House of the Trembling Madness in York

Great off licence with amazing selection

A wonderful place to stop in for a drink and meal with friends. I also highly recommend exploring the ground floor and lower levels for their excellent collection of alcohol to go.

Incredible for beer. If you love beer, you must visit. Bottle shop full of treats and bar upstairs a vibe. You can buy bottles downstairs and take up as well. Gets busy for sure, table was hard to get

One of the reasons I go to York is to visit places different from my town. This is a perfect example. Lively pub, so different,with a great atmosphere, do not walk past this place, go inside. The bar upstairs is reached by a steep stairway, not for the faint hearted. Not a place for John Smith or Carling drinkers, craft beers only. Tad expensive.

Amazing place with pub on the first floor. Great food and including vegetarian and large range of drinks. Stunning interior with original low beams and wattle & daub walls, but not one for those offended by stuffed animals and animal heads and skins. They also have 2 rooms available for overnight stays. Good location right in the heart of this great City. Ground floor is a well- stocked liquor shop with ranges of beers, wines, spirits to mind boggle. Fantastic!

I’ve been up and down to York for a number of years and I was taken to the House of the Trembling Madness in my first night by a colleague. Since then it has become my firm favourite for drinks with friends and somewhere to find unique/hard-to-find beers from the shop. Service is always exceptionally friendly, prices are very reasonable and the atmosphere is so relaxed!

Busy bar upstairs inside a shop. good choice of beer.

Brilliant little bar. A must visit if you're in York; so glad we found it. Massive selection of beers and staff were really knowledgeable and friendly, would highly recommend, didn't try the food but looked/ smelled really good.

This is one of the most unusual pubs we’ve ever been in. The entrance is through an off license and then upstairs to the bar, which is like stepping back in time 200 years. We loved the decor and the gothic style candles as centre pieces. The staff were very friendly. A very cosy place for a couple or a group of friends chatting over a beer.

If you want to find the bar, head through the many shelves of cans to the staircase at the back! Once you find it, it's super cosy, lovely high ceiling, exposed beams and great animal head collection. Nice selection of cask and keg beers, you can also buy anything from the ground floor and drink in if nothing on tap takes your fancy. We'd be back for sure 🍻🍺🍻

Wonderful bar with passionate staff who really care about the drinks they serve. Also had some wonderful food from the tiny kitchen!

Fabulous hidden bar a must visit whilst in York

Good selection of drinks, characterful place! Arrived at just the right time and got a table with no trouble. Would recommend a visit!

We usually love coming here but today was an exception. Very immature staff behind the bar was more interested in talking to friends than serving customers and clearing tables Whst a shame ! !!!!

Fantastic selection of craft beer!

Always enjoyed this place, today we ordered the chargrilled burger, it was not chargrilled it was cremated and absolutely inedible. Very disappointing

Wonderful pub with food! Impressed with not service, taste and price point! Highly recommend!

Superb selection of ales in a quirky settling.

Downstairs is the best bottle shop in the whole of York whilst the upstairs small-ish bar is replete with stuffed animals (including a dog in the fireplace). Not to be missed !

Fantastic bottle shop. Pub is unreal. Brilliant selection of keg and cask. Get involved in the pickled eggs.

Lovely quaint pub that from the front looks like a shop, you have to go through the shop and up the stairs to get to, quite steep. Very good selection of drinks on offer. Friendly staff. Good portions of food. Toilets are on the lower floor and have locked glass cabinets with alcohol on display on the way to the toilets.

Quite a strange but quirky small place but nice. Atmosphere

I like it. Walked past it today in the day and it called to me (well the beer did 😂). So returned back in the evening and yes that beer lured me in. A place with a few floors and a friendly vibe and an array of craft beers. Very sensibly priced £5.50. Double that in London eh! Worth popping in. 👍 Don't get too drunk as thats not what the chandeliers are for!

