The Golden Fleece in York

Cozy historic pub and inn in the centre of York. England’s most haunted inn! Went in for a dessert and a few drinks on a Monday night and was pleasantly surprised to experience a great live music show. The drinks were good, and the staff service minded and friendly. Lovely decorated interior, with a nice beer garden out back. I Did not book a room at the Golden Fleece, but will definetely do so the next time I’m going to York!

Excellent food in a lovely old pub, with quick service and friendly staff. Would recommend. Only a small place, so would advise pre booking for food.

Great wee place. Given its history, just had to visit. Bar staff good and interactive and atmosphere welcoming.

Watched a YouTube video about York and this place was highlighted so I made a beeline for this pub within the hour of arrival at York only to be ignored at the bar, no other customers waiting just my husband and I, 3 staff members in attendance- a couple of them in deep conversation at the end of the of the bar, but we stood there feeling totally invisible, my husband was wanting to walk out but I insisted we stay, when one of the barmaids finally approached us, she was so sour, even when I was smiling at her she just could not show any friendliness at all and continued to talk to the other staff while serving us, we felt like intruders here! We understand Staff can make or break a business and in this case the staff were a big disappointment- we drank our beer and left

Very atmospheric pub. Good service

Unique little pub in centre of York, well known as most haunted pub in the city, recommend a pint or 2!

Just revisited this iconic old pub. Loved it in the past, full of old school haunting charm. But so disappointed to find it was only serving 1 cask ale. It was a good pint of Landlord but there 5 empty pumps , a real shame.

Must pop in before you head up the shambles. Bit of history and a stout.

I didn't stay. But service was great. Nice beer on tap. Chilled atmosphere with live music. Nice end to our night after the ghost tour

Super disappointed. I love going to haunted places and this pub was a delight for me. But they refused to serve me. First time in my life that I have been refused access to a place to eat... I have some allergies, I ask for mac'n cheese knowing that I have already eaten it in London pubs, I am told no. Ok I try the salad, another refusal, I ask what I can eat and I am told that nothing, they refuse to serve me, I say I have my antistaminics, having already eaten these same dishes but no. I have to make my whole family leave the premises. I felt rejected, uncomfortable, I'm really sad.

Lovely authentic pub in the heart of York great atmosphere

One of my favourite pubs in York, always a great atmosphere. Fantastic food and very friendly staff.

Fantastic overnight stay, great atmosphere, great selection of drinks, friendly, helpful staff, comfortable clean room and an excellent breakfast, and a few spooky happenings thrown in for good measure, already planning our next visit. Thank you Golden Fleece 🙂

We had a lovely valentines meal here as part of our honeymoon trip to York. Great staff who kept on top of everything, even with it being so busy. Even had some spooky experiences. 👻

Popped in for an evening meal with family. Food was basic, but very nice. Had fish and chips, fish was as good as I have had anywhere, chips were frozen (not when I ate them) but still crispy. Beer was very reasonably priced and the atmosphere was good. Staff were very friendly

My stay at the Golden Fleece was totally amazing. The room was spectacular and extremely clean and tidy with beautiful decor. The whole spooky experience started from the minute you opened the creaky door. Once inside the room was just so magical. The staff were very friendly and great vibe in the bar for a drink, and the location is literally in the centre of everything you want to see in York city. A couple of small thing I would have liked would be a shelf in the bathroom for toiletries and Face washes. There was no drinking water in the room, but it was very easy to grab a jug from the friendly staff at the bar. Thank you very much. I would definitely be recommending friends and family to come and stay in this unique and quirky location.

We didn’t see any ghosts! Brilliant service.

Took forever to be served and it was very loud so we just left after waiting a while

Nice pub friendly and helpful staff

From the moment we popped in for a drink (which turned into a fair few) the welcome we received from Rachel and Ashley sealed it. Attentive, informative and just bloody nice. The pub is amazing and the mix of people is fantastic! Met some incredible, eccentric, fun, lovely people. The food looked amazing, overall a lovely experience.

