The Old White Swan

A non-​smoking patio leads into this fantastic pub full of real ales. My type of hostelry. Nice comfy seating around the bar area. Friendly service and good food. Although, on this occasion we didn’t eat, we saw the plates that were coming out of the kitchen for other visitors. Looked extremely tasty.
Look out for this pub, well worth a visit.

We had a burger each in the restaurant, which although the burger was big I didn’t think the quality for money was very good. My burger was falling apart and was partly burnt. The burger bun wasn’t great. Last time I went the bun was better quality like a ciabatta. The burger and chips came with salsa, which I wanted to put on my burger, but as it was on the plate I had to use my knife which didn’t work very well. They need to put it in ramekins. To be honest I probably won’t go back again for food. The service was good even though it was very busy.

Cool bar with lots of seating options. Staff was friendly and had good selection of seasonal beers. Best I’ve been to so far.

The Old White Swan certainly looks the part. It is a really Olde World pub, cobbled together form three separate buildings. The result is a really atmospheric looking pub with charm which attracts the tourists.
One of the rooms is a restaurant, with traditional English food such as roasts, steak, fish all done to a pretty middle of the road standard. It’s OK for a quick meal if you are traipsing around York on a site seeing expedition. Service was good (by British standards) but the prices were quite ridiculous, reflecting the fact that the pub is targeted at people earning Euros or Dollars.
At night time it gets a bit rowdy. This pubs seems to attract people on pub crawls, so it was very loud and raucous. This is somewhat irritating if you want to enjoy a meal and actually speak to your fellow diners. Outside is a covered courtyard, which is even louder and busy with very young drinkers.
The major draw back is the security. The two «bouncers» on duty the evening we were there were very heavy handed with the blokes. They were somewhat aggressive and even started an argument with my 70 year old mother.
After spending over £200 on a meal in the restaurant they made it quite clear that we had to move on, to let in more of the young drinkers.
Good for drinking with the young crowd on a Saturday night. Bad for a nice dining experience (especially with your 70 year old mother).

We visited the Old White Swan on a Friday evening just as the bars of York were stationing security on their doors and the town was beginning to gear up for a typical Friday night. After a long day spent driving to York followed by a few hours rushing round the sights we were looking for somewhere relatively peaceful and relaxed to dine and we were beginning to think we may have left it too late. We were therefore delighted to stumble upon the Old White Swan which is a lovely characterful pub geared up to appeal to both young and old alike. There were 5 or 6 cask beers available and we chose ‘Wanderer’ which was lovely. The menu ranged from pub favourites such as gammon, steak pie and fish & chips to dishes with more of a restaurant feel such as braised pork confit or grilled sea bass. I chose the gammon and my husband chose the steak & ale pie. The pie looked wonderful as it was brought to the table with a lovely big puff pastry lid, however the filling was a little bit disappointing, not bad just not quite as good as expected. My gammon and egg was also very average, it was rather greasy and the gammon itself didn’t seem to be of especially good quality. Service was excellent, the barman/​waiter was helpful and courteous, knowledgeable about the cask beers and an attentive waiter. All in all it’s a nice pub but for us the food let it down a little bit on this occasion.

I spent this last weekend in York and had a lovely time! This town is full of pubs and bars galore, but the Old White Swan had the most character of them all. This pub is from the 16^th century and is divided into three different bars. Each one a little different but all equally cozy and fun. All three of the bars were full when we went there, but we found a spot outside on the expansive patio. Although it was chilly, our pints of Strongbow and Guinness and our lively conversation warmed us up. Definitely visit his bar for a historical and cozy place to have a drink or meal. This pub was thought to be the meeting place for papists planning their escape to France, and their spirits are thought to still inhabit the establishment. This group of good natured spirits rearrange chairs, re light fires, and walk about the building. I didn’t see or hear anything ghostly but there is no denying that this building is steeped in history and folklore.

A Really nice relaxed Pub. One of the oldest pubs in York, The food here is really lovely. especially if you like traditional British fod. (esp Sausages!) The Full english breakfast is great. There are always a Good selection of ales, too. Recommended!

Stopped here recently for food and was very happy with my meal. They have a large menu offering sausages of every possible variety. The bar area is very well kept and there is a nice undercover outdoors seating area between the 2 rooms of the pub. It is well situated in the centre of York. I had walked past many times and for some reason hadn’t entered, I will definitely be back now that I have tried their food. It was a huge portion aswell! The bar is quite big which for a York city centre pub is unusual as they are often very small old buildings.

A delightful pub in the centre of beautiful York. Live jazz on Thursdays draws a huge crowd, ranging from students to oldies, giving it a lively but friendly community atmosphere. One of the oldest pubs in York, The Old White Swan is a monument to history with its wooden panelled interiors and comfy, leather chairs. On the walls are lovely engravings, miniatures and ancient maps of the city, and above the bar perch tiny, old chemist’s bottles. Good selection of ales, too.