Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Pudsey
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Pudsey restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 17 restaurants in Pudsey and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Pudsey restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Pudsey Restaurants
1. Northcote
British, Modern restaurant in Langho
Northcote Rd - BB6
“Just awesome every time we go. The team… the food… the place. It’s been brilliant for 30 years” – constant expansion, innovation and reinvention has characterised the steady growth in profile and physical size of this Ribble Valley operation, just off the A59: nowadays one of the more recognised foodie destinations in the UK, certainly amongst those ‘up north’. Lisa Goodwin-Allen runs the kitchens with “stunning presentation and incredible light and purposeful cuisine, with her personality coursing through the menu”. MD Craig Bancroft leads “a front of house team with a real sense of character”. “Wine pairing at Northcote is almost as much part of the experience as is the food and head sommelier Magdalena Sleziak is a real asset, presiding over a tremendous wine list (offering both value and extravagance), well thought through with choices from all over the wine globe”. All the above are on display each year during the annual Obsession festival early each year, which the property has turned into a part of the annual social calendar for very many well-heeled diners throughout the North West. And yet more change is now afoot, as in October 2024, the owners for the last five years, Britannia Hospitality Limited (owners of The Stafford in London), put the property on the market with Savills. It comes with planning permission for a swanky new dining room at the rear of the property which may yet further transform the dining experience here. We presume any new buyer will keep the existing team in place, and carry out the planned extension. But who knows? So there is likely some change afoot in the next 12 months, but it’s not yet 100% clear exactly how this one will roll.
2. La Locanda
Italian restaurant in Gisburn
Main Street - BB7
“As close to true Italian food as you will find outside Italy” – “Cinzia and Maurizio Bocchi continue to offer some of the UK’s most authentic Italian cuisine” at this converted weaver’s cottage in the Ribble Valley. “There’s more than a hint of agriturismo to the operation, with by far the bulk of ingredients being sourced locally” (Maurizio is a ‘Taste Ambassador’ for Marketing Lancashire). “Olive oils, PDO meats, and wines come from Italy; and the wine list – all Italian – repays a good study”. Top Menu Tip – “Starters and pasta are perhaps the biggest strength. If you can persuade Cinzia to let you order some olive Ascolani, you must: olives, stuffed with minced pork, and deep fried in breadcrumbs: heaven! The coffee menu is almost ludicrously long, but a straightforward espresso is always superb, and you really need to order a coffee to get the excellent biscuits etc that come with it!”
4. The Three Fishes
British, Traditional restaurant in Whalley
Mitton Rd - BB7
“It’s good to have Nigel Haworth back in a kitchen” and his 2022 return to this country inn, down the road from Northcote where he made his name (and in a pub that he originally helped run as part of the now-defunct chain, Ribble Valley Inns, 20 years ago) has put it firmly on the foodie map: it’s one of the top-100 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. There is a ‘Choice’ menu (mains are typically £30-£40 per plate) or a ‘Farm to Fork’ tasting menu with five courses for £55 per person or eight courses for £85 per person. One local reporter “had a bit of a disappointing experience when Nigel was on holiday”, but most accounts here are of “fabulous” British cooking and “exceptional value” (“this is a regular for us although it’s a 70-mile round trip!”). Top Menu Tip – “highlight for me was the blood orange soufflé with chocolate milk ice cream and honeycomb”.
5. White Swan at Fence
British, Modern restaurant in Fence
300 Wheatley Lane Rd - BB12
“How lucky are the good folk of Fence and thereabouts to have such a wonderful restaurant on their doorstep – a go-to when in this neck of the woods”. Fans say chef Tom Parker offers “possibly the best-value Michelin Star food in the country”, served in a proper pub from a nine-course menu (in the evenings) for £85 per person.
6. Banny’s Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Colne
1 Vivary Way - BB8
2021 Review: This nautically styled old Harry Ramsden’s remains “very popular with Boundary Mill shoppers” owing to its “great fish ’n’ chips and service” (not to forget the textbook mushy peas.
7. Eagle & Child
British, Modern restaurant in Ramsbottom
3 Whalley Road - BL0
2022 Review: “Great food and also a sense that they are putting back into the community” inspires support for this pub-with-rooms on the village green. Run as a youth-focused social enterprise, supporting young people to access training and paid work experience, it has won a string of awards over its almost ten years in operation. In summer, its ‘Incredible Edible Beer Garden’ comes into its own: almost an acre in size and with lots of interest as well as outside seating.
