Four nights in the East Yorkshire market town of Beverley, was ideal for catching up with family and friends, especially as the was a plethora of places to eat and drink.
The Beverley Arms Hotel
My brother chose The Beverley Arms for lunch, and a school friend booked it for dinner. So it was fortunate that it turned out to be one of my favourite places. With a central location, the hotel is part of the Thwaites Inns of Character chain, and the light and airy restaurant was lovely especially as the weather was good. As the lunch menu consisted mainly of sandwiches and wraps, we chose from the a la carte on both occasions. This wasn’t an issue with a choice of six starters (around £10) and a more extensive selection of mains including British classics, Beverley signatures, steak, fish, burgers and a good selection of vegetarian options (on average around £20). Bearing in mind this was a heavy week of eating out, I chose two lighter, but delicious mains: a goats cheese pithivier and a Cesear salad with chicken. This meant that after dinner, I still had room to share a selection of cheese with Peter’s Yard crackers, accompanied by celery and grapes. For those with a sweet tooth, but not up to a full dessert, there was the offer of a coffee and mini dessert. The service was attentive, and it was a smart but casual type of place, where it was lovely to linger and chat.
Kings Head and Altisidora
The Kings Head is a Beverley institution due to its central location on Saturday Market. It was a Marston’s pub and during March, they offered 30% off a la carte mains if a table was booked and a voucher downloaded. It was probably a notch down from The Beverley Arms in terms of atmosphere and grandeur, but the food was still good, the portions were larger and the wine cheaper. The only disappointment was asking for a coffee after dinner to be told that they switched the machine off at 8pm as they didn’t sell much.
Also in the Marston’s chain was the Altisidora in the nearby village of Bishop Burton. Again, this was a lovely pub, but this time we chose from the lunch menu with two courses for £16. Whilst the menu was relatively limited, we all found something to suit. I began with cauliflower wings followed by fish goujons with triple cooked chips and mushy peas, whilst my sweet-toothed sister-in-law chose the same main course followed by a chocolate fondant.
Carluccios
Whilst we tried to use independent places, we chose Carluccios for brunch on our final day, as it opened early, and the large venue had plenty of room for us and our wheelie bags. A £14.95 deal was great value and included a breakfast of choice (smoked salmon, avocado and two poached eggs on ciabatta for me), a juice (peach, orange or apple) and a coffee.
One place we didn’t try was La Opaline Bistrot, the restaurant of Eddie Scott, the Masterchef champion in 2022, who hails from Beverley. It was only open towards the end of the week, and the menu didn’t appeal in terms of food or price.
Cafes
For coffee and a snack, we tried two places, both equally good.
Vanessa’s Delicatessen and Cafe had a ground floor deli with lots of tempting local produce, and a casual café upstairs. Having seen the size of the tea cake which arrived slathered in butter, we could understand why the waitress didn’t blink when we said we’d share.
In Toll Gavel we had coffee, and a shared warm sausage roll with delicious brown sauce at the Cornish Bakery.
Pubs
There are said to be nearly 30 pubs within the town, many with historic connections.
The White Horse Inn – originally a coaching inn dating back to 1666, is the second oldest surviving pub in Beverley. It is known more commonly as ‘Nellies’, as the pub was owned and run by the Collinson family and in particular their daughter Nellie, before it was sold to Samuel Smiths Old Brewery of Tadcaster. Little has changed and there are rickety stone and wooden floors, open fires and a warren of so many small individual rooms that you were tempted to leave a trail when going to the loo. The website says there are no children or dogs allowed, no food available, no singing, music or swearing and no tech use permitted e.g. phones, cameras etc. At 9.30pm on a Monday evening, it was quiet, and as it was St Patrick’s Day a skeleton sat in a chair near the bar, decked out in green, white and orange garb. We had one of the small rooms to ourselves and shared a bottle of wine which was great value at £21.
The Green Dragon – on Saturday Market was the choice of my nephew for drinks. As he frequented the pub as an agricultural student, we shouldn’t have been surprised at the prices with a pint of Birra Moretti being only £3.90.
The Sun Inn – dates back to 1530 and is the oldest pub in Beverley. As it was near the Minster, we popped in for a quick drink before Choral Evensong but found live music and what looked like a private party with a buffet. On returning after the service, it was quiet, but we then spotted the reserved signs on the tables, ready for a quiz at 9pm. The couple behind the bar recommended the nearby Lord Nelson, which was unfortunately in the wrong direction.
The Monks Walk – is another old Grade 2 listed building and so had lots of character and small rooms. It proved to be a good substitute for The Sun before Evensong as it’s in the Minster’s shadow.
The Angel – ideally located between the Saturday Market and Wednesday Market, was ideal for a shopping break and a lunchtime pint. We sat with packets of crisps, whilst all around, shoppers enjoyed fish and chips.
And finally, it was impossible to leave Beverley and Yorkshire without bringing home a Yorkshire Curd Tart for tea. They’re available in all the local bakeries, but we chose from Cooplands.
See also – Sightseeing in Beverley
