‘A proper pub and more’: Hightown Inn, Hightown, reviewed

If you’re scouring Best Places to Live lists, the chances are you’re too late to move there. 

Hightown is seemingly one such place, having come in at a respectable no.29 on the ‘Poshest Villages in the UK’ list compiled by estate agents Savills and lifestyle magazine The Telegraph. 

Every person I’ve since mentioned the place to has never heard of it, which I imagine might be just how the locals like it.  

But if you are househunting in the area - Financial Advisor in the sidecar, briefcase on their lap and coastal midges smudged on their horn rimmed glasses - go right at the sign for Anthony Gormley’s Another Place, head for Hightown train station and pop over the road for some lunch at The Hightown Inn.

The building’s story is much like that of many other pubs that have suffered in the last five years - the rising costs of hospitality hammering its margins from every side to the point it has to close. 

Thankfully GSG Hospitality, of NORD, saw the potential and swiftly set up Executive Chef Daniel Heffy with carte blanche for a modern pub menu.  

By November it was up and running. By Christmas Day it was “mayhem” (according to manager Ashley). By January, and the day of my visit, it was like it had always been there.

It has all the hallmarks of a great country community pub - if you want to eat your fish and chips on a table the size of a 12” record, you can, as is your right - but the dining room is what shows this place definitely takes its food seriously. 

Just three steps, bistro chairs and table cloths is all you need to distinguish the spaces, but there’s no clanging membrane of vibe and dress code to pass through. This is still a pub, just a very nice one.

I was tempted by the starters proper; beef tartare (£15), soup of the day (£9), and especially the ‘posh prawn sandwich’ (£14). But I made the journey with one thing on my mind from the mains, so decided on something from what menus now like to euphemistically call ‘bites’, the scampi with jalapeño aioli (£9).

I’d say if this is what they call a bite, there’s no way I could manage a mouthful. Four fat, full and fresh scampi tails arrived, definitely an ideal fit for an afternoon snack over a few pints. The batter was light and not overbearing, and the aioli had the yellow hue of being freshly made. It could have been a tad pokier given the jalapeño but was lovely nonetheless, complementing the batter well. I managed three and a half.

Next up was the reason for my journey; pork schnitzel with crispy capers, anchovy butter and gem salad (£21). 

This was breaded perfectly, as any upstanding schnitzel should be but few are. The coating was that enticing golden brown and the pork well-seasoned and perfectly cooked, not remotely tough or chewy. The capers were fantastically frazzled but kept their punch. But for me the anchovy butter is the winner. I’d have a block of it in my fridge for my morning toast. Or should I say if I had a block of it I’d bother eating breakfast in the morning. 

On the side the gem lettuce salad dressing was light, lemony and excellent. I’d normally opt for a vinaigrette but this is better suited. Chef knows best. 

I’d in fact tried making something similar to this the week before - chicken schnitzel with lemon caper butter - and bollocksed it up good and proper. The chicken wasn’t nearly flat enough, the bread coating too thick and the sauce split upon contact with more butter. I should’ve just waited until I came to Hightown and saved myself two hours and a load of washing up.

For dessert it was, and had to be, the vanilla crème brûlée (£9). 

Crunchy, creamy, and just the right level of decadent without going all Louis XIV, this achieved what you hope a good dessert does; cap off a meal through its own merits, leave you full but not overfaced, and complete with a ringing bell of satisfaction something that I don’t think can really be improved upon; the simple joy of a starter, main and dessert. Old-fashioned perhaps, but sometimes the old ways are the best.

Ashley says the locals have warned him that come the spring and summer The Hightown Inn won’t know what’s hit it. I reckon that’s something this team can comfortably withstand.  

The Hightown Inn, Lower Alt Rd, Hightown, L38 0BA