I recently visited this pub with my parents, who had raved about it from previous visits. However, our experience this time was far from satisfactory. Despite ordering dishes like the Cheese & Beer Soup and the Kickass Burger, the food arrived on cold plates and lacked quality. The soup was watery with stale bread, the steak pie was tough and dry, saved only by the beer gravy, and the coleslaw accompanying the burger was inedible due to excessive mustard. When we voiced our concerns about the pie, we were told of supplier issues, which didn't alleviate our disappointment. To add to the disappointment, my mother got stuck in the bathroom, and despite seeking assistance, the staff's response was lackluster, leaving us feeling inconvenienced and unattended to. Overall, the entire experience left us incredibly disappointed, tarnishing what should have been a pleasant meal with family.

Eclectic ambiance in a medieval building. Husband enjoyed the pickled chili egg. Only complaint was tap selection was heavy on pale ales and IPAs. Cider on tap was empty, but they had a good bottled selection. Worth a visit.

What a great place of madness. In store downstairs over 400 craft beers to choose from with real ale and craft cider aswell 👌 choose one a take upstairs to drink or choose from the selection in the bar. The pork scratchings are must , rather hot though. When in York this is a must visit and say hello to Lucky who sits calmly in the fire place keeping an eye on you .👍👍

Fascinating bottle shop,loads of choice.

A must visit for a day drinking sesh in York. It can get rather busy so getting a table might be an issue. This timeless tavern has been a drinking hole since the middle ages. Hidden above a liquor store, it wouldn't feel out of place in stormwind on world of warcraft.

Incredible place located in the heart of York. Serving up wholesome, hearty food for what's considered these days to be a reasonable price. The daily stew with fresh bread was bloody lovely. A range of offerings will have something for everyone. Main reason to visit this place is the beer. A great range of local and other beer along with its selection of fantastic bottled Belgian beer. Quirky, friendly hunting lodge vibes. A definite must visit when in the area. Entrance is through a bottle shop which also stocks an unfathomable range of alcohol. Love it here. Will always visit each time we're here.

Looked after by Emily and Chris - really great place.

Go to the old one, upstairs from the beer shop, as it has more character than the new one with similar name. Excellent range of beers, a few on draft, but many, many special bottles and cans, and even a yard of ale for the brave/foolhardy. Very tasty food at a good price. The chorizo in cider stew is recommended. Not a fine dining /gastroenterologist pub experience, just great food. This is the pub in York where you can chat to strangers.

Quirky , then I had a few drinks and it got extremely foggy

Loved it so much, so atmospheric and lovely beer! Would definitely recommend others to go, and will 100% be back in the future!

We had wanted to visit this pub on our previous visits to York but had been thwarted as it was too busy - we checked our goal today and it was an overall pleasant visit. Good food and good drinks on offer - stout ale pie and mash with mushy peas and sausage and mash - great prices and well worth it. The only real issue is that some of the staff were room loud effing and jeffing instead of doing their work cleaning empty tables and this put a small dampener on our visit - other than that give it a go

stopped while shopping, absolutely packed on all floors, managed to grab a table as someone was leaving, wine cold and served well, ordered the Yorkshire platter , advised on a slight delay, came in good time and was delicious and wonderful value for money

It's not very spacious inside so it's always very crowded.

Fantastic unique bar. Love the atmosphere

A beautiful bar above a drinks shop. Totally worth visiting even for one drink just for the unique atmosphere !! Bar is small, so service is best they can offer with the space available but does make it a little inconvenient. Not tried the food yet. An estranged selection of beers/ciders even for the UK, but I found one I like to my UK palate as a lager drinker. Very worth visiting!!

Great food and service; wonderful staff and the best kick ass burgers ever! The atmosphere is chilled and there’s lots of interesting things to see. The place was full when we arrived but we didn’t have to wait very long for a table. I will not eat anywhere else when I visit York.

Tasty beer, great snacks, unpretentious decor. Loved the beer & cheese soup.

A characterful and quirky pub which feels a bit like a speakeasy as you go up a flight of stairs at the back of an (upmarket!) off licence. Lovely space with half timbering and exposed roof and a really good selection of keg and cask beers. Great atmosphere.

