Breweries in Leeds: Taprooms and Brewery Taps Worth the Trip
A practical guide to Leeds breweries and their taprooms, from Kirkstall and Northern Monk to Piglove, with what each is good for and where to find it.
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Leeds has three breweries you can realistically drink at in an afternoon: Kirkstall Brewery & Taproom on Kirkstall Road, Northern Monk's Old Flax Store just outside the immediate city centre, and Piglove Brewing Co by the river on Clarence Road. Add North Brewing Co's bar end of town and the beer houses that sell other people's beer, and you have a half-day without a wasted journey. This guide groups them by where they sit rather than ranking them, because travel time is what decides your route.
A brewery tap is simply the bar attached to where the beer is made, which usually means fresher beer and a shorter menu than a city-centre pub. The practical catch is opening days: some taps keep limited hours, so the calendar shapes the trip more than the beer list does. Check the brewery's own page for the day you plan to travel before you set off.
Which Leeds breweries can you actually visit?
Sort the city into three drinking zones. Kirkstall Road, west of the centre, holds Kirkstall Brewery & Taproom at 100 Kirkstall Road, LS3 1HU. The Northern Monk end of town gives you the Old Flax Store, which Visit Leeds places just outside the immediate city centre, and the riverside south of the centre has Piglove Brewing Co at Clarence Road, LS10 1EE. Planning by zone means one bus or one walk between stops instead of criss-crossing the city.
Separate breweries you can walk into from bars that just serve the beer. Kirkstall, Northern Monk and Piglove all give you a taproom at the source, while North Bar is a bar in the city rather than a brewery you can tour. Visit Leeds names Kirkstall and Northern Monk among the city's iconic local breweries, and points drinkers to Northern Monk's Old Flax Store for tank beer direct from the brewery.
Kirkstall Brewery & Taproom: the easy first stop
Kirkstall is the simplest place to start because the address is unambiguous and the taproom sits on the same site as the brewery. Kirkstall Road runs west out of the centre, so you can begin here and work back towards town rather than doubling back. It suits a group where not everyone is a beer obsessive, since the point is the room and the fresh beer rather than a formal tour.
Order a Kirkstall Pale Ale if you want the benchmark pint, and treat anything darker as the second round. Kirkstall Pale Ale appears among the changing cask range at Whitelock's, which tells you the brewery's beer travels well across the city. The brewery's own page lists the taproom address but not its opening days, so confirm times before travelling out along Kirkstall Road.
Northern Monk's Old Flax Store and the Refectory bar
The Old Flax Store is the brewery site rather than a city-centre pub, so treat it as a short trip out rather than a stroll between shops. Visit Leeds describes it as just outside the immediate city centre and recommends it for tank beer drunk at source. That freshness is the reason to go: beer that has travelled metres rather than miles tastes different, especially in the lighter styles.
The Refectory bar is the name to look for once you are there, and it appears alongside the Northern Monk stop on a Leeds Brewery Tours route that a tour listing says also takes in North Bar, North Brewing Co, The Turk's Head and Tapped Brew Co. Use that route as a rough map of what sits near what, not as a timetable. Whether the Refectory is open on your date is a question for the brewery's own channels, since published taproom hours vary.
Piglove Brewing Co by the River: limited days, worth planning around
Piglove is the stop where the calendar does the deciding. Its published hours are Tuesday 4pm to 8pm, Wednesday to Friday 4pm to 10pm, Saturday 1pm to 10pm and Sunday 1pm to 8pm, with the site on Clarence Road, LS10 1EE. A Tuesday visit gives you a four-hour window, so arrive early rather than treating it as a late stop.
The brewery describes its output as eccentric beers, which is the cue to order something you would not default to in a pub. Pair it with the riverside setting and you have a taproom with its own character, at the cost of the tightest opening window of the three. If your trip falls on a Monday, drop Piglove and put the hours into Kirkstall or the Northern Monk end instead.
North Brewing Co and the North Bar end of town
North Bar is a bar rather than a brewery taproom, which makes it the flexible option when you want a pint without committing to a taproom visit. A Leeds Brewery Tours listing gives a route that starts at North Bar and later reaches the North Brewing Co brewery, so the two may be close enough to combine, but confirm the geography before you rely on it. That makes this end of town a sensible bookend to a walk back into the centre.
For a wider choice of cask and keg under one roof, Head of Steam on Mill Hill in the city centre trades on range rather than brewing. It is the fallback when a taproom's hours do not fit your day, and Mill Hill keeps you close to the station end of town. If your group splits between beer and a proper sit-down meal, the pub food options across the centre cover the difference.
