The Pack Horse, High Peak

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Pack Horse

Back in Hayfield, I had returned to visit a third pub which I had down as opening from 5pm on a Wednesday. According to their website, they close continually from 9pm on a Sunday until they re-open at 5pm on the Wednesday. Whether this is correct or not, I'm not entirely sure. It had been closed earlier in the afternoon when I had tried to visit, but by 5:40pm on a Wednesday evening, it was very busy, almost as if it had been open much earlier.

Either way, this is an upper end pub and restaurant. As Ian Mapp says below, it is very different from the Kinder Lodge, a pub for locals and also very different from the George Hotel, which was a hotel living on past glories. I'm not sure if the Royal Hotel can offer anything different if and when that re-opens, but the Pack Horse is very much a forward-thinking place that clearly has the best marketing strategy of Hayfield's hostelries.

A board above the fireplace boasted that they were Hayfield's first entry into the Michelin Guide, as well as being number 19 in the UK's top 50 gastropubs. A list of food items you could order could be found on each table, with prices ranging from £3.50 for some pork scratchings to £80 for the 850g Cote du Boeuf.

The main room has multiple sections and is decorated in a fairly modern fashion. Food is clearly the mainstay here, but as a drinker, I didn't feel out of place. I couldn't see any reserved signs, there were plenty of families present, dogs are welcome and it seemed to be popular with local hikers and tourists. The pub simply didn't have the pretentiousness that often comes with gastropubs, especially those with a Michelin star.

In fact, this just seems to be a popular pub with a good reputation for food. Perhaps I was lucky to bag a table for my swift drink. If you're not quite so lucky, there is an outdoor drinking terrace to the front.

4 cask ales were being served - Moorhouse's White Witch, Adnams Southwold Bitter, Purity Pure Gold & Thornbridge Jaipur. Keg offerings included Tiny Rebel Easy Livin' & Timothy Taylor Hopical Storm.

I'm not normally a fan of gastropubs, but I took a bit of a fancy to this one.

On 2^nd September 2024 - rating: 6
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