No, not the rare James B side, but a rarer Settle tick that I couldn’t really take offence with.
Last time here, Jimmy Anderson and Root were adding 198 for the last wicket against India, and I had to superstitiously hop on one leg up the hills or risk breaking the partnership.
Five years later I had a more leisurely stroll in the Dales, and enjoyed a sour dough and Lancaster cheese lunch from Booths, which as Matthew Lawrenson knows is the definition of posh.
Settle is the Bamford of the Dales, a few bikers nicely complementing the gentle folk perusing organic cauliflowers.
Another Dales tourist town, another upmarket Thwaites gastropub.
Except it wasn’t pretentious at all, really, with as many flat caps as flat whites.
OK, the barman had a waistcoat probably proclaiming Thwaites the Pride of the North or summat, but I saw no pressure selling of unwanted lunches.
The most pashmina moment came early on.
“Elderflower please”
“Cordial, Madam ?”
“No, presse”
I liked the old hotel touches, like the board indicating what time each guest would be served their stewed prunes and boiled cabbage, or whatever Northern folk ate in 1952.
OK, there’s posh hand-wash, but it’s from Thwaites, probably brewed for them in Wolverhampton.
Thwaites Nutty Black was cool and tasty, if a bit thin. If held at gunpoint in Mellor Brook I’d concede a 3.
A few too many dogs licking each other, or I might have abandoned the sourdough and dined here on the local delicacy of baby squid, caught in the Ribble no doubt.
retiredmartin 
That “Hills. Whatever they are” photo is glorious– the local tourist board should hire you.
Also enjoyed the most pashmina moment. 🙂
That is interesting that Thwaites has a side operation making soaps; for their pubs only, or is it a national brand? Reminds me a bit of Jack Daniels, who started making barbecue sauce a number of years ago, and probably hand soap as well, for all I know!
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Thanks Mark.
Photogenic little town, and the cobbled up hill streets toward the hills are a delight.
I don’t really think that Thwaites make their own soap, I guess it’s contracted out to Greene King 😉. Though Marstons DO make marmite from yeast extract at the brewery.
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“Motorbikin’”
So that’s where Rolling Thunder went this year.
“and I had to superstitiously hop on one leg up the hills or risk breaking the partnership.”
Perhaps that explains why Si has his ongoing wonky knee?
“Hills. Whatever they are.”
Crikey. That’s postcard material right there.
“a few bikers nicely complementing the gentle folk perusing organic cauliflowers.”
Do you mean bikers and in those who wear leather or bikers as in those who wear Spandex?
“with as many flat caps as flat whites”
Just a reminder; not all flat caps drink flat whites. 😉
“What’s he carrying?”
A stuffed animal that represents the harmony between brown and white?
(a bit like that Paul McCartney song)
“Beer you’ve heard of”
The first two on the left at least.
““Cordial, Madam ?””
Pfft. He could have said Squash just as easily.
“Sensual hand-wash.”
And apparently also calming? I usually find sensual and calming don’t mix (well… at least until the end). 😉
“and dined here on the local delicacy of baby squid, caught in the Ribble no doubt.”
I thought squid were salt water inhabitants?
Cheers
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No Nutty Black Hand Wash on your visit ?
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Don’t give them ideas.
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Settle is a nice town. I haven’t been there in 16 years, but I doubt it has changed much.
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Booth’s isn’t posh, Booth’s is just quality, local quality, and yes you pay for quality (sadly nearest one to us is Ilkley). Waitrose (or M & S), where you pay for pre-prepped veg and individually packaged crap because you think it’s quality, that’s posh. It’s bit like pubs really and all those who think a really cheap pint is a good thing – if you’ll only pay a cheap price for a pint, then all you’ll ever get get is a cheap pint.
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If you do 90% of your shop in Lidl like normal people then Booths is well posh.
For that reason I’d love a Booths in Cambridge.
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Lidl’s another good example – you get what you pay for.
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You rarely do, you know.
An awful lot of money is spent on inefficient structures and fluff rather than quality.
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You do with local, independent producers. We should all turn away from German retailers, hyper markets and those selling more packaging than product, and buy from the farm gate, the high street butcher, baker and independent retailer. A bit like beer actually 👍
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“more packaging than product” – non-reusable rarely recycled KeyKeg is the worst for that.
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Richard,
But are you suggesting that a cheap pint can’t be good beer ?
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Of course he is. And it must be produced in GOC too.
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A cheap pint can be good beer. But my experience shows cheap pint in cheap pub = generally (for me) an unsatisfactory experience. If cheap pubs do indeed have a cask ale on (they frequently do not) it will usually be something I wouldn’t choose (eg Doom Bar, Tetley, GK mainstream products, etc). Similarly the keg beers will all be mainstream fizz and not something I would go for.
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In your favour, I would agree you get good quality at the price range some cask drinkers won’t go, but then I do like grapefruit murk. Best of all worlds, the Track Tap (Paul would hate it) had their murk for £2.50 a pint (not a half).
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That’s cheap … although the price per pint generally equates to the general economic fortunes of an area.
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Yes, but the Coach and Horses two miles from me has Wadworths 6X at £2 which in a basic but proper pub is a perfectly satisfactory experience for me.
Don’t tell Humphrey but I would rather pay £4 for his OBB in the Queens Head or Boars Head than £2 for grapefruit murk in the Petersgate Tap.
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I have a great post for you on the Jolly Angler in Manchester; yesterday I met a young German psychologist from Portugal who’d been avoiding the Manchester hipster bars in favour of a proper pub. He only had half an hour between trains or I’d accompanied him to the Circus or Grey Horse, but his Hyde’s Lowry was excellent a you’d hope a foreign visitor’s pint of cask would be.
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I have never been to a Booths supermarket so cannot comment on them, however I can confirm that Waitrose are pretentious, over priced shite. Lidl aren’t very much better, with their cunning act of pretending to be cheap. I agree with Richard. Quality is worth paying for. Crap isn’t unless it is priced cheaply accordingly.
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