The Fox and Newt Pub — Restaurant in Leeds

The Fox & Newt is a really nice local boozer, recommended regularly by CAMRA which sits just outside the city centre and is situated opposite Park Lane. Workers from the surrounding offices make a beeline for this pub on a Friday evening and the place can go from completely dead to packed to the rafters within the space of an hour.

Ale lovers, stick to the Brickyard and Laguna Seca - both are nice, cheap and brewed on the premises (CAMRA love this!), in the micro brewery in the basement of the pub. (You can sometimes have a mini-tour if you ask nicely!) The rest of the drinks are standard pub fare - Guinness Extra Cold, Carlsberg, Strongbow, Amstel are some of the brands, with a selection of guest ales on rotation - such as a chocolate stout that keeps coming back by popular demand (it really is delicious but very rich, so it's hard to manage more than a couple) and a cider that boasts an 8% ABV and is not for the weak-livered! Bottled drinks are quite pricey but a large selection. Old Mout, Kopparberg and many other, more uncommon brands are featured along with a large selection of uncommon and lovely bottled soft drinks.

Food is served from 11am-8pm and there is a wide variety of gastronomical delights, with an ever-changing specials board. Like most pub fare, it caters mostly for carnivores. The hotdogs are particularly good and come with a huge variety of toppings. The loaded fries are similarly good, especially washed down with a pint of one of the aforementioned home-brewed craft ales. Veggies and vegans are not excluded and there are always plenty of plant-based meals on the menu. When the kitchen is closed, customers are welcome to bring their own from the takeaways next door, which is pretty cool.

Upstairs is not generally open to the public during opening hours because it is a space where there is often live music. The soundproofing isn't top notch (more like non-existent) so if you're hoping for a quiet pint when it's a gig night then you'r out of luck because it's usually audible throughout the whole pub. In honesty though, it doesn't sound too bad and usually is only on a weekend evening, when people are getting merry and lively anyway. That space is also hire-able, so if you have an event you need a venue for, then give them a call for their rates. I have seen all kinds of different events there before, from private memorial parties with food and a DJ, full-on professionally stage-managed gigs, arts and craft fairs and art galleries, so it's a very versatile space. Entertainment downstairs is probably the world's most random jukebox. It's got everything you can imagine on it and shuffle mode produces some odd combos of music: think Metallica followed by the Teletubbies theme tune.

The beer garden is small, with only 6 benches but in summer it's a little sun trap and can seat a surprisingly large amount of people for such a small space. To access the beer garden, you have to leave via the front door and go round the back so smokers tend to congregate outside the front door instead of walking all the way round, so non-smokers who choose to sit outside are not forced to sit and endure a stinky environment. You can eat outside too if you wish, the food is brought out of the back door for you. It's a nice place to sit when the weather is nice. Not so nice when it's raining though because there is no shelter - they would do well to install some kind of awning that they can put out as shelter from rain and retract when it's sunny. Even umbrellas on the tables would be good but I have a feeling they would probably get pinched in this area.

There is a small parking space at the side of the pub that is not subjected to the permit-only restrictions of the rest of the area, but not many cars can fit in there. Don't mistake the massive, empty space immediately behind the pub for parking space because that area belongs to BT and you will get clamped for parking in there.

The Fox & Newt - it's lots of people's favourite pub and for a very...

Went to a concert in the upstairs room. It's a great, intimate venue. The acts are very close to the audience. It was a night of punk bands, who sounded excellent. Very loud! There was a stage area and seating area, but no bar. The bar was downstairs where the toilets were, too. Band members mingled with the audience after the concert.

The bar wasn't busy for Friday night, but there was a good atmosphere. The staff were really friendly. Toilets clean. The beer superb. A choice of real ales at a very good price.

Can't comment on disabled access to the top room, but I could only see the stairs. There was seating space outside, too.

The pub itself is excellent, I first came here regularly over 40 years ago, so it's good to see the place still looking good.

We had a brilliant night, so I would recommend it if you are interested in going to a gig they are putting on. It's a good venue for a pint any night.

Parking nearby is no problem. Being so very close to the city centre, there's no problem getting Über/taxis. I actually went home on the last bus on the nearby A65, just...

What a lovely charming place! Me and my dad are up for the weekend to watch the cricket and after a long 5 hour drive this is exactly what we needed. A couple delicious pints and good pub grub. The only thing we couldn't believe that there weren't more people in! Maybe it gets busier on a Saturday night, I dunno. Either way, a lovely cozy little pub with that local friendly feel. Would eat and drink in there every weekend if I...