Residents of Leeds.

Cheers PSG, some good suggestions there.

I would recommend Bierkeller, a German Barvarian style bar. Serve top quality beer in steins and have bar staff in lederhosens - I'm sure you get the picture. It obviously  have people singing and dancing on the tables but I've lost count the amount of fantastic nights I've had in there - i'd imagine it would have to be your type of thing though.

For food, just to throw something different in - i'm a big fan of  Trinity Kitchen. It''s at the top floor of the Trinity Centre and does various types of street food. It doesn't look the prettiest place in the world but i can vouch the food is absolutely fantastic.

Lots of fantastic things too do within the area though  

Thanks Brad. Lots to ponder.

Hope you have a good birthday anyway mate - let us know what you get up to. UTM

North Bar is a good spot, not the cheapest but good atmosphere and hundreds of beers, ciders and spirits to choose from. For good music and a bit of a dance, the bottom end of Merrion Street is a pedestrianised street with lots of bars down there - my favourite being Mojo's which plays anything from Bowie to funk to 90s stuff... but there's a few good uns down there

North Bar does indeed have a big selection of beers but expect to pay a premium for them! Last time I went there a year or two back, I paid around 15 quid in total for one German and one Belgian beer (admittedly quite strong ones)!

I visited Saltaire yesterday (flying stop) and it was indeed very nice. Not sure if ten minutes on the train is correct, however, as it is part of Shipley and out past Bratfud.

If so inclined you can apparently walk along the towpath from Saltaire to see the Five Rise Locks at Bingley. Marvel of engineering, etc etc. Would take an hour or two for a round trip, I understand.

Well, i had a good weekend. Didn't start well when there was a 2 hour delay at Donny as someone jumped in front of the train we were due to catch somewhere down the line near Grantham. Got really annoyed with all the twits moaning to station staff and had to remind one or two of them that someone had died, so a bit of a delay wasn't really that much of a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, we got to several pubs/bars and also spent Saturday morning at the Salts Mill before trying Fanny's Ale House. The Mill was good but the ale house was not up to much we thought.

We also managed to get to:-

The Hop
The Grove, twice (second time it was full of miserable Leeds fans as they had lost to Birmingham)
2 Wetherspoons (for breakfast only)
The Midnight Bell
The Cross Keys
The Northern Monk Refectory (my joint favourite)
The Adelphi
The Town Hall Tavern
The Duck and Drake (bit of a dive)
Tapped
The Lamb and Flag
Leeds Brewery Tap
Head of Steam( joint favourite)

Probably a couple more that i forget and my wallet took a battering. Leeds pubs are a bit expensive compared to our usual weekend drinking oasis of Kelham Island. Enjoyed it though and thanks for all the suggestions.

Glad you had a good one and enjoyed Northern Monk. Definitely not an option for a cheap pint though, especially if the bottle shop sucks you in! Had forgotten the Adelphi and like it in there. Have been in lamb and flag a couple of times and thought it should be good but was just totally devoid of any atmosphere. The Grove with Leeds fans after they lost is way preferable to after they've won!

*winces at the Duck and Drake*

The Northern Monk was actually the cheapest pint we had. They had a pale session ale on that was £2.50 a pint and was very nice. There was a wedding do going on and it was very lively until they all went upstairs to a private room. The price of most of the others on the board were way more expensive, so we stuck to the one beer. Agree on the Lamb and Flag about it having no atmosphere and we felt the same way about the Cross Keys, which was full of "same sex" couples. Nothing against them but we felt a bit out of place and moved onto the Monk, which turned out to be a good move as we were in two minds whether to try it or go back into the centre of town at that stage.

The reason we went in the Duck and Drake was because it was one of the pubs we ended up in on a stag day a couple of years back and the beer was excellent. Going back on a Saturday night was an eye opener though. They had a blues band on we were keen on seeing but it was getting very packed and rowdy, so we moved on. There were some "characters" in there i must say.