A boat on a traffic island. Not something you see every day.
It’s a boat.
It’s hard to spend any time in Leeds without hearing about Dry Dock. It’s probably the most famous student pub in the city, and it’s the final destination for those completing the infamous Otley Run. And it’s a boat. That’s pretty hard to miss. And yet, we’d never been in before now. How does is stack up for the Quest?
The bar is not in the boat. The dry dock here is the wettest part.
The beer selection is not bad: 3 cask ales (when we visited they were Black Sheep, Yorkshire Gold and an Acorn one called Butter Bump) and a selection of “world beers” including Punk IPA, Sierra Nevada, St Mungo and apparently Vedett, Brooklyn and Modelo although these were not available when we visited. Nothing exceptional but a fair selection. We encountered a strange chain-pub contradiction in service: the bottled beers were chilled to exactly the right temperature, and yet the bar staff knew nothing about how to serve them correctly.
It’s like your own personal cruise on the Inner Ring Road.
Did I mention it’s a boat?
The range of amenities available here is unbelievable: there’s a roof garden, food, breakfast, late opening, an internet jukebox, a pool table, live music… I could go on. You’re not going to get the best food or pool or live music here but having them all together is a very compelling prospect, and indeed the place is very popular with the local student crowd. We did feel rather old…
Also: it’s a boat.
Full steam ahead! Car park ahoy!
Prices are quite reasonable, especially for food. You can get any two beers from their “world beer” range for £6 as well. It must be the first pub we’ve been where a Punk IPA and a Sierra Nevada will set you back less than a couple of cask ales. It’s part of the Scream student pub chain, so if you’re a member you can expect further discounts.
Since it’s always crowded with students and doesn’t have any particular niche (and we’re beer snobs) we’re probably not going to find ourselves in Dry Dock all that often. But for some of you it’ll be perfect.
I can never get enough of roof gardens, even in the rain.
And it’s a boat.
Tags: arcade games, beer garden, breakfast, coffee, free wifi, jukebox, live music, membership discount, pool table, sofas
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You don’t realise as a student but it isn’t normal to queue to get in a pub. And there are also hundreds of other options (as this website proves). That didn’t stop us back in the day. On the evidence of the last visit, the pub is still more or less the same bar a menu revamp and better beers. The roof terrace can be nice and depending on the music, it can be a good place to hang out.