The King's Head

We came for a Valentine’s Day meal in 2026. The food was lovely once it arrived, but waiting 1 hour 15 minutes for three meals when the place was nowhere near full was atrocious. They offered us a bowl of chips to tide us over, but it never came. When we asked about it, the server's attitude was awful. She'd offered them just five minutes earlier, then changed to “what would you like me to do?” In the end we just waved her away, ate and left. There was no time for dessert, and I wonder how long that would have taken. We won't be back.

There’s lots of choice for food and drinks, and ordering through the app is easy. Just scan the QR code at your table and pay with Apple Pay. Service was prompt, and there were plenty of screens showing sport, news and other things. We went on a Saturday just as it opened; there were lots of tables, though it soon filled up. A lovely pub and a must for food if you're visiting Beverley.

Our family Christmas day out was ruined. We had pre-ordered food for 14 people two weeks ahead, but the order was completely wrong, there was no stock for it, and we were told they had no sides. The starters arrived more than an hour after we were seated, with three missing; those came another 20 minutes later. The mains were wrong too and didn't arrive until over 2.5 hours after we got there. They were cold, overcooked and thrown together, and we found bits of baking tray in the meat. We were booked for 2 pm and arrived at 1:30, but were put in a cold back room with no music. We waited in a queue for 20 minutes for drinks before being seated. Then nobody came to our table for nearly an hour to check on us, offer drinks or explain what was going on. Staff told us they had all been brought in from other places, including whoever was in the kitchen that day. Some had travelled over an hour to cover for people who had all left the day before. It sounded like nobody knew what they were doing. The situation should have been explained to customers before they arrived, so they could choose whether to risk having their day spoiled. That might also have saved Alex and his team a lot of grief. Credit to Alex, who was put in charge and set up to fail from the start of his shift. We won't return unless things improve dramatically.

The staff are polite and welcoming, but the drinks need attention. At a group event hosted by someone else, my supposed latte was basically a bitter espresso with hardly any milk, and it was cold. My wife's cappuccino was cold too. Later I had a Diet Coke that was nearly all syrup, lost its fizz after a few minutes and tasted like three-day-old vodka and Coke. I know the taste, I was a teenager once! There was also distracting background noise from staff chatting, hoovering and moving glasses, even though the host presumably paid for a quiet room. I haven't been in a long time because it's too expensive. The food is the same old low-quality stuff from a standard menu, and there are plenty of lager and IPA cans and bottles but no hand-pulled bitter. Maybe training the young staff to pull a decent pint is difficult. I used to remember The Kings Head in the late 90s and early 00s as a lively local place with music and dancing, reasonable prices, sometimes the cheapest pub in the town “center”. We Yorkshire folk don't do fancy. The refurbishment was nice, until prices kept rising while quality stayed the same or below par. Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy, but I'm only 42 and have felt this way for 15 or 20 years. Take that as you will. I don't expect anything to change, and I won't be back any time soon. I doubt the prices will come down or the beer improve. Have a nice day. Lifelong Beverley Resident.