Hidden secret in York.... don't tell anyone 😉

They dont take cash (seriously!?). Prices are very expensive (probably because of that). good selection of alcohol.

These guys are the best nationwide craft beer delivery shop in the UK without a doubt. Orders dispatched within hours, excellent customer service. I cannot praise the staff enough.

Great range of beers and food. You get to sit in a classically York space with lots of timber frame and enjoy your drink / food.

It’s hard to have a favourite bar in a place like York but if I had to choose it might be here. A secret venue for those in the know- hen dos and stag dos stagger past not knowing it’s there. Friendly, fun, amazing drinks, coolest venue- what’s not to love?

You would never know this were here from street level. Tucked away in the loft space is this amazing bar, with gorgeous craft beers and more atmosphere than a place has any right to. Note: the spicy pork scratchings are HOT.

You enter through a normal looking bottle shop, turn left, go up a flight of rickety stairs and...it's a pub, not any old pub, but possibly the quirkiest bar with the best selection of craft beers this side of Brussels. The atmosphere is great, whether crowded, and it does get crowded in the evening, or quiet, as we found it late afternoon when there were several very well behaved kiddies with their parents. I wish mine had brought me here when I was a toddler. The bar itself is tiny with one person serving, so expect to queue, and no, you can't book a table, just share like everybody else here. The beer menu is in two parts; a simple numbered list on the wall, or an encyclopaedic list in the tables. We took one of the simple list first (No.s 3 and 5 if you are interested), then studied the longer list for our second. We didn't eat as we had other plans. Visit, you will not regret it.

Like stepping into the past with craft beer, candlelight and hunting trophies on the wall. Stopped in for a pint of craft beer and wasn’t disappointed with a caramel stout. Reasonably priced as well. The atmosphere is unique, with its wooden pews, exposed beams and lit wax candles. Staff are knowledgeable and welcoming. Absolutely worth a visit. And, don’t miss the shop on the ground floor!

Great place with great food, beer and atmosphere.

Obscure little find. A very busy bar with a good beer selection hidden away above the shop on Stonegate. Quite atmospheric on a winters night. Well worth a visit.

Nice atmosphere, not that keen on the tap beer...

Good beer shop. It only dog friendly in the shop the upstairs bar is not dog friendly. The other location is dog friendly on all floors tho.

Amazing little bar upstairs through the shop. Inspiring!

Didn't eat but food did look lovely

Table filthy. When I ordered at the bar, the girl serving could not serve beer properly. The beer I ordered had run out, she offered me 2 pints of froth, she got quite cross when I refused them. Didn’t order food judging from the look of dirt here. Frank and left.

Decent selection of ales and comfy seats. Had a nice cold beer while getting stared at by a stuffed weasel. Not awkward at all.

My hubby and I recently visited House of trembling madness for a quick drink and ended up having soup too. The beer and cheese soup was delicious. Top notch bar.

Fantastic choice of beers. Food was good too!

Love this place - everything you want in a cosy little watering hole; good music; good food; good beers; great staff. Almost didn't wanna rate it, cause it's busy enough as it is

The room is absolutely amazing and a must see. The modern rock they were playing totally ruined the effect. Something that fit better with the atmosphere or no music would have been preferable.

Great food and nice portions, Great Beer, Quirky decor and artwork. I will never forget my positive experience of this bar . Young lad who served us and brought the food to the table could have been more engaging. Some would have seen him as rude and/or incompetent, but I think this was just because of his age and maybe he was new, but that is just a comment, not a complaint. it certainly didn't affect our overall experience. I really loved the place. I then found the other one around the corner on the Shambles above the Gin Shop. This was again a great place, very steep quirky old fashioned stairs on the middle of the shop. This one was very different and apparently the first to open out of the two.

El restaurante está en la parte superior y es precioso, la atención es excelente y los tiempos de espera para servir la comida son mínimos. La comida es típica de la zona y destaca “Hunter’s Plater” fabuloso. Volveremos seguro!

Super nice bar staff!! Good vibes here and cool atmosphere

I am going back. This time, I'll be taking the wife. To enjoy the atmosphere.

