The Adelphi, Hunslet Road: what to order and when to go
A 1901 gin palace at the foot of Leeds Bridge, with four rooms, a serious Sunday roast and a Tetley link next door.
By Only Leeds Editorial
The Adelphi sits at 1-3 Hunslet Road, just over Leeds Bridge from the city centre, where Briggate crosses the River Aire. It is a proper Victorian pub, built in 1901, and from the outside it is hard to miss: a tall, curving brick frontage with granite at street level and sandstone detailing, the name carved into the stonework.
The history, briefly
It was built as a pub and hotel for the Melbourne Brewery, designed by Leeds commercial architect Thomas Winn in the late Victorian gin palace style. CAMRA says few such palaces were built in Yorkshire, and calls the Adelphi the most imposing of the late Victorian ones that survive in Leeds, at least from the outside.
Inside, four rooms radiate from a central corridor, including a Tap Room at the back, and a prominent staircase leads up to a function room. It is on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and has been listed since 1998. Joshua Tetley and Son, successor to Melbourne, looked after the interior for many years, and the screen between the two front rooms was added by Tetley's in the 1980s. It is no longer a Tetley house.
A later refurbishment kept the Victorian exterior and added herringbone wood flooring and leather seating, with each room in a different colour, according to Creative Tourist.
What to order
The Sunday roast is the headline. It has been praised by Leeds List, DesignMyNight and Discover Leeds, and the menu rotates. Options reported include roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast chicken, slow-cooked pork belly and a nut roast. Leeds List describes roasts with Yorkies, roasties, savoy cabbage, leeks and roasted veg, the chicken with a bacon and chestnut stuffing and the nut roast with cranberry. A sharing roast for two is on offer too.
On price, DesignMyNight lists a Sunday set menu at £22.50 for two courses and £27.50 for three, from midday. Other listings give different figures, so check the current roast menu with the pub before you go.
Outside Sunday, the main menu is served all day, every day, with a wide choice of vegetarian and vegan dishes. Reviewers on Tripadvisor mention the pie and the fish and chips.
For drinks, CAMRA's Leeds branch lists Leeds Pale and Timothy Taylor Landlord as regular beers, and VisitLeeds mentions rotating guest ales. There is a beer garden and the pub is dog friendly.
What to look at while you drink
The Yorkshire Evening Post lists old fireplaces, dark leather seats, art deco light shades, red walls, giant mirrors and wooden floors. Discover Leeds adds brass panelling, original tiling and mahogany fittings. Reviewers mention an open fire on a cold lunchtime, which is a decent reason to pick a winter visit.
When to go
Opening hours on the pub's own site:
- Monday to Wednesday: 11:00 to 23:00
- Thursday and Friday: 11:00 to midnight
- Saturday: 10:00 to midnight
- Sunday: 11:00 to 22:00
Some listings differ slightly, so check before you go. Saturday opens at 10:00, and DesignMyNight lists a Saturday brunch from 10:00 to 12:00. Sunday roast is served from midday, and reviewers describe Sundays as busy, so book. Live music and quiz nights get a mention in the Yorkshire Post's cosiest pubs list, though the details are worth checking with the pub.
Booking
Book on the pub's website, through DesignMyNight, or by phone on 0113 245 6377. Children and babies count towards the guest numbers, and you can ask for a seating preference but a particular table is not guaranteed. If you need to add guests later, ring the pub. The upstairs function room is reached by stairs only.
Getting there
It is a short walk over Leeds Bridge from the city centre, and Leeds station is about 0.3 miles away. Leeds Bridge is where Louis Le Prince filmed the 1888 moving pictures believed to be the first in the world, so you can fit in some film history on the way.
One place for after: The Tetley
A short walk up Hunslet Road is The Tetley, the former headquarters of Joshua Tetley and Son. VisitLeeds calls it the one-time largest producer of cask beer in the world. The brewery closed in 2011, the building later became a contemporary art gallery, and it now operates as a bar run by Kirkstall Brewery. Expect Kirkstall beer in the old Tetley building, with a beer garden and sofas on the pub floor.
Hours listed are Monday to Thursday 12:00 to 22:00, Friday and Saturday 12:00 to 23:00, and Sunday 12:00 to 20:00. It is dog friendly and takes bookings.
