The Bower's Tap — Restaurant in Leeds

Bar staff, clientele, prices, and atmosphere were absolutely top notch considering the type of people I was with at the time. Great experience and I was having a lot of fun at the time but I have to leave a 1 star review due to the security firm that this establishment has eligned themselves with.

9th of August, 2025. We decided (Me, my partner, sister and my sister's best friend) would move onto get s night cap at around half 11pm at another bar before heading home. I decided to "relieve" myself of the 2 rounds of shots we'd had there and once I'd exited the toilets a very rude, aggressive gentleman from the security firm they'd provided said verbatim "Hand it over and I won't call the police" after a moment of being genuinely confused I gathered he mustve either been talking about drugs or money weirdly enough. I cooperated as best I could and consented to a full search, out of principle until he walked up on me and ushered me out of the building despite the fact. Grain of salt, but I do not do any drugs, given the family history I've always steered clear. But I was notified, without any substantial evidence or probable cause, that I personally am now barred from a place I've visited once and had a great time with family and a friend until that point. Once I asked for his name, and or firm; he refused and simply said "Goodbye" repeatedly. It was a bit frustrating as being accused and wrongfully 'barred' from a really nice place due to a supposed class A felony is quite frustrating. I get mistakes can happen, but this is just a principle matter that I will be pursuing further. Other than that, lovely...

I recently visited on a weekend with some work friends and while the music and atmosphere was good our time at Bower's Tap was spoilt by a member of staff who was quite rude in telling us that the upstairs portion of the bar was closed and that security would be throwing us out if we didn't move. I can appreciate that certain areas of the bar might close at certain times, although the pub was pretty busy (it was Saturday night), but there are good and bad ways to convey this. When we said we hadn't realised that it was closed we were met with a "well, that's what the chairs on the stairs mean", this referred to two stools ¾ of the way to the top that were pushed to the side of the large step which in no way blocked passage up the stairs (I hadn't even noticed them on the way up and we weren't the only people up there). The large neon sign (pictured) was still pointing customers to the other bar upstairs too. If Bower's Tap want to close a section of the pub I'd suggest turning off the neon sign and/or placing a cord or sign across the stairs. Some customer service training might be worth investing in, it's a shame because I know other pubs in the chain where the staff are great and friendly (I visit the editor's draft a few times a month with a different group of friends and haven't had any issues, quite the opposite; they're all...

Still a nice place to watch the football and still some good beers on tap but it's gone downhill a lot since I last visited (18 months for obvious reasons). Staff do not know what offers are on the menu and provide incorrect explanations for why an offer is not being honoured, they attempted to overcharge for drinks on one occasion (due to incorrect prices on the till) and the food is significantly worse than it was. Additionally, staff routinely stop half way through serving you to have a conversation with others. I hope the money errors are just down to poor staff training and supervision and not something more sinister. Either way, it is not right to be overcharging people and not honouring offers, either ethically or legally. These issues, including the drop in food quality and poor service, need addressing asap. Bars that allow this kind of drop off in quality tend not to last long in Leeds, pandemic or...