The Turk's Head and the beer houses without a brewery
The Turk's Head opened next door to Whitelock's Ale House in January 2016, at the top of Turks Head Yard off Briggate, and runs 12 keg lines, 2 cask lines and more than 40 bottles and cans. It is a bar rather than a brewery, so treat it as the city-centre anchor at the end of a taproom run. Both sit in Turks Head Yard, which works as outdoor space on a busy Saturday.
Whitelock's next door is the history stop: built in 1715, with an interior largely unchanged since 1895, and the oldest pub in Leeds. CAMRA lists a changing guest range that has included Theakston Old Peculier, Kirkstall Pale Ale, Five Points Railway Porter, Five Points XPA, Timothy Taylor Landlord and Fell Dark Mild, so ask what is on rather than expecting a fixed list. Its published hours run 11am to 11pm Monday to Wednesday and Sunday, and to midnight Thursday to Saturday.
Building a half-day that fits together
Start at Kirkstall on Kirkstall Road, move east to the Northern Monk end of town, then finish in the centre at Turks Head Yard. That order runs with the geography instead of against it, and it leaves the riverside Piglove taproom for a second day when its 4pm weekday opening suits you better. Two taprooms plus one city-centre bar is a realistic half-day; three breweries plus a bar is a long one.
Build food into the plan rather than hoping to find it. Whitelock's serves home-cooked, locally sourced food seven days a week, which makes it a solid finish if you have skipped lunch. Visit Leeds also points to historic pubs such as The Adelphi and Lamb and Flag for a classic Sunday roast with Yorkshire puddings, useful if your trip lands on a Sunday and the taprooms are on shorter hours.
What to order if you only have one pint
At Kirkstall, order the pale ale and judge the brewery on its standard-bearer. At Whitelock's, ask for whatever cask guest is on and take a dark mild or porter if the weather is doing what Leeds weather does. At Piglove, pick whatever sounds strangest, because that is the reason the taproom exists.
Check two things before you travel: the day's opening hours on the brewery's own site, and whether your group wants a seat outdoors, since Whitelock's Turk's Head Yard is an outdoor space rather than a lawned garden. If a beer garden is the priority, plan the centre rather than the industrial estates. A beer garden in the city centre will usually be busier but easier to reach.
Which brewery route suits your afternoon?
If you have one afternoon, take Kirkstall Road then the Northern Monk end and finish at Turks Head Yard with a pint of something dark. If you have a Tuesday to Thursday evening and want the most characterful room, give the day to Piglove and check its hours first. For the wider picture of where to drink in the city, the best pubs in Leeds picks fill in the gaps between breweries.
Whichever route you choose, confirm opening days on the brewery's own page the week you travel, because taproom hours move with the seasons and with events. Everything else, including the addresses, holds steady enough to plan around.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to book a Leeds brewery taproom?
Walking in is generally normal at brewery taps, but no source confirms that any Leeds site takes no bookings or needs no ticket. Booking matters only if you want a guided group visit, so check with the individual brewery before turning up with a large group.
Can you tour a Leeds brewery?
A TripAdvisor tour listing shows a third-party Leeds Brewery Tours route taking in several venues, but a tour is not the same as turning up at a taproom. Ask the individual brewery whether it offers tours, and check dates before building a day around one.
Are Leeds taprooms child and dog friendly?
Whitelock's states that it is child and dog friendly, and its Turk's Head Yard is an outdoor space. Brewery taprooms set their own policies, so ring or check the brewery's own page before bringing children or a dog along on a busy weekend.
Where can you drink Leeds brewery beer without leaving the city centre?
Whitelock's, in Turks Head Yard off Briggate, pours Yorkshire-brewed guests including Kirkstall Pale Ale, and Head of Steam on Mill Hill offers a broad range of cask and keg. The Turk's Head next door to Whitelock's also runs a wide keg, cask and bottle range. That gives you central options when a taproom's opening hours do not fit your day.
Sources
- Explore Local and Global Food & Drink in Leeds - Visit Leeds
- Whitelock's Ale House - Visit Leeds
- CAMRA | Whitelock's Ale House, Leeds - Historic Interior
- Kirkstall Brewery & Taproom - Visit Leeds
- Piglove Brewing Co- Eccentric beers for near and far
- Leeds Brewery Tours - All You SHOULD Know Before ...
- Leeds - Mill Hill
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