Review

The Three-Legged Mare was one of York Brewery's last remaining pubs in the City until Black Sheep bought them out in 2019, although it was sad to see the slow demise of York Brewery Black Sheep did at least invest some cash into the Mare, giving this old school boozer a much needed renovation and it's still in good nick today.

The pub is named after the infamous three-legged gallows which are depicted on their sign and is affectionately known as the Wonky Donkey. It sits proudly on High Petergate between Bootham Bar and the Minster in a prime location.

It's a light airy modern space with fresh white walls and dark grey half height wood panelling throughout. The warm glow from Eddison style industrial wall lights softens the simple pallet and a tough wooden bar top. With bistro style tables in the entrance area and more standing room around the large bar to the right. The Three-Legged Mare has quite a peaceful ambience most of the time, contrasting to a livelier bustling environment in the evenings, often with live music. The smart and clean toilets are accessed from the entrance room down a wrought iron spiral staircase into the basement and there are accessible toilets to the back of the conservatory, which is bright and inviting during the day but a little stark later on. Beyond this there's a tiny little yard with a couple of seats which is shame as there's much more outside space that could be utilised.

The slight let-down on our last visit was the massive change on the bar, once upon a time there was a vast range of 10 casks and 10 kegs beers available, now the cask range is mostly just repeats of Black Sheep beers. Despite that the prices were pretty average and there were some more interesting beers on keg, so it's definitely still worth popping down to the Mare, just don't expect the once award winning range of beers under Black Sheep's management.