The Watergate Inn

Walk down Walmgate towards the city walls and you'll find The Watergate Inn doing exactly what it's been doing for years—serving proper pints without any fuss. It's the sort of place where the bar staff know regular orders by heart, the ales rotate properly, and nobody's trying to Instagram their food. The interior has that comfortable, lived-in feel of a genuine community pub; dark wood, low ceilings, and the kind of warmth that comes from people actually wanting to be there rather than it being fashionable. Food is straightforward and satisfying, the sort of thing that pairs well with a pint of whatever's on tap. It's not trying to be cool, which is precisely why locals still pack it out.