The Game Cock Inn, Lancaster

Will Larter left this review about The Game Cock Inn

I have no memory of being at the Game Cock Inn before, though I can remember my mother staying here for a couple of nights when she came to visit me at Lancaster; that would be 50 years ago. And I have an idea that I called in for a beer after climbing Ingleborough one time, but that might have been 40 years ago, and certainly before I started writing things in notebooks to aid my memory. Anyway, I was keen to visit for all these reasons and took the opportunity of a drive back from Furness to South Yorkshire, making sure I arrived in Austwick as close to opening time as possible. In the event I was the first person through the door, and when I asked for a pint of Thwaites Original the manager reminded the lass behind the bar to pull off three pints before pouring mine. Which she did to perfection, including giving me a fresh glass and then pouring off three from each of the other two hand pumps: Thwaites Amber and Thwaites Gold.

The Game Cock has been split in two, with a baker, patisserie and cafe in the left hand side, and the public bar having been extended into the original cellar space at the rear. (I have a half-memory of sitting with a beer in the glazed verandah of what is now the cafe, while the public bar was entirely new to me.) The tables in the public all have menu cards and cruet sets, but these felt to me like drinking areas that can be used for food, rather than the other way around. The walls, in confirmation of this, are covered in breweriana from various parts of the world. The beer was in good condition and much as I remember Thwaites Bitter from my days on the wrong side of the Pennines, which Austwick, despite being in Yorkshire, quite clearly is.

On 19^th October 2023 - rating: 6
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