Young & Jackson

If you’re a cider drinker you’ll love this smallish area on the rooftop of Y&J’s.
It is quite small and on a hot day can get a little warm. But the sails keep most of the direct sunlight out.
It seems to be a full smoking area, so if you’re offended perhaps try somewhere else. As with little air flow at times, the smoke does linger. There are fans to give some air flow but they fall a little short on warm days.
It’s a lovely place to stop with a great selection of ciders. I’d suggest trying the Cranberry Cider for something a little different.
Happy drinking.

I love dancing & singing along to a live cover band & generally you can’t go wrong if you head to Young & Jackson for this on a Friday & Saturday night. It’s a cheap & cheerful venue & if you have no expectations as such then I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I believe there is a good rooftop bar but I’m yet to experience this as it’s usually closed by the time I get there.
The place doesn’t normally attract a crowd until after 11pm & even then it can be very hit & miss with sometimes large numbers and then on other nights it’s surprisingly quiet. It’s very much a mixed bunch of people attending Y&J and you can dress up or down without feeling out of place.
I have sampled the bar menu on a couple of occasions & you get a decent plate of pub grub for a reasonable price. Plenty of beers on tap & the usual selection of spirits.

Always a reliable stop as you head home from Flinders Street Station cold beer good ambience plenty of seating with great aircon! Big screen TVs plenty of sport and usual pub meals. Overall a good meeting point for social bevvie.

Good selection of beer. Fun atmosphere. Bar keeps a tony surly… But overall fun spot.

Stopped here after my first day arriving in Melbourne thirsty and hungry after a lot of walking. Was right down the street from my hotel. Sorta upper class pub/​restaurant with a ton of history evidently and some painting of some nude broad on the wall named Chloe. Really nice draft selection with many local brews. I ordered from the bar menu a three slider burger thing and while waiting got get myself a pint. Holy crap expensive here. Then the wood plank arrives and its one slider worth about three bites. Not sure if I was supposed to get one or three. Then considering the price of the pints, I end this costly little snack lunch and exit for my hotel. Summary is yeah, cool place but not sure the system they have here or why the prices are so crazy.

There’s a cider lover’s oasis on the roof deck. They serve traditional pub fare – decent fries, too. I had a strawberry cider (weird, right?). In fact, I had two.
You won’t find anything that really stands out to make this place exceptional, but if you’re looking for no-​fuss place to meet some mates for a pint, you won’t do wrong in hitting up Young & Jackson.

Great pub which changes depending on the time of day. They have awesome cover bands after 11 on Saturday night and that’s when the place really comes alive
This place has the best Guinness on tap of anywhere in Melbourne.
Very close to flinders street station and restaurants or for a cheap quick feed, McDonald’s and hungry jacks next door
Only concern is the price for a beer but I suppose you pay for the location.
Security on the door are surprisingly friendly and enjoyable to talk to.
The food looks good but I haven’t tried so i can’t comment on quality or price but there is always a lot of people eating.
Can get very busy especially after 5 on a Friday and all day Saturday around lunch time.
Great to go with a group of friends for a wild night or just by yourself with a newspaper during the day.

I’ve long been a fan of Young and Jackson. But no longer. I arrived and ordered a beer with burger trio which was suppose to arrive on pAddles. 3 sliders and 3 small beers. When it arrived the waitress brought just the burgers with an empty paddle where the beers should be. I asked where are the beers and she said… You go get it from the bar yourself. I asked her if she was sure and she said yes. I walked to the bar with my empty paddle to which the guy behind said. No the bar pours the beer and the waitress brings it out. Simple mistake but the waitress had the cheek to look annoyed. She slammed a tray down and walked off.
Very rude of her. I should have asked her name but she was short had dArk hair and a pony tail.
She should either be trained properly or sacked. She is obviously new as all she has been trained to do is bring food out…
Disappointing all round

I still remember the days when I was in Melbourne with a group of friends staying at a backpackers on Flinders Lane, and how we would come to this pub to buy beer and to have a couple of drinks in the sports bar. However, it wasn’t until recently that I realised that they actually had a second floor, and a pretty famous painting hanging in one of the bars. Okay, Chloe may be naked, but since it is a painting they seem to be able to get away with it (though they have photoshopped some clothes onto her for a couple of posters — I doubt they would do it to the real painting though). When I discovered the painting, I also disovered the cider bar on the roof, which I thought was awesome. For a while I didn’t come here because, well, I didn’t like the sports bar on the ground floor, but upon discovering the rooftop garden my opinion has changed quite a lot. It is convenient, and even has some decent house brew on tap.

Walk into Young & Jackson and you will see your typical pub– beer stained carpets, old men and sports on the TV. Look a bit closer though, and you will realise they have quite to beer and cider collection on tap and your usual fare pub meals which are rather nice.
The real treasure though, it upstairs. Head upstairs to the roof for the best (and only) rooftop cider beer I have been too! The atmosphere is great and the variety of ciders makes any cider lover happy. I visit this place every time I’m in Melbourne.

Popped in for a drink as we were waiting in town, and stayed for dinner. Seated in the café area we were comfortable to start but as the evening wore on it got colder and much less pleasant. We ordered the lamb shanks, and the roasted vege salad with squid. The roasted vege salad was good, but it lacked actual roasted vegetables just potato and beet root. The lamb shank was un appealing, rubbery and poorly prepared. We sent it back and replaced it with the wyagu burger. That was ‘ok’ but nothing to write home about. With all the options nearby, don’t eat here. Drinks are fine, the pub is nice. But the food services meh!

