TOP 100 PUBS – THE TEMPLAR, LEEDS

February 2024. Leeds.

Part 4 of Four Do Leeds.

Reader, I took a bus from Dave’s to the centre of Leeds. It wasn’t too bad,

and the short work takes you past a reminder of Leeds twin city,

the endless cranes,

and the Victorian arcades, some of them more convincing than others.

The Templar was, for some, the most anticipated stop of the day,

Note the pushchair competing with the artisanal mobility scooter for Proper Pub points. Sadly, no under 18s in this pub.

Pub Curmudgeon has recently added The Templar to his excellent series on “Real Pubs“,

and his description is spot-on;

“It has a varied clientele, although tending toward the more mature end of the spectrum.TV sport is shown on numerous screens, so it does not offer the full hair-shirt Sam Smith’s experience. A fine example of a busy, atmospheric, traditional city-centre drinking pub.”

For some inexplicable reason, I made sure I bought the round here, even though everyone was suddenly on pints.

Oh yes, £2.30 a pint Monday.

Decent choice, if not a pub for the ticker,

but Will and I stuck to the Tets.

What a gorgeous pub, a symphony in brown (quit the cliches, RM), just a great drinking hole.

6 years ago, I didn’t do Tets, possibly because Richard wouldn’t let me, and Dick took his pint back, so perhaps my memory of the Templar was more of a bustling locals pub than one with great beer.

Today, the beer delivered. Look closely and you’ll see Will scoring the Wolves Tetley a 3.5.

It was (almost) great, as it had been in Sutton-in-Craven in 2021.

My notes here say “Joe Corrigan leaky net” and “We signved (sic) up ginger ted on toffee mail“, and here courtesy of Toffee Caroline is Ginger Ted;

Awwww

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

10 thoughts on “TOP 100 PUBS – THE TEMPLAR, LEEDS”

  1. I was living in Leeds 2004-12 but don’t recall any visits there. There wasn’t a sign saying over 40s only, but it just had that air about it. Similar to Stockton’s Sun Inn.

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  2. I remember the Templar and returning my pint, which they did replace. Doesn’t always happen when you have an accent. If my memory is correct, the place was very busy. A great pub.

    Dick

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    2. WhatPub says “return tray” – as it does for many pubs in West Yorks – so it’d be on my give-the-swerve list.

      If people took the trouble to look behind the bar in pubs, then the often-grimy state of this apparatus alone would perhaps popularise this approach. Yes, inverted snobbery can be fun, but not at the expense of the friendliness of one’s gut biome, maybe.

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      2. But the Severn Bridge wasn’t as helpful for Whitbread’s Magor Brewery which for Stella and other fizz has used the mucky water pumped out of the older Severn Tunnel.

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  3. Lived in Leeds for 40 years – the Templar was never even considered as somewhere to go – I think it must have changed- considered rough in my youth. Pauline

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  4. Going back 20-30 years it was never regarded as one of the top pubs to visit in Leeds. Richard Coldwell suggested it could still be a bit “edgy”, but it didn’t strike me as such. It might be different on weekend evenings.

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