The Palace Hotel, Kirkgate

Built as a home for a timber merchant in 1741, the Palace was registered as an inn 100 years later in 1841. It is believed to have been named The Palace after one of the breweries whose ale it used to sell. From 1874, it was owned by the Castelow family who brewed their own beer, and are all buried in St. Peter’s graveyard next door. It was bought by Melbourne Brewries in 1926, then passed on to Tetley’s in the 1960s. It is now owned by Mitchell and Butler. The Palace also has a reputation for being haunted - a grey apparition has been seen by bar staff from time to time. One theory is that it is the ghost of Michael Hill, a Leeds actor, singer, poet and entertainer, who dropped dead there in 1948. A benefit concert was later held in the pub for his widow and family.