Lovely quirky pub as expected. However this review is about the food only. I ordered the steak and ale pie. Mostly pastry, hardly any filling, frozen chips and peas, gravy lukewarm. Daughter had tikka massala, ok but tiny portion. Other daughter had burger, nothing fancy. A drinking pub, not somewhere to go for a meal.

Absolutely terrible. Refused entry for my friend who has a brain injury. Make sure you give it a miss

Came for a visit because of the famous Hauntings! Staff were lovely and provided excellent service. Had some food here and it was delicious, very good quality and reasonably priced. Loads of choice in terms of food and drink. Would definitely visit again. Didn't see any ghosts this time though!

we always go in here on our day off which is a Thursday. we come on the train from billingham.. we have met so many lovely people in here including the mayor of york. until today when we met a lovely couple. he suffers with adhd and has issues communicating with people. unfortunately the bar staff would not serve him and accused him of being drunk. as we are happy regulars of this lovely pub, if we thought that was the case we would not have got involved. but we really thought he was really badly treated and was discriminated for his illness.. so very unhappy as I've always had many good memories of this lovely establishment

Called in for an afternoon drink. Good service, great atmosphere, and customers. We have stayed in the past and would recommend it. Especially if you like things that go bump in the night 🙂

The food was excellent value for money. The decor and atmosphere was amazing,and the staff were so well mannered and really good to talk to. One lady who served us told us about the ice trail and other various things to do whilst visiting York. Amazing pub thank you for your hospitality x

All vibe no beer. What I mean is the selection of beer, whilst some of it is cask, is not very adventurous and fairly limited. However, the vibe was spooky and the staff were welcoming. Now my opening statement may seem harsh, especially as their cask conditioning is clearly impeccable, but I want just a hair more variety. We did not see a ghost but we did see a real human skull, pointed out to us by the staff, which was wicked! I would 💯 visit again and would recommend.

Didn't stay but went for a meal which was nice gets packed so book a table before you go, live music on too.

We were passing this historic pub on the way back to our hotel and decided to call in for a drink. On the Wednesday night we visited they were having an open mic night. We were a bit wary at first but all the performances were very good. There was a great atmosphere, the beer was good and well priced.

The Golden Fleece is one of the oldest pubs in York. This cosy two roomed pub has a nice front room and bar. There is a large back room with the main bar. There is also a large outside seating area. There is a wide selection of beers and larger, including six hand pulled cask conditioned real ales. The cask beers I sampled were in excellent condition. There are no bar games. I haven't tried the food, but there were a lot of people having meals, and the food looks very nice. It has regular live music and an open mic night on a Monday. It is an excellent pub and is dog friendly.

Great location for discovering York. Friendly staff and great beers and food. Super venue for a stay in historic surroundings.

Our second time and just as good as the first. Lots of space and has a haunted but intriguing vibe which made it perfect for a winter drink.

A bit pricey for drinks, but otherwise okay 👍

It is an incredible pub, the food is very delicious. The prices are okay!

Came here for a 3 course meal and drink voucher gift. We were impressed with the food, service and venue. Also a very historical pub which was well worth the visit.

Toilets are a bit smelly, but the atmosphere in the bar is friendly with good service

Came for a quick drink, first visit. Lots of history to the place, supposedly one of the most haunted pubs in York (alas, no sightings). Reasonably large place but obviously gets very busy. Great choice of drinks at reasonable prices. Cosy atmosphere. Friendly service. Definitely one of the best pubs to visit if going to York.

Great olde worlde pub with reasonable beer. Prices are good but real ales are not very exciting. Lovely atmosphere though...

With the atmosphere the wonky floors and the brilliant service well worth a visit

Beautiful old fashioned pub,staff very friendly and helpful, drinks were reasonable prices, and we didn't have food but looked at the menu and the food prices were reasonable aswell,and the food others had looked amazing. Will definitely return

Great classic pub with large beer garden.

