Duke of York, Leysters

A 400-year-old building with a farmhouse pub. It has been in the same family ownership since 1911 when the present landlady's grandfather took over. The centenary was celebrated on 11 April 2011 with events, special beermats and also a commemorative bottled beer by Hereford Brewery. The interior is little changed since before WWII and consists of three rooms.

The small public bar has a small counter where the frontage is a continuation of the tongue and groove dado panelling and there is also a hatch to the right. The bar-back consists of old shelves and includes two tiny drawers, one of which is a very traditional till. There is a splendid curved high backed settle around the fireplace, which could date from just before WWII. there is some bare bench window seating around the local pub game of quoits - note the ancient wooden score board on the wall. On the right is the small darts room with a Victorian tiled fireplace, lovely corner bench and its own hatch.

On the left is the lounge with a figure '6' on the back of the door. It was added to the public rooms just before WWII and has the feel of a domestic sitting room of a country house. Previously it was a kitchen and the brewhouse and water was drawn from a well directly below. The present fireplace replaced the old range fireplace of the former kitchen. The bar fittings appear to date from post-war rather than pre-war with a ply panelled counter front and the mirrored bar back fitting has some Formica as well as wooden shelves. A curtain covers the entrance to the servery for staff and on display are various items of breweriana including a Watneys Red Barrel. The splendid grandfather clock by G Rocke of Kidderminster was a wedding present for the landlady's great great grandmother in the 1980's.

Please note the opening hours are only 11.30 (12 Sunday) to 14.45 and 19.00 to 23.00.