Room at the inn
English pubs and inns worth making a detour for
Looking for a friendly English pub with a good selection of real ales, home-made sticky toffee pudding on the menu and maybe even a bed for the night in which to sleep it all off? Here’s a selection of our favourites
Words: Alastair Sawday
WE HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED IT – coming across a beautiful garden or building just when we least expect it. Similarly, before or after an airport visit it is wonderful to retreat to somewhere very different. I have often nipped off to one of our “special” pubs, smug in the knowledge that those not in the know are trapped somewhere less nourishing. From our pub guide in our Special Places series we have chosen some that are close enough to the airport either to refresh you after a flight or prepare you for one. And you can even sleep in some of them – an old trick but a far safer one nowadays. Pubs can be surprisingly better than hotels, and their food has changed beyond recognition.
For example, the moorland views from the Millbank are almost as good as the food. The Rose and Crown is located deep in the countryside and you can sleep there, too. You may fall into a jazz-fuelled reverie at the Durham Ox or onto feather pillows at The Cherry Tree in Henley. The list of potential delights is long and seductive.
NEAR LONDON: The Cherry Tree Inn This pub exudes 17th-century charm and 21st-century luxury. From the bar’s minimalist good looks to gorgeous bedrooms in the barn, it’s first class.
And so is the food. Come for roast belly pork with black pudding, caramelised apples and mash; salmon and basil fish cakes with lime hollandaise; sea bass with roast vegetable couscous and tomato and chilli dressing. Puddings are classics (treacle tart, chocolate and raspberry pudding), cheeses are local, beers are from Brakspear and there’s a very decent selection of wines by the glass. The big lawn and terrace are great for summer. Bedrooms are stylish, with flat-screen TVs, king-size beds and feather pillows.
Stoke Row, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire +44 (0)1491 680430; www.thecherrytreeinn.com Main courses £7-£13 (lunch), £10-£15 (dinner) Doubles £95 Take the A4070 north from Reading. After four miles, turn right, continue through Checklade to Stoke Row. The pub is in the village.
NOTTINGHAM: Cock and Hoop The Lace Market is undergoing a revival – and it’s a treat to find a fine free house in the city centre. Opposite the law courts – now an award-winning museum – the old ale house gave sanctuary to judges preparing for the hangings that took place outside. The pub is a cheerier place today, with shoppers, beer-lovers and city workers making a bee-line for the cosiest spot in town. There are two rooms, one at ground level, one below. Below is larger and softly lit; ground level has an open fire and a tiny bar. Both have wooden panelling and bare-brick walls, plush furnishings, armchairs, benches and club chairs. Friendly staff know all about the whiskies and wines and there’s an unexpectedly good selection of both. Beers include Black Sheep and London Pride, while food includes club sandwiches, homemade soups, roast salmon and sticky toffee pudding, all courtesy of the stylishly informal hotel next door.
25 High Pavement, Nottingham +44 (0)115 852 3231; www.cockandhoop.co.uk Main courses £7.95-£9.95 From city centre, follow brown signs for Lace Market. The pub is next to Lace Market Hotel.
LEEDS: The Durham Ox The Durham Ox stands at the picturesque top of the Grand Old Duke of York’s hill. In the immaculate L-shaped bar, you’ll find stone flagstones and deep rose walls, worn leather armchairs, carved panelling and huge log fires. There are two more bars to either side, where well-heeled punters enjoy a pint of Theakston, and a dapper, yellow-walled and wine-themed restaurant that draws all and sundry, including parents of pupils at the nearby posh Ampleforth College, who pop in for lunch when they’re in the area for a visit. Chalkboards above the stone fireplace and monthly menus might list such tempting choices as game terrine with date and squash chutney; fish and shellfish pie; braised lamb shank with red wine and rosemary; and sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce. The Bar Bites menu and the Sunday roasts are inevitably popular. Priced bin-end bottles line the old dresser in the bar. There’s a deli selling homemade goodies, a garden with a marquee for summer functions and live jazz on Thursdays.
Crayke, York, Yorkshire +44 (0)1347 821506; www.thedurhamox.com Main courses £9.95-£18.95; bar meals from £6.95 Exit right off A19 York-Thirsk. Continue through Easingwold to Crayke.
MANCHESTER: The Millbank Savour a pint and a rolling moorland view.
The Millbank, clinging to the side of a steep hill, has a stripped-down, architect-scripted interior that combines flagstones and log fires with modern paintings and bold colours. Its friendly, cosmopolitan style is echoed in the food, prepared by Chez Nico-trained Glenn Futter, who creates daily wonders with fresh local produce. There might be roast scallops or parsnip and Parmesan soup for starters; beef braised in Guinness with horseradish mash or sea bass with lobster and spinach linguine for the main. And then there are the decadent puddings, the fine Yorkshire cheeses, the guest beers and the Yorkshire ales (Timothy Taylor’s Landlord for one), the excellent wines, the malt whiskies and the first-class snacks and nibbles in the bar. The steeply terraced garden has lead planters fashionably stuffed with box topiary and bamboo – and those incredible views, which are worth a visit alone.
The Millbank, Mill Bank Road, Mill Bank, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire +44 (0)1422 825588; www.themillbank.com Main courses £9.95-£18.95; set menu, £11.95 Off A58 between Sowerby Bridge and Ripponden.
Norwich, The Globe Inn The renovation of The Globe on pretty, leafy Buttlands Green has been masterminded by the owners of The Victoria at Holkham. Now the old coaching inn has two bars and a restaurant that serves unstuffy modern food such as spring lamb with fresh asparagus, grilled lemon sole, venison and (a rare treat) wild partridge from the Holkham estate. On sunny days you can take your plates and your pints (Adnams and Woodforde’s) out into the large and sunny courtyard. In winter, settle in to the atmospheric “new” bar – a warm mish-mash of old furniture, big woodburner and antique lighting. Children and dogs like it here too, what with child-size pies and walkies on the long beach. Sunday brunch is fun and the bedrooms are as fresh and as untraditional as can be, gleaming with oak floors, power showers and digital TVs.
The Buttlands, Wells-next-the-Sea +44 (0)1328 710206; www.globeatwells.co.uk Main courses £8.50-£14 Doubles from £55-£105 North from Fakenham on B1105. Hotel is located on the green in the centre of the village.
DURHAM, Rose and Crown Few country inns match one’s expectations as well as the Rose and Crown. Built in the 1750s, this dreamy inn is gently informal, utterly unpretentious and run by easy-going perfectionists. In the small bar, warmed by an open fire while a few trophies peer down, locals sit and browse the Stockton Times. A shiny brass door latch reveals more: an elegant lounge where a grandfather clock sets a restful pace and a panelled dining room for more formal fare.
Bedrooms are lovely: those in the converted barn tumble with colour; those in the main house come with antique pine, padded window seats and warm country colours. And the food is scrummy – from scallop, bacon and wild mushroom risotto to steak and kidney pie with Theakston gravy. Outside, a village green, with church and unblemished stone cottages, opens onto countryside views as good as any you would expect.
Romaldkirk, Barnard Castle, Durham +44 (0)1833 650213; www.rose-and-crown.co.uk Main courses £10.50-£14.95 Doubles from £130 From Barnard Castle, B6277 north for 6 miles. Right in village towards green. Inn on left.
READER OFFER
We have 20 copies of Alastair Sawday’s Pubs & Inns of England & Wales, costing £14.99, to give away to voyager readers. Send your name, address and daytime telephone number to: compvoyager@ink-publishing. com by 30 June*. Winners will receive the book directly from the publishers. Details of other guides produced by the publishers of this book can be found at www.specialplacestostay.com