Great pub good selection of ales never fault the food here

Stayed one night in shambles room large warm area huge bathroom with free standing bath don't bother the water was lukewarm shower ok TV had netflix etc none of them worked bit of a theme here I found the staff to be basically going through the motions apathy abound removed the 500 cushions to go to bed we discovered two blood stains on quilt oh joy turned quilt 180 degrees to get some sleep didn't eat here and reading some of the reviews probably dodged a bullet no ghosts whatsoever so usp is redundant and at this price point look elsewhere

I had high expectations and I must say that the pub is nice, but it loses authenticity and winks a lot at things for tourists, this aspect disappointed me a bit. Non-existent service but that's how the place works, excellent and very central location

Olde-worlde pub just opposite the lower end of The Shambles. It has - Two main areas connected by a long corridor. - Two bars of which the front is rarely used. - An outside rear area which needs a bit of TLC. - Four lovely but spooky rooms upstairs, maintained and decorated to reflect the history of the pub. Kept clean and tidy by Sarah. - A choice of beers at the bar, but it needs more than just two real ales. - Proper home cooked food and incredibly cheap breakfasts. - Great staff.

Just had the most awful experience in this FREEZING pub. The girls behind the bar had all the attitude of Viccy Pollard-half bored and unwilling to walk the length of a bar to serve you. The tables were stowed with empty glasses needing collecting. 2 people walked out whilst I was waiting. I persisted to be presented with almost a pint of Tim Taylor's Landlord at £5.80. Ah, I geddit now, that's why it's called the Golden FLEECE.

I gig here regularly, fantastic place!

Lovely, friendly pub. Food was amazing, great pint.

A really quaint and popular old pub. We sadly didn't meet a ghost

Stayed overnight night in the Shambles room, superior double. Had a great time, excellant Fish & Chips dinner with drinks into the night. Staff was the best.

Definitely eary atmosphere in this popular haunted pub. We tried to go there earlier in the day but was busy and were lucky a little later in the evening. We only had a drink and a peruse. There are 2 bars, the one at the back had live music going and good party atmosphere. They seem to have around 4 rooms of you want to be brave and stay over to experience the several ghosts there. Had a couple of moments where I definitely felt too hot in the face and could not breath. Also, when leaving the ladies, thought there was someone with a red cloak behind me so turn to let them go first and there was no one. Would recommend to have a visit. The masks on the corridor are super creepy too and there are some other tales around. Enjoyae experience and lovely staff.

I like the pub as good atmosphere and characteristic.Saw a few rats in the beer garden though which I found a bit off putting.

Lovely little pub. Called in for drinks with family, lovely atmosphere. Haunted pub but never felt anything spooky on this visit

Fantastic old pub with great staff

First time I've been able to get in and have a drink nice, an old inside and cosy friendly staff.

Love this place. Always packed. Decent beer. Rooms not bad too. Good service.

Booked this for a meal as York is so busy right now. What a terrible meal. I had a chicken and ham hock pie (sounds great) but was 'stiff' probably a few days old, the frozen peas, dry and cold, the chips? well, you can't go wrong with frozen chips can you? this came with a small jug of 'sludge' sorry, gravy, turn the jug upside down and it doesn't shift!!! Wife had 3 large pigs in blanket on a piece of cardboard, sorry, Yorkshire pud, the mash was solid and the pigs just horrible, you know what the peas are like!!

Lovely old traditional pub, great cask ales, in the heart of the city. Recommended.

Wow , wow , we stayed over night in the shambles room. Absolutely fantastic, lovely and clean and the bed exceptionally comfortable. We didn't eat here because the pub was extremely busy for the entiraty of our stay .We unfortunately didn't experience any ghostly actions , however the whole experience was brilliant. Will Absolutely book again 5 * hotel x

We live in York and visit The Golden Fleece regularly, so booked their upstairs function room for my daughter's 30th birthday party. The room was just the right size for a party of about 20 family and friends, and the staff went out of their way to make sure everything went well. They decorated the room for us (we supplied the decorations) and supplied us with an enormous buffet! My daughter had her own playlist for the music, with a bluetooth speaker provided by the pub. Everyone had a very good time and couldn't praise the venue and the staff enough. Highly recommended for a small to medium sized event.

Great atmosphere in the Golden Fleece even if we didn't see any paranormal activity. Staff were friendly, great interior decor with original features of the buildings past. Slightly disappointing that seating was very limited and we had to sit on a bench outside the toilets for an hour with our drinks until a table became available. I would visit again despite this if we could get a table.