Cider bar is a winner, Chloe’s rooms are nice, and the food is pretty good too.
I’ve been coming to Y&Js about once every three months for a while, and I like it more every time. The rooftop cider bar is a brilliant additional, and has certainly found a niche of its own. On a summer day/​night, it is a truly enjoyable spot. Even in winter it can be good, but the high walls that keep out the wind and block the view also block whatever sun there may be.
The downstairs bar has two long service areas, and feels like it has changed little since opening. I love the feel of it, and that it transforms from watering hole to bar when a live band performs.
If you have not done so yet, go visit Chloe on the middle floor next time you are in the city, it’s worth it just to say you did.

A surprisingly decent bar in the heart of the CBD within a couple of steps to Flinders station. A huge selection of beers for a Melbourne bar and at least one on cask (hand pump). I was there on a Saturday night and people were streaming in from a game or something so it was pretty crowded.
Exemplifies many of the best qualities of Melbourne’s good bars (a small group as far as I can tell). Many of the bar (or hotels) seem pretty specialized in terms of ambiance or clientele. For a city this size there are surprisingly few bars in general and even less that fit my American sensibilities. I am basically looking for a place with an actual bar that one can sit at (not just a long serving station), a good number of beers, preferably relatively dark, and a good mix of people. A place to sidle up to the bar, get a beer and maybe end up in an unplanned conversation with the bartender or another patron. A lot of the the bars around are either fancy cocktail bars or hotels that seem to actually be like hotel bars in Europe, antiseptic with little atmosphere, a little too fancy, and either catering to people attempting to impress dates or footy watching. Now, there is nothing wrong with this in principle, but I am sometimes just looking for a bar to get a beer and hangout. Young and Jackson’s fits the bill.
It is not exactly a «dive bar» in the American sense, it is fancy and overly lit. But, at least when I was there, it seemed to be populated by an interesting diversity of people that led to some good conversation and people watching. The bartenders were nice and very helpful, suggesting different beers and seeming genuinely friendly.
The prices are pretty good by Melbourne standards and, as others have noted, its location makes it a perfect stop before getting on a train home. The place also has a lot of history as some of the other reviewers have noted. Overall, very solid choice in the CBD.

Great central location and always a go to when meeting friends in the city. I am not the biggest advocate for the downstairs bars, but I love the cider bar upstairs. What a fantastic range of cider to pick from and all fantastically priced! Going here in winter is a must as they do all the warm apple ciders, my fave being the apple pie hot cider, ohh so yummy and just warms up my insides.
The downside is unfortunately there is no view as the walls are very high so at times can feel a bit cramped. If you are a cider lover like myself it is so worth a visit.

The pub meal we had here was awful! I’m shocked at how good the food is upstairs with «Chloe» and how terrible my calamari salad was downstairs at the pub. I probably ate ¼ of the salad? Best part of the meal was my Appletizer. Hubby had the parma and said it was terrible and luke warm. So disappointing.

Established in 1861, the faded elegance is showing its age. Located on a busy intersection, across the street from a train station. A typical pub with pub grub to match. Lots of teen and young adult backpackers crowded into the place to gawk at painting of the Victorian lady in déshabillé.
Don’t really remember much since it was our first meal after a long travel day from Sydney. We ate at the downstairs café. I had the fish and chips that was just OK. All I wanted to do was eat and get back to the hotel to sleep.
This is where I learned that Foster’s isn’t as quintessential an Australian beer brand as those TV commercials proclaim. This is where I discovered Victoria Bitter, Carlton and Tooheys.

You typically associate Young & Jackson’s with rowdy nights out or killing time waiting for a train. I have been guilty of this.
But ladies and gentleman… here’s a hidden secret about Y & J — $ 35 express lunch. Yes.
Selection from a limited menu, a glass of wine and beer plus coffee + treat. The day I went: Beef Cheek with a white chocolate mousse and fairy floss.
Get a window seat and you have one of the best seats in Melbourne for lunch. Perfect for admiring Chloe or the watching the heart of Melbourne pulsate.

A good tourist pub and for a quick beer in town
Upstairs is recommended for a quiet beer and meal. the best feature of this pub is Chloe

Came here for dinner during my visit. Given it’s a hotel restaurant across the street from the major train station, I didn’t expect much. It was our first day in the city, and we were starving, and it was walking distance from our hotel and had availability :)
So honestly, I didn’t expect much at all. It was better than I thought. My mom liked their fish dish and I got to check off my foodie list on the rare kangaroo meat! LOL :)

I have to say, that for a pub that probably experiences more foot traffic outside than any other place in all of the state of Victoria, this place is pretty underwhelming. It’s not the fact the it is a gods honest pub and needs to be anything other than a gods honest pub. It is just that it’s a pretty average pub if you ask me.
There is nothing innately wrong with Young & Jacksons. It sells the usual range of pub beers and even has two bars as if you wanted the choice??? But one can’t help get the feeling that the owners don’t know what they want with this establishment and aren’t prepared to put any thought or money into what could easily be a goldmine.
The carpets are gaudy and red, like they have been ripped out of an old cinema, the veneer is patterned in fake Victorian lattice and there is artwork on the walls that look like they were commissioned by a porn star wanting to put them up on the walls of his Victorian mansion. They have live bands from time to time on a makeshift and awkward stage set in front of a television, which I guess, you could watch some sport on if there were any sort of sufficient seating facing it.
Look don’t get me wrong. This place is perfectly fine to go have a pint or two in. I would even consider getting a bite to eat if I was starving and couldn’t be bothered hopping across the road for some Lord of the Fries. But honestly this place has nothing special other than the fact that it has one of the best locations in town and does absolutely nothing with it.