Leeds Pubs

by Paul Chrystal

Published 15 March 2020
One of the UK’s largest cities, Leeds is a major commercial, financial and cultural centre in West Yorkshire. Leeds Pubs is like a good pub: accessible, friendly and rewarding. It is an engaging guide to the best pubs in the city of Leeds and its surrounding suburbs. The book describes in detail and illustrates seventy or so of the city’s pubs, inns and bars, including some that no longer exist or have changed their use. Each pub has a unique story to tell, so the history and development of these pubs is filled with information on origins, the clientele they were built to cater for, significant events and how the pubs got their names or what their names signify. The pubs include the world-famous Whitelock’s and The Who Live at Leeds in Leeds University Refectory, the wonderful Griffin and the Scarbrough Hotel, and the many pubs run by Leeds Brewery, Tetley’s, Kirkstall Brewery, Timothy Taylor and others.

Author Paul Chrystal presents an informative practical guide for anyone strolling in and around Leeds who wants to learn some local history in the most convivial of ways.

Harrogate Pubs

by Paul Chrystal

Published 15 March 2016
The significant historical and social differences between these two neighbouring towns are vividly brought into focus by the variation in pubs and other hostelries that have existed, or still exist, in each. Harrogate is a relatively new town which catered for the burgeoning spa trade facilities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while Knaresborough is an ancient market town that served farmers and tradesmen who flocked to the market there each week for centuries, as well as workers in local industries.

Many of Knaresborough's old inns and pubs survive to refresh what is still a vibrant market town, while Harrogate is now a leading conference centre offering a multitude of pubs and hotel bars. This fascinating new book describes and depicts the many inns, pubs, beerhouses and bars that characterise both towns, with intriguing and often little-known information about their histories and the people who ran them, drank or occasionally died in them.

Hull Pubs

by Paul Chrystal

Published 15 October 2017
The port of Kingston upon Hull is one of England’s most historical and diverse cities, and boasts a wealth of taverns, inns, alehouses and public houses. Most of the older drinking establishments that have survived have stories to tell – frequently quirky or surprising, always interesting and often with nautical links, given the city’s associations over the centuries with the fishing and shipbuilding industries.

Author and historian Paul Chrystal takes the reader on a fascinating tour around some of the watering holes in the city and its surrounding villages, relating historical facts and dubious tales on subjects as diverse as the English Civil War, Philip Larkin, maritime matters and the slave trade. This book explores the histories and secrets, and tells of the many characters that have frequented or run the city’s public houses. Hull Pubs will make locals and visitors alike want to visit at least one one of the city’s venerable old taverns in the year Hull celebrates being UK City of Culture, and long afterwards.