EBG Rating: 8.3/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Kirkstall Brewery and Five Points Brewery beers with a mixture of other options which frequently surface on the roster of these pubs and will be familiar to locals. Superior but not particularly specialist. Bottles and cans continue to be a minor weak point. Competent back bar.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Built as a hotel in 1865, each operation has taken care to continue the high Victorian look of the place. A grand lobby leads to the bar room on the right, high ceilings with gloss finish, mahogany booths opposite an ornate varnished wood bar with stained glass and polished brass fittings. A long space with seating by the front window and standing room to the rear. Albert’s Room behind the bar has a hatch for access and is loungier space. This has been fitted with items from Kirkstall Brewery owner Steve Holt’s immense collection of Breweriana and painted in muted reds and greens. A large fireplace dominates the space adjacent to the entrance. The weaker of the three rooms is to the left of the entrance. Also high ceilinged but feels more ‘side room’, and always did even in its previous incarnation. Restored across 2023-2025 by the joint venture of Whitelocks and Kirkstall Brewery.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Excitable and buzzy since its December 2025 reopening, time will tell if that subsides over the months to come. It certainly feels like a niche, a Christmas present to Leeds that has been sorely overdue.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️
Food, snacks, events.

Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️
City centre trade, but on par with the quality offered.

Description:
After a long period of closure during the Covid era, the acquisition by Kirkstall & Whitelocks as a joint venture produced much excitement.

However, delays to its opening and an apparent vow of silence over the reasons for that caused suspicion then eventually apathy as the prospect of reopening grew more distant. Eventually though, whatever skeletons were lurking in the closet during its refurbishment have been sorted, and the pub reopened in December 2025 with some fanfare.

The involvement of Kirkstall Brewery was always likely to be a good match. The owner Steve Holt owns a treasure trove of breweriana with which he decorates his pubs, which fits hand in glove into the high Victorian stylings of this 1865 Hotel, the bespoke layout with high ceilings, mahogany booths opposite the bar, lobbies and dining rooms lending itself perfectly to the lush stylings – rich warm hues and retro signage.

The pub is well-staffed to cope with high volumes, and the two side rooms are dealt with via table service, not normally a favourite of mine but it works pretty well here. The sight of cheerful staff mowing back and forth with drinks and plates among these splendid surroundings really does allow you to briefly take the vapours of the high era it is evoking. It encourages you to linger further. Let’s stay for food, let’s have another drink.

While new openings invariably turn towards the burgeoning market of hybrid “is it a cafe, is it a bar, is it just a chilled out space to spin hot wax and have a bloody mary?” type melange venues, there was always a risk that this kind of indulgent, expensive nostalgia may not meet the moment, or at least interest a younger audience sufficiently.

It’s early days, but the Leeds public young and old appears to have taken the venue to its hearts, not just as a place to go for a drink but as a kind of magnificent civic amenity bestowed on them. We are not used to having new nice things of this sort.

While Leeds does have some impressive pub interiors (hello Garden Gate, hello Cardigan Arms, hello Whitelocks) the scale of The Victoria Family & Commercial Hotel is distinctive, more akin to the palatial city taverns of Liverpool (think the Big House, Philharmonic, Doctor Duncans et al) meaning its reopening offers something that isn’t available elsewhere in Leeds. Perhaps that will eventually be the secret to an enduring success.

For drinks, expect the familiar hybrid offerings of Kirkstall Brewery, Five Points and their partners with guests thrown in.

Already an essential stop-off when in Leeds.

(Added December 2025)