The place itself is great, but the dreadful, look down their nose hipster bar staff were the worst. Incompetent, unknowledgeable and just the worst. Hard pass

The staff give you a feeling like warm diarrhoea running down your leg, the building is lovely but the service is fecal at best

An interesting layout in a very old building, the downstairs is a store with spirits, beers, and other items for purchase and the pub is upstairs. High ceilings with large, ancient oak beams peak where a huge iron candelabra-like light fixture hangs imposingly above the tables. On the largest wall at the end of the room hang about 15 mounted animal heads of unknown age, including a massive pig, a wild boar, deer, antelope, and other species that watch you as you drink and eat. The boys at the bar were quite full of themselves and neither very friendly nor helpful. I was told that I had to order drinks and food at the bar and had to pay each time, so I ended up with three credit card payments when one would have sufficed, but that was probably too complex for them to figure out. We started with a pint of cask ale and a shandy, then I had to go back to the bar once we figured out what we wanted to eat, a Cheese Platter (€17.50) and a Steak and Stout Pie (£11.50) with mashed potatoes and mushy peas. The cheese platter looked quite impressive at first glance, but once I removed the four thick slices of bread, the bowl of coleslaw, three apple quarters, a bunch of grapes, pepperoncini, olives, girkins, sage, apple cider jelly, and butter from the board, the remaining small chunks of cheese were far less than imposing. Not much of a cheese board, but it was okay, nothing to write home about. The steak and stout pie was fairly big, but the pastry was thick and there was not very much steak or stout in the center. However, the accompanying mashed potatoes and the bowl of mushy peas were bountiful. The pie tasted good, the potatoes and gravy hot, and the mushy peas very tasty. I had to go back to the bar for another pint and credit card charge before we finished and left somewhat satiated. In all it was ¨OK¨, nothing special, and I doubt we will return our next time in York. Customer service seems to be lacking when it comes to Generation Z. Maybe it is a lack of proper upbringing or inadequate training, I am not sure which, but this was a recurring theme during our week in England. and something I had neither experienced poor service when I lived in the country nor during our many visits in years past. Very disappointing. ComabtCritic Gives The House Of Trembling Madness 4 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

The pub is great with plenty of superb food and drink options but the shop downstairs is an absolute gem for takeaway beers, probably the best range in the city including some excellent Belgian offerings. Highly recommended.

Amazing place. No way to describe it. Just visit.

Great place, was told about it by a friend. Said where it was as easy to miss if didn't know it was there. Didn't have anything to eat, but the food looked good. Atmosphere was ace and it is a very quirky place, oh and the selection of beers and spirits in the shop is brilliant. Still trying to figure out what to buy. 👍👍

If not been, go such a lovely place

Great selection of beers and wines! It’s a cosy pub with fun decor, perfect for a drink with friends if you don’t mind it being a bit noisy and full of tourists.

Awesome place with rare beers, friendly staff and very good atmosphere 👍🏻👍🏻

Absolutely brilliant ambience in this wonderful, medieval bar; craft, Belgian and world beers along with fantastic sharing platters and hot stews. What more could anyone want? Get there early to avoid queuing!

No food but great beer and vibe

One of the great bars in York. Beers from around the world in the shop downstairs, a 15th century Bier Stube upstairs. What's not to love?

What a fascinating place the House of Trembling Madness is. It's difficult to find as you enter via the shop itself which must sell in 100's of different beers. From the shop you climb the staircase to the bar above which has a fantastic array of real and cask ales and which serves food. I had an ale called 'Death' at 12% ABV which they serve in 1/3rd of a pint. Dark and scrumptious whilst my wife had a wine.We both had a sharing platter which was reasonably priced and was OK. If the food was a bit better this place would get 5 stars.It's only a shame we weren't in York a little longer as I would have loved to have re-visited this quirky, unusual and unique establishment again.

Good little bar, although it's often hard to get a table.

Amazing place with great atmosphere. A little expensive but happy to pay for the experience.

Food was great and has been for some time, service was friendly and prompt. Great atmosphere around the place. I love it.

