neil morrissey's pub the punch bowl

[Gary Marshall]

well i've had a bit of a run on the meals in the last week, star at harome, marcus wareing , wolsely and i was supposed to be hitting red chilli yesterday but for various dull reasons we instead ended up not in chilli central but in ye olde punch bowl a recently gastro-ed, microbrewered and tv'd pub not far from my hunting ground in north yorkshire - marton cum grafton to be precise.

we booked and as we hit the packed car park at 1pm on a wednesday lunchtime it seemed a wise move as it was packed, though busy inside it didn't seem to reflect the car park until we saw a big party tucked away in a private room.

If you dislike pubs painted in trendy 'pub green' - not strictly a farrow and ball colour but i'm sure you'll all recognise it, then you'll hate the PB but i like decent renovations and this seems to be one of the better ones.

The schtick apart from the celeb owners & TV show is their own beer, they had 3 on, morrissey fox blonde, best bitter and mulled ale. my first sip of the blonde suggested that timothy taylors and theakstons et al should not be losing any sleep but after a few more, it grew on me. Obviously given that they are aiming to supply supermarkets it can't all be brewed on site and indeed it looks like it is mainly brewed at the cropton brewery nearby.

i had a quick look at the menu online and it looked a little more poncy than it turned out to be in reality, it was straightforward pub food at decent prices everything under a tenner with a few sarnies and things of recognisable provenance, ie not out of the brakes catalogue.

not sure if there's a seperate dinner menu but at lunch it was all chalked up on a board and from it we had cream of chicken soup, chicken liver pate & gumbo moules , all perfectly satisfactory. for mains an angus beef burger and mrs kirkhams, a steak and kidney pie and fish and chips - again all decent. given the amount i've scoffed over the preceeding days i thought better of dessert and eventually retired to a very cosy banquetted snug with real fire to sample some more of their ales.

So is it a culinary must do? no, but it is a perfectly decent place for a casual meal, and given the tv exposure nicely buzzy, even on a dull wednesday lunchtime. It's also open 7 days a week and all day - a rarity in the sticks though food service sticks to traitional hours.

Credit also to the staff as between a bar girl and a manager they kept the show on the row admirably.