In the competitive market place which is Chapel Allerton, the pubs and bars must each try whatever they can to make themselves distinct from their rivals.

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And at the Suburban, one idea they've come up with is to charge diners progressively more as the evening goes on.

Or to put it another way – the earlier you order, the cheaper it is. So if you order your starter and main course at 6pm, you'll pay £6; half an hour later it's £6.30; at 7.05 it's £7.05.

It's a cracking idea, and we rolled up at 5.45 the other night, eager to bag a bargain, though rather wasted time working our way through the menu and ended up paying £6 each.

It shouldn't have taken nearly so long. It's a limited version of the Suburban's fixed price menus, with just five starters, six main courses and five desserts.

The last time I was here I enjoyed a wonderfully rich pea and mint soup, but today's variety was minestrone, so this time I went instead for a swampy salad of penne, leaves, roast vegetables, olives and pesto, which was an interesting combination, beautifully presented, and deceptively filling.

Other choices include chicken livers with sautéed chestnut mushrooms; salmon fishcakes; and – this my wife's choice – a juicy mackerel fillet, served atop a cold potato salad.

She followed that with a chunky pork loin steak, with a tangy mustard mash and lots of creamed cabbage, which made for a wholesome, sleep-inducing dinner. Less impressive was my pie of the day, an attractive lid of flaky pastry on top of not very much at all. There were a few chunks of fish, a nice creamy sauce, but the portion size was nothing like as generous as the steak pie I'd tried last time out.

Luckily, there were plenty of chips to soak up the sauce, by way of compensation.

Other choices include organic sea trout with sautéed potatoes and broccoli; boiled beef brisket with seasonal vegetables; and a filo parcel of Mediterranean vegetables and feta cheese.

You can do a main course and dessert deal instead for the same price.
Puddings include lemon tart, Eton mess, and a fruity spring roll, but in case you're thinking of popping in for a £1.15-a-head lunch, the deal only starts at 5.30pm, and is available until 7.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

The bistro is upstairs, but downstairs is where the real action is. The long bar is backlit by funky shimmering colours, as the sound system throbs away in the background.

It's a cool place to spend an evening out with friends and a huge photo has Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack looking on approvingly.

In bars such as this, I sometimes find that the real ale fan is overlooked, but – in common with most of its local rivals – the Suburban finds room for at least one handpull, to tempt regulars away from more traditional drinking haunts like the Regent, Nag's Head and Mustard Pot.

Here it's Black Sheep and, bearing in mind that real ale is hardly the focus of the Suburban's business, it's a pretty good pint.

There are other SSBs in Bingley, Otley and Baildon – none of which ever struck me as being suburban locations – and Horsforth, once a village, but now just about subsumed by Leeds's northward sprawl.

The Chapel Allerton branch opened four years ago, and manager Rob Butterworth has been here since day one.

It's on the same site which was once home to the local Serbian Club, and the change of name was not immediately appreciated by the locals: "The Serbian Style Bar? I wonder what that will be like...!"