Old Harkers Arms

Harkers is a great restaurant disguised as a great pub. The food competes well with the best restaurants in town in a relaxed atmosphere.
Several dozen draft beers and ciders round out a fully stocked bar. The friendly staff will assure you feel welcome. Go, enjoy.

Lovely starter… had the chickpea, sweet potayo & feta fritters… a single random nacho waas found in my starter salad (replacement for a crostini — nope didn’t work!) and my partner had the liver pâté on toast, both lovely.
steak burgers for the main — could have had some fries or salad options instead of just chips but very pleasant (slightly burnt the bacon)
my partner said the house sauvignon blanc was nice (i had star on draught) would go again lovely quaint place — shame we were sat near the kitchen hatch and could hear the staff biccering though
great location near the train station

It’s been a year since I last stopped here. That time was at night. Today it’s 3:30pm and wanted to eat something before the ferry from Holyhead.
Ordered the Beef and Stilton pie, served with mustard mash, red cabbage and green beans. Absolutely superb!
The more places I visit the more this place stands out. There is always a great mix of people, great staff, huge choice of beers, ciders, whiskys and the good has always been superb.
Can’t recommend this place enough and at this point I’m considering missing the sailing and staying over to have a few pints.

Roast perfection… genuine pub grub joy. I’d been given a heads up on the quality but I didn’t expect the joy I got. A cosy pub setting, I opted for the double meat roast (of course) whilst my girlfriend went for Lamb shoulder. Both were massive portions and cooked to Sunday filth perfection. It was like I was being given a food hug.
The staff were great and it also has outdoor seating alongside the river. It really reminded me of The Wharf in Castlefield but cosier. Best roast ever… shame it is so far away. A treasure ‘chest’er delight… see what I did there… Sorry.

Good pub, food never a let down and an adult only area

Had a really awesome night there with some friends. The food was just awesome and the beer as well. Would come back anytime!

Probably one of the widest range of cask ales and weird beers & ciders in Chester and reasonably priced.
Nice spot next to the canal and mixed crowd
I would strongly recommend for drinking and eating

Really good (but pricey) food, that is worth paying for. Is by the canal and so busy on hot summer days and when the races are on. Get in early to get a table!

Another Chester canalside pub. Not quite as good a selection of real ales as The Mill Hotel, but still a reasonable choice — Spitting Feathers 1862, Boggart Rum Porter, Flowers Original, Weetwood Cheshire Cat, Thwaites Original, Wincle Wibbly Wallaby and Moorhouses Pride of Pendle during our visit. They also have a few different Westons ciders and perries to choose from. The interior was more wine bar/​restaurant than pub and the bouncer on the door (early Friday evening) reinforced this message. However, the bar was very busy. We’d intended to eat here. But finding a table was a major problem. Parking is also reasonably difficult. Although we did find a nearby street where we could park for free. I’d probably try this pub out again at a quieter time. But for me it was slightly too busy to enjoy and after the Mill, a bit of an anti-​climax.

This award winning pub is a short walk from Chester’s train station, 5 min from the city center and looks directly onto the Shropshire Union canal.
The key ingredients to Harkers’ success lie in a dash of quality food, a heaped tea spoon of real ale and good helping of customer service.
The food being served in Harkers is excellent gastro pub fayre with good hearty portions. Both the steak burger and fish & chips are popular dishes. The ales on offer change regularly and are a real treat for those that prefer beers supported by CAMRA rather than nitrogen filled lagers.
An excellent meeting place (popular during Chester Races) with good grub and real ale.

Harkers is my local pub — in-​fact I can actually see it from the window of my apartment. The location is convenient for most being on the way to Chester Rail Station — however it is also unspectacular being set next to the canalside which is something of a ‘regeneration’ area.
Inside however, Harkers really comes into it’s own — leading to many of my friends describing it as the ‘best pub in Chester’. This reputation being mostly derived from the excellent range of real ales served up behind the bar. On top of this however, the food is also excellent (if a little more pricey than usual pub-​fare) — as is the service.
Another quirk of this place is that it refuses to install any kind of music or video systems — no tv, no fruit machines — no sound whatsoever, other than the hum of local chatter.
Harkers is pretty much always busy — not in a bad way though — you can normally get a table after a while and the atmosphere is relaxed and cosy. The patrons tend to be 20 – 40 year old people who either live or work locally — often from one of Chester’s many financial institutions.