8. Engine Social Dining
International restaurant in Sowerby Bridge
72 Wharf Street - HX6
“Truly innovative tapas” (from crab and miso chips, to pulled pork gyoza with apple and gochujang mayo) has won a loyal band of followers for Mark Kemp’s “beautiful” converted pub, which, even half a decade on, is “so consistently good” (and excellent value to boot). Even though they’ve extended the opening from Wednesday to Sunday, the venue remains distinctly oversubscribed (“I really shouldn’t be posting this because it‘s always hard to get a table!”).
9. Gimbals
International restaurant in Sowerby Bridge
76 Wharf St - HX6
2021 Review: “Fantastic food” (“always plenty of interesting seasonal options, including great vegetarian choices”), that’s “great value” too, ensures the continuing popularity of Janet & Simon Baker’s eclectically decorated stalwart.
10. Shibden Mill Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Halifax
Shibden Mill Fold - HX3
“Lovely surroundings and great traditional food” have won a large fan club for this well-known former mill, which has ‘only’ been a pub since 1890. “Nestled in a valley in West Yorkshire, it caters to those wanting something a little extra-special and those loving traditional Yorkshire value” with “elevated pub cooking”. It’s a particular favourite for those who stay the night.
11. Freemasons at Wiswell
British, Modern restaurant in Wiswell
8 Vicarage Fold Clitheroe - BB7
“Fantastic food… fantastic value for money… and you can even take the dog”: this pub with rooms in a Ribble Valley village has emerged in recent years as one of the area’s top food-led destinations despite – in fact maybe because of – its easygoing and “cosy” style and the fact that what it serves is “so much more than pub grub – clever, no-fuss, local food of the highest order, all served in a relaxed environment”. In June 2024, after our annual diners’ poll had concluded, chef Steve Smith departed, and chef Matt Smith (who had previously worked at the pub) returned. Exactly how the dust will settle on this switcheroo is still not definite but we have rated it on the optimistic assumption that it retains its high quality.
12. Breda Murphy Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Whalley
41 Station Rd - BB7
2023 Review: “Simplicity” combines with “top quality” at Carlow-born Breda Murphy’s deli-restaurant, a popular destination in the Ribble Valley since 2006 for her Anglo-Irish home-style cooking. “At first it feels overly conservative, but every dish is perfectly cooked, often with a small and interesting twist such as thick-cut lime and soy-cured salmon.”
13. The Assheton Arms
Fish & seafood restaurant in Clitheroe
2021 Review: This “lovely gastropub in the pretty village of Downham, under the shadow of Pendle Hill” is part of Jocelyn Neve’s Seafood Pub Company – the interior has been “completely renovated”, but retains a proper atmosphere with its “roaring fires”. Views on its performance diverged a little last year: most reports suggest the “excellent fish and seafood is definitely worth going for”, but a couple of mixed reports (“good but not as good as it was”; “trying hard but no organisation”) sound a warning note.
14. Eric's
British, Traditional restaurant in Huddersfield
73-75 Lidget St - HD3
Chef-patron Eric Paxman trained under Marco Pierre White in London and Bill Granger in Australia, and has cooked for luminaries including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vowed ‘I’ll be back’ – a sentiment shared by numerous guests at the venture he opened in his hometown 14 years ago. “Lunch and early-bird evening specials are an exceptional bargain”.
15. Brook’s
British, Modern restaurant in Brighouse
6 Bradford Rd - HD6
“An airy space with unusual dishes and great cooking” – this comfortable independent opposite the civic hall scored highly in this year’s annual diners’ poll. The focus is on small plates, some of them very original: who’s for ‘honey, soy and gochujang roast carrots, toasted sesame, with tahini satay’?
16. COIN Hebden
restaurant in Hebden Bridge
Albert Street - HX7
A “great fit-out” of a former bank has resulted in this very cool destination, run by two alumni of the Moorcock Inn at Sowerby Bridge. It’s “a lovely place to while away a couple of hours” (in the company of your canine if you like), where the concise menu revolves around punchy and “great small plates, including charcuterie and cheese” and there’s “a dependable wine list too”.
17. The Martlet Kitchen
restaurant in Rochdale
Town Hall, The Esplanade - OL16
In the restored splendour of Rochdale’s Victorian Gothic town hall, locally born chef Darren Parkinson offers a smart take on regional dishes – in an early review, The Observer’s Jay Rayner adored the traditional ‘rag’ pudding. It’s also open for breakfast and afternoon tea.
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