’s extensively planted and secluded from the street, it’s pretty much the perfect example of a pub courtyard in the city. The rest of the building is split over two levels; the ground floor has a main room with seating, access to the first floor and the small bar, while a narrow corridor leads through to a more homely series of little spaces which are generally used for the dining. There are open beams and featured brickwork throughout showing the age and beauty of the building, while the top floor has a large vaulted ceiling giving a breath of space from the closeness downstairs. But again this area is mainly focused on dining and private bookings. Upstairs you can also find the toilets which were very well kept, quite strange being in a toilet that clearly used to be another room in the house with a fireplace, very quirky. Behind the bar is a little disappointing though, with just one bog-standard real ale and a rotating guest, although this was off when we visited. There is a little more on offer with bottled beers and keg, but it’s all a bit pricey. Accessibility to the courtyard and first floor is good enough considering the age of the building and because it is more aimed towards dining than drinking it can be pretty family friendly, we did indeed visit for food on the last occasion with our daughter and were very disappointed with the quality, we were offered money off our bill which was a positive but can’t say we’ll return for food again. All in all it’s definitely worth visiting to sit in the courtyard for a drink, if you can find a table, but other areas do let it down. Beer is obviously big thing for us so hence our lower final score despite some good marks in other areas.
