The idea
The fire is lit at half past six every morning and allowed to die sometime after midnight. It is the only appliance in the kitchen. Everything you eat here, the bread, the butter, even the cream for dessert, has passed through smoke on its way to the counter.
We buy whole animals from farms we can drive to within the hour, fish off the Fleetwood day boats, and vegetables from a walled garden above Longridge that tells us what is ready, rather than the other way round.
There are twelve seats, and all of them are at the counter. Dinner takes three hours. Phones work in here; somehow nobody checks them.
Heat and patience,in that order.
The room
Smoke blackened oak, soft brass, candlelight doubled in old mirrors.
The counter was cut from a single fallen oak off Beacon Fell; the fire gets the offcuts. You sit close enough to hear the fat hit the coals.
Five frames from the shot list. Photography follows; the art direction is already decided.
You have seen the room. Now sit in it.
Private hire
The room, yours until late.
Take all twelve seats and the evening bends around you. Your menu agreed with the kitchen in advance, your wine standing ready on the counter, the door locked to everyone else.
Birthdays, anniversaries, deals worth closing properly, the good kind of conspiracy. The fire does not care what you are celebrating; it shows up either way.
Whole counter · food included · from £1,020
Groups of six or more
Feasts, for tables that arrive as a crowd.
Six or more of you and the menu changes shape: fewer courses, bigger dishes, everything set down the middle of the counter to be argued over.
The Feast
- Whole shoulder of hogget, twelve hours in the smoke
- Monkfish for the middle of the table
- Everything the garden sent that week
- Burnt cream, one large dish, many spoons
65 a head
Choose the wine when you sit down.
Gift vouchers
Give someone an evening by the fire.
A voucher covers the whole tasting menu, for as many seats as you are feeling generous about. Posted in a stiff envelope, or sent by email within the hour.
An evening by the fire
Valid twelve months · every evening we are open
Come hungry.Leave slowly.
Questions
Asked often, answered honestly.
Bookings only, and we mean it kindly. Twelve seats leave no room for chance. Reserve a table and the stool is yours for the whole evening; sittings are at six and nine, Thursday to Sunday.Reserve a table
Yes, with notice. Tell us when you book and the menu bends around you; the kitchen would much rather know three days out than three minutes. Coeliac, dairy free and most allergies are straightforward. Vegetarians eat well here. Vegans, ring us first and we will do it properly.
Welcome, if they can sit through three hours of fire and conversation. Most twelve year olds manage it better than their parents. There is no separate children's menu; there is a smaller chair.
At the counter, no. The room is small and the fat spits. On the bench outside in summer, gladly, and the kitchen keeps a tin of things a dog considers fine dining.
Free up to 48 hours before your sitting. Inside that we charge 25 pounds a seat, because every empty stool is a twelfth of the restaurant. Move the booking instead; the first change is always free.
Yes. The room takes twelve at the counter and it books out more often than you would think. Ask for the private hire brochure and we will ring you back the same day.
Nothing above put you off?
Reserve a tableReservations
Join us by the fire.
Sittings at six and nine, Thursday to Sunday. The whole room books as easily as one stool. There are no walk-ins; the room is too small to be casual about.
Or ring between sittings and ask for whoever sounds least busy.