The Keystones

Walk into The Keystones and you're in the kind of place locals actually go to, not somewhere trading on novelty. It's positioned nicely on Monkgate, that stretch between the city centre and Clifton, where real York happens. You'll find decent pub classics done right, cold beer that tastes like it should, and staff who know what they're doing. The crowd's mixed—after-work drinkers, families on weekends, people actually eating proper meals—which speaks volumes about a place that refuses to pick a lane and fails at all of them. Instead it does the fundamentals well.