'An almost perfect country pub': Red Lion, Whitworth, reviewed

The Red Lion is a fact of my past. As a late teenager I would visit with friends or brothers after a trek over the moors or through Healey Dell to reach the delightfully cobbled Whitworth Square and sneak an underage drink. 

The square is nestled in a fold of the hills under the brooding presence of St Bartholomew church. The stone buildings, the location, the hills couldn't be anywhere in the world other than the southern Pennine belt in Lancashire and Yorkshire. It's utterly site-specific. 

The square would be handsome without the Red Lion but the pub makes the difference. 

A good pub hits you like a sigh of relief when you enter, this pub does exactly that

The Red Lion is all you want from a country pub or in this case a semi-rural pub, it has the age dating back probably to the 17th century, the various intimate rooms and spaces, the real fire, the real ale and the sturdy English cooking. A good pub hits you like a sigh of relief when you enter, this pub does exactly that.  

Cooking that is not only sturdy but damned skilful as well, with one caveat which will be revealed below. 

Latterly the pub was owned by Rochdale hospitality entrepreneur Ben Boothman but now it's in the hands of the youthful and not long in his thirties Jack Barratt. He's doing well and a chat with him at the bar revealed his love for the job, "It's a special pub. I want to make sure it remains popular with locals and visitors, walkers and anybody else who wants to pop in."

It felt popular on recent Sunday visits. Autumn was all about and the low ceilings, the fire, the comfortable fittings suited the mood of the season as the afternoon lengthened. A pint of Lancashire Best Bitter from local 24-year-old brewery Pictish was just the ticket. This is one of the best bitters I've tasted in years, rich in flavour with a good malty character. I looked at it, I drank it. Fifteen minutes later I was back for a second. 

The menu in its solid, skilful virtues seems to cock a snook at the phrase 'gastro'. On a Sunday it, of course, comes with the typical roasts (£14.50). On the first visit one friend went for beef and one asked to change the traditional meat for a cheese and onion pie. This was homecooked with a superb crust and turned out to a good match for all the usual 'trimmings'.

I've written about this before but some places for ease of service solely concentrate on roasts on Sunday. The Red Lion offers variety with alternatives such as trout, steak, pies, burgers and also specials. Nothing except the steak is over £16. 

On the review visit the soup of the day was tomato (£4.95) which sounds dull but was fabulous, a proper herby autumn warmer that was weighty enough to hold the spoon without sinking. It was properly seasoned and came with warm doughy bread and herb butter. No sourdough was in sight, oh happy day. There are other fabulous breads on this planet other than the ubiquitous sourdough although sometimes you'd never know. 

For mains we went for the specials. These were bacon wrapped chicken (£15.25) and crumbed plaice (£15.75). 

The chicken dish was a delight with some beautifully crispy garlic roast potatoes, broccoli and a wondrously uplifting and rich cheese sauce. That latter element complemented the tender juicy chicken which in turn was given bite and a salty punch by the wrap of bacon. I was thinking I should order gravy but that cheese sauce did all the work.  

The plaice was bloody good too. With a cunning gentle crumbing that allowed the soft delicate white flesh to live but the extras, the beetroot mash, the butternut puree and the lemon caper sauce produced the extra magic. Standout here was the beetroot mash, a sweet, earthy collation that I thought might not work with the plaice being perhaps too heavy but I was wrong. It emphatically did work. 

Now for the caveat. The kitchen is talented, the food portions generous but there was too much of a time lag between the soup and the mains, so much so that we didn't have time for any puddings. It had been faster but still not quite fast enough on the first visit too. 

That said, it isn't too much of a pain to sit and people-watch while we waited, but maybe a bit of attention needs to be paid to getting things out of the kitchen faster. Service generally was absolutely charming, full of smiles and apologies when we asked if the mains were ready yet. Jack Barratt has a very good team here and leads by example, serving behind the bar, bringing out food, clearing tables. 

My suggestion if you visit is to use the pub as the pivot around a walk. If you're driving park at Syke and walk north up the paved and then unmetalled road/track and that leads over a high plateau between Kings Hill and Brown Wardle hill straight to the Red Lion and Whitworth Square. 

Or even better park in the same place, go to the top of the dam at the disused reservoir for a gripping view of Rochdale and the towers of Manchester, then trace your way through Healey Sones and then Healey Dell with its waterfalls, woods and soaring viaduct before making your way to The Red Lion. After refreshment take the aforementioned track/road over the tops back to Syke. It's a circular walk that just about has it all.

Latterly people have adopted the word 'hygge' from the Danish to sum up a particular cosy and snug feeling. It's a fad thing which has led to its adoption in the names of bars and within advertising campaigns. Hygge apparently goes beyond cosy and snug to mean sharing that warm buzz of companionship with friends or family often over a drink.

The thing is, the UK has always had the very epitome of all this in a good pub. The Red Lion is cosy. The Red Lion feels snug. But, if you must, The Red Lion has hygge.  

The Red Lion Inn, Whitworth Square, Whitworth, Rochdale, OL12 8PY