The Black Prince

The closed-down Revival has been revived into The Black Prince.

Even though we’d only been there once, we were a bit sad to see Revival close down. It had a certain kitschy charm and a niche all its own in Leeds. Upon its demise, the folks at Sizzling Pubs took the opportunity to turn it into something there’s certainly no shortage of in this town: another boring chain pub. Welcome to The Black Prince. (Sizzling Pubs is in fact just a subsidiary of an even larger company which holds a lot of brands, so you’re not imagining it if you think you’ve seen this kinda place before.)

If we rated ceilings, this ceiling would get five stars.

The setting itself is beautiful. They’ve done the old Yorkshire District Bank building proud, spiffing up the gorgeous domed ceiling, making it the centrepiece of the decor. There’s a large seating area on the mezzanine between the bar floor and the function room, and even at a crowded time you’ll probably be able to get a table.

What you can drink at that table will include a choice of six casks with decent but boring favourites like Green King IPA, Tetley and Deuchars, plus some locals like Three Swords and Leeds Pale. The fridge follows the taps with some decent bottles: Erdinger, Singha, Grolsch and Newcastle Brown.

The shape of the interior hasn’t changed much since the Revival days.

Like at most other boring chain pubs, you’ll find plenty of amenities and value that’s tough to beat. (We paid £7.60 for two and half pints.) You can watch live sports, play an arcade game, or engage in a Man-Versus-Food type breakfast challenge. The menu is very similar to what you’ll find at most chain pubs: reasonably priced and probably pretty mediocre.

The mezzanine. Yawn.

I realize this review sounds pretty negative. There’s nothing particularly wrong with The Black Prince, and if nothing else we’re happy that it’s here to draw chain pub fans away from the likes of Tapped. We had a perfectly fine experience when we went. It’s just that there’s not much to distinguish it from an All Bar One, or an O’Neill’s, or a Toby Carvery, or a Harvester, or a — zzzzzzzzz.

Oops. I just fell asleep for a second.