Pooley Bridge, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“A rather anonymous exterior in the ubiquitous local red sandstone makes this excellent little restaurant somewhat missable at first glance”, but venture inside the former bank and you’ll find a “remarkably creative restaurant” offering “a menu of essentially bistro classics, all done well and with obvious generosity”. Add in “relaxed, thoughtful and non-intrusive service”, and it won nothing but praise this year, with one reporter even keen to award it “11 out of 10”. Top Menu Tip – “The slow-cooked beef with Parmesan and truffle chips was a dish of the year”; “a venison suet pie, rich with port, and served with an improbably delicious blue cheese mash and whisky stock-based sauce was the ultimate tasty comfort food, whose deliciousness outweighed the large portion… I still managed a lovely sticky toffee pudding though!”

2022 Review: This old-school market-town hotel is a cosseting sort of spot, whether you opt to dine in the “comforting bar area” or the silver-and-ruby-red restaurant, garlanded with two AA rosettes for its “consistently high standard” of “well-presented” food.