Poor food had fish and chips and pie and chips, fish was thin and all batter, pie was over cooked and top was do hard I could hardly cut threw it, wish I had of booked somewhere else, need to change chef

Had to stop off here, even though it was packed. Young staff team were on top of it, served promptly. Very well kept beer, and an enjoyable way to spend an hour.

Great little English pub. Very busy even first thing on a Monday.

Went for the music absolutely brilliant

Came here with family for my neice’s birthday. 8 of us pre booked a table but there wasn’t enough room at the table they gave us to sit us all down. It was an unpleasant experience from the outset. I had to order both drinks and food at the bar but when I asked if the drinks could be brought over to the table I was told “we don’t do that”. The table we were given wasn’t even clean. Food was passable for the price but couldn’t enjoy it because of people pushing past and bumping into me all the time. If we were here for drinks alone we may have thought it was ok but it certainly wasn’t a fun experience trying to eat. Puddings were poor.

I was served by a naturally beautiful bar maid

My family and I booked a table for 3 at this pub whilst visiting Yorks Christmas Market. The table was booked weeks, and weeks in advance, and we were really looking forward to our booking! When we arrived we queued at the bar to find out where our reserved table was. It was extremely busy, and from looking around there were no free tables which was concerning. A lady looked for our booking and said that it wasn’t there. She explained that this sometimes happens, and the website has done it a good couple of times now. We explained that it shouldn’t let you book if this is happening repeatedly, and she said hopefully the more complaints they get, the quicker it will get taken off of the website, but it still hasn’t. This was really disappointing, as we had travelled from Derbyshire all the way to York, and we don’t expect these things to happen. Very disappointed.

The only scary thing about this pub is the terrible food and awful service …. we waited over an hour for our food, which when it arrived was cold and inedible. Worst yorkshire puddings we have ever had and we are from the south. The bar staff were friendly enough, but the lady serving food was so rude and cold she could have been the ghost of Lady Peckett herself. Save yourself the fright and don’t bother. Very very disappointing

Went in for a couple of drinks,really shows it's age in a wonderful way. Love the overall atmosphere.

We stayed overnight in the Minster Room and had a very comfortable good night's sleep. The room was very clean, thank you Sarah. The bar staff very friendly and the full breakfast set us up for the day exploring. Situated directly opposite the shambles. Live music on Friday night was good. Atmosphere in the pub excellent. Would definitely stay again. Thank you.

We booked a table for our party but it wasn’t really ready and there weren’t enough chairs. It is a very busy pub and our guests were constantly being pushed and bumped into while they ate. Tables were sticky even after they were wiped down and some menus were sticky too. Barman wasn’t very helpful either when taking our order. To be honest I wish we had just left. Drinks were fine, prices are ok, food was nice enough (deserts were below par) but don’t take booking for meals if you aren’t prepared to organise the tables or provide some level of decent service.

Amazing historical pub you can feel the energy from all the people during the century's that have passed through this place loved it

Didn't see any ghosts but the drink selection was good and the food looked amazing

Came in for a drink then later came back for food. Beautiful old pub, lovely staff and good food. Came from Kent to visit york and didn't disappoint. Would love to stay overnight one day. Thankyou

Perfect for a quick pint and a quick bite whilst in York, definitely felt the spooky vibes.. the staff was very welcoming and friendly! Thank you

I don't normally believe in ghosts and wotnot, but I felt very odd from the moment we walked in. I am clearly psychically talented and had no idea. It was busy at a Sunday lunchtine - if you want to eat here you will have to book in advance. NB: Psychically talented people order Neckoil from friendly bar staff.

Great location. Very old and probably haunted pub. However, that's where the good stuff ends. We waited nearly an hour for food and when it arrived, it was the worst we'd ever seen. Probably about 8 chips, a tiny chicken burger, with 2 of the tiniest pieces of bacon that were so small, the Hubble telescope would have had trouble detecting them. I wasn't sure if the skeleton at the bar was a hangover from Halloween, or simply a customer waiting for his meal. One day, when the stars align in the heavens, world peace breaks out, and somehow, the staff at the Golden Fleece get their act together, the food will still only aspire to be very poor. Do yourself a favour, there are dozens of better places to eat nearby....check them out.

