We take our high streets for granted at our peril. What the past five post-Covid years have taught us is the extent to which they are struggling to cope with changes in the way we shop.
So many high streets are barely recognisable from how they were ten or more years ago, stripped of their banks, and many independent family-owned shops and national chain stores.
There are exceptions to this sorry tale of decline. Take Northallerton for example. Most of the banks may have gone but the businesses which have long enabled it to punch way above its weight as a small country town are still there.
Barkers, Lewis and Cooper, Maxwells, Bettys, Grovers, underpinned by a proper twice-weekly market make its High Street a place where people come to from all over. It’s a standing joke in our family that if we want to bump into Darlington friends, we go to Northallerton on Saturday. They’re all there.
At the very heart of the High Street is the Golden Lion Hotel which I suspect many folk do take for granted. It’s always been there, arguably the most handsome building in the High Street, a classic example of an old coaching inn which retains its Georgian character.
It was almost lost 27 years ago when its then owner Trusthouse Forte Hotel group disappeared in a corporate mash-up and it was put up for sale after many years of under-investment.
The Crow family came to the rescue by buying and investing big time in the hotel, not just in the hotel, bar and rooms but with the addition of the function rooms to the rear which have hosted many a wedding, ball, party and other large-scale events. We all have attended something there over the years.
Given the plethora of dining options these days in Northallerton, the Golden Lion might not be most people’s choice for a meal out, but a recent Sunday found us in need of traditional Sabbath fare but without the time to prepare it at home.
Sunday lunch at the Lion is a carvery set-up which generally I’m not a big fan of. The idea of prepared food coagulating in large tureens under those de-hydrating heat lamps never appeals.
The exception is the carvery that’s so busy that the food turns over quickly and there isn’t time for it to suffer.
Which was certainly the case when we arrived. It was Remembrance Sunday and the morning’s parade had finished so there were more people in town than was perhaps normal. Many of the tables had be-medalled veterans tucking in to their lunch.
The carvery options are beef, pork, turkey and gammon plus alternatives of chicken breast in mushroom sauce and fillet of salmon in a cream and dill sauce.
One course is £17.95, two are £21.45 and three £23.95 with a £1 discount for pensioners.
It is good value. We both were served generous slices of topside of beef and loin of pork and then helped ourselves to an array of vegetables (including creamed leeks, cauliflower cheese, roast carrots and parsnips), plus mashed and roast potatoes, humungous Yorkshire puddings and two gravies.
It is good quality. The roast meats, freshly carved, were juicy, tender and flavoursome. The vegetables were equally fresh, not overcooked, and the cauliflower cheese and leeks particularly good. The Yorkshire pudding (also available as a starter with onion gravy) was almost too big but it was super-light and crisp.
Plate sizes were sensible. By that I mean they were of sufficient proportions to accommodate a decent selection of what the carvery offered. If you were so minded to pile it high you could.
We weren’t but even without a starter we could only manage to share a dessert. And we couldn’t resist the old-school jam sponge and custard – something you rarely see on menus anywhere these days.
Despite quite fond memories of the stodgy, suet-based versions served at school, the sponge was as light as could be and there was just the right volume of custard.
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With a couple of glasses of house wine, the bill was just a tad over £48.
For a Sunday carvery lunch this takes some beating. So don’t take the Golden Lion for granted. It’s a jewel in our High Street. As the saying goes use it or…
Golden Lion Hotel
114 High Street, Northallerton DL7 8PP
Tel: 01609 777411
Web: www.golden-lion-hotel.co.uk
Open: Sunday carvery lunch served noon-2.30pm
Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 9 Service 8 Surroundings 8 Value 9