Nice friendly service, nice atmosphere and interesting building. Been a couple of times - they do a great meat and cheese platter, the wine is good, and has a really decent selection of craft beers / ipas. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend

Really unexpected find but a great pub with a lovely atmosphere x

A wide selection of beers on two floors with friendly knowledgeable staff. Food was great and very reasonably priced. Platters will feed two, unless you are quite hungry. Love to go back soon

The stew was hearty and flavourful. But it qas a little too salty. If they could dial down the salt it'd be perfect. The pub is small, so be prepared to wait. Service is typical pub style service.

A must for any visitor to York. Everytime we get chatting to lovely people from all over the globe. Very quirky. Love it. Come here on every visit to York

The most honest and trustworthy company I’ve discovered. Phoning customer service was easy and straightforward and the lady I spoke to was so kind, genuine and very helpful, she swiftly amended my order with ease and zero hassle and instantly wanted to refund me an extra £1 I paid because I used the wrong postage method which I wasn’t even worried about! Will definitely order again and you should too :)

Well worth a visit if in York. Quirky building and the bar area is accessed through the fascinating shop (huge selection of beers and spirits!) upstairs. We were fortunate to get a cosy seat in the corner (don’t think it’s possible to book). The friendly bar staff let us taste the local beer before buying and the local gin is also recommended (York gin). The cheese plater is huge but we managed to eat one each (we were hungry!) and it came with a fab selection of cheese, spicy jelly, olives and capers. Bread was a little hard and the butter absolutely solid so couldn’t eat it. That aside, the plater was very tasty and reasonable value.

A very interesting pub, with a range of beers and good food, we shared a yorkshire platter which was great and enjoyed our ales. The pub area is not so obvious, you have to go through a shop area with a huge range of bottle and canned beers and go upstairs.

Went in for a drink it was nice. Staff were good old-fashioned Inn type bar, its rustic and lovely

Superb and eclectic place with excellent staff, food and beer. I highly recommend this establishment.

I love this place but have just been let down massively. We were having lunch and a couple of drinks.the food is excellent as are the beers . Just after we had finished eating (fortunately) my wife found a bug climbing on her jumper ,she knocked it off and tried to forget about it 2 minutes later I spotted another bug crawling out of the sheepskin rug on the back of the bench,I went to grab it and it jumped onto the table so I squashed it. I immediately thought of Bedbug but realised it was black and jumped so dismissed this . As we were about to leave yet another one crawled down my wife's wrist and under her watch,she was upset and couldn't get out quick enough. I asked for the manager at the bar and discreetly told him what we had seen and I advised him to get rid of the sheepskin rugs ,he said thanks and agreed to move them . I called in again today and was livid to see that no attempt had been made to remove them .Today dates is Friday 20th October.,I bet they are gone by tomorrow when they read this review,if not the customers will be gone .Shame you didn't keep to your word

Great beer, great food, brilliant service.

Ok, so it's small and up some tight windy stairs but if you can make it up and then find a seat, it's well worth it. We enjoyed the pie and pickle plates along with the 3 cask ales. They had 8 keg beers on as well but it was only lunchtime and we had a way to go.

Sadly our experience wasnt good. We went in the evening. You have to order at the bar, it was loud, food was not good.Something was wrong with the still water, after ice cubes melted the water changed colour but when we mentioned it we got a new bottle of still water which was good service

If you like craft beer this is the place to go. Massive choice of whisky's and gins and bourbon, pretty much anything alcoholic. Food looks fab but i didnt eat

Loved this place even more than the other branch - fantastic bottle shop downstairs with a cosy pub decorated with crap taxidermy upstairs. Didn’t eat but the food others were enjoying looked tasty. Would return…

Loverly pub large beer selection.

Good ambience, lovely staff and excellent customer service too. Worth a visit even for an afternoon coffee or meal. Tasty well cooked food

Lovely place with amazing atmosphere and unusual decor. So different from the norm. Only draw back ( maybe not a draw back ) is a young lady behind the bar who physically sighed and rolled her eyes like my 4 year old nephew when she...