Nice place, how ever service not the greatest. Very slow and disorganised but lovely venue

Food was good. Its very difficult to get a table so best to book in advance. So many people were turned away.

Had a cheeky pint,when we visited york

Lovely stay here and evening meal was lovely fish and chips where massive portions.

I was really looking forward to visiting the Golden Fleece. I’ve travelled from Birmingham to York and planned to attend this pub with a few friends and upon arrival I was told I could not enter. They asked how many ppl was in my party which I advised 6 or 7 to be told we could not enter because they was too busy in the end bar, I pointed out I could clearly see there was two tables which was empty at the front from where I could see from outside and after speaking with the manager he said we could not enter ‘because they was busy’ and he was too busy talk to us and walked back into to the pub . We was told if there was 6 ppl would have been let in however, as there was 7 we was refused entry. I’ve never written a review so I thought i needed to incase any one else was travelling in as a group 7 lol and was planning on visiting this pub. I’m disappointed and gutted we couldn’t get in and it’s our first night in York and heard so much about it and didn’t get a good feeling from speaking to the staff so I personally wouldn’t recommend it just off the experience from the staff that spoke to us!

I recently visited this lovely pub in York, drawn in by its warm and inviting decor. Unfortunately, the experience was ruined by the lack of basic decency when it comes to accommodating families with young children. As a parent, I simply asked for my baby's food to be warmed up, a request I've never had refused in any other establishment. Yet, this pub flatly denied it, leaving me baffled and deeply disappointed. For a place that seems so welcoming on the surface, their disregard for the needs of parents with infants is astonishing. While the ambiance may be charming, their customer service leaves a bitter taste—especially if you’re expecting even a shred of empathy for families. If you’re a parent, I suggest finding a more family-friendly spot in York.

Had a glass of pinot which was off. Barmsn refused to change it. Never going back here again

Was packed from about 11am but good atmosphere

Visited on a cold and windy Sunday last week. A unique environment and really helpful, friendly service .A fantastic Sunday lunch with the family and a great selection of beers and lagers. We left fulfilled and happy. Many thanks to all the staff.

Interesting pub, haunted? Well I saw many ghost ships!

Independent pub in the centre of York, makes a big difference! Fab service great selection of beers and food portions are enormous!

A very entertaining traditional pub.

Meal came and the corn on the cob was ice cold so they took it away and microwaved it the staff serving on the bar kept on disappearing in the back so you were waiting for some one to serve you

Staff were great! Wanted to stay for a few nights but prices are NOT comparable to other places at all!! Food was edible.. just. Very disappointed considering my partner has been many times before & raved about it.. shame it’s been bought out by a chain😔 Would love to experience this haunted establishment (love haunted places) but I guess I’ll need to save up for a few more years.

Sound place lol enjoyed it, wee dear like x

one of the most haunted pub s in the uk

Another pub in York charging £7.50 fir a pint of lager. Dick Turpin.

Great atmosphere, good drinks selection, staff were lovely and friendly with quick service. There was live music on and the place was heaving. There is a great outdoor area at the back with seating.

Used to come here years ago and it was a lovely, atmospheric and chilled pub. Unfortunately now there is a very surly barmaid who didn’t make anyone feel welcome, snappy and rude, added to this a dirty bar, toilet out of order and very sticky tables it’s now a no no. Such a shame as this was a go to for us previously.

Very nice place easy to find, food, rooms very good. Loved it

Went in here for a drink on the 26th September 2024 beautiful old inn but the ladies toilets were disgusting, worst I've seen in a while, such a shame as the Golden Fleece itself is a lovely old place, as you have a lot of customers maybe get them checked and cleaned several times a day

Wasn't expecting a Very modern menue , a bit like a brewers fayre pub. If you prefer more traditional food try elsewhere Dessert portions very small for price Staff very friendly, would go back for drinks