Castle Hotel in Hornby, Lancaster

[Matt]

Hi all,

I live quite close to Leeds and am a fan of great food, so naturally I am disappointed that I haven't had a chance to hit Anthony's, but it is next on my hit list (one that is long and with not many checked off yet!). I was interested to see that earlier on in the Anthony's thread, there was a mention of a chef called John Lyons at Restaurant 27 in Ripon.

That particular restaurant gave an awesome gastronomic experience to all those who ventured near. I should know, I worked there throughout its life. The restaurant won alsorts of awards including Yorkshire Life's restaurant of the year after only having been open for 5 months. It also acheived a 6 in the Good Food Guide. Which, considering the location, kitchen and resources, was amazing. Unfortunately, this restuarant was forced to close. The food was beyond beleif, the service was good, but the location was wrong.

However, John Lyons has moved. He is now working in a village called Hornby, near Lancaster, in the Restaurant attached to the Castle Hotel. Perhaps, given the nature of John's cooking and the success of 27, you can imagine my shock at visiting one day to find the restuarant deserted. The world has simply allowed this Gem to go flying by.

I would highly recommend a visit to this restuarant. The food is spot on, the only problem is that because of the lack of diners, the Chef cannot create to his full potential. I would love to see this restaurant succeed. As I have said, the food is awesome, in the same legue as Anthony's, but just not as recognised. The restaurant itself is also gorgeous and a perfect size for the maximum of 24 covers.

Do any other eGulleters have any experience of the late restuarant 27 or the Castle Hotel?

Matt

[Andy Lynes]

Matt, welcome to eGullet and thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Restaurant website

[Matt]

Cheers Andy, confused me for a second though when I looked for the post

I purposefully left the website off my post however as it is grossly out of date. The site is still how it was when the previous head chef, Paul Reed, was in the kitchen. Please don't judge the restaurant on this site, it desperately needs updating.

Matt

[Andy Lynes]

Apologies Matt (to explain, I moved Matt's original post from the Anthony's thread as it seemed to warrent one of its own but then failed to tell him I'd done so. Bad site manager!).

The site does at least provide contact info and has a short bio for John Lyons so it has been partially updated. Are you able to give us some examples from his current menu?

[Simon Farrow]

Drove past this place today and both hotel and restaurant appear to be boarded up...

[Matt]

Hey guys,

Sorry for my prolonged absense, I have been having computer and time problems.

A short and rather disappointing update on The Castle Hotel.

The Building consisted of three components, the hotel, the bar/pub and the restaurant. Unfortunatly the bar (which the owner was unsure on the direction he wanted it to go) was the restaurants worst enemy. All the owner's resources were being poured into the bar and the hotel, both of which were distracting attention from the restaurant.

This became a problem, John and myself were desperately wanting to move ahead with the restaurant, John had hundreds of dishes ready to go on the menu, but no customers to feed. When we confronted the owner, we decided to focus on the restaurant as a seperate entity, We called it The Vanilla Room, came up with a new identity for it, and was promised that there would be a lot of publicity focused onto The Vanilla Room.

Three months and one advertisment later John decided enough was enough and handed his notice in, followed very shortly by myself and another chef, with others threatening,

As I understand, the owner has now closed the hotel, bar and restaurant and is planning on converting them into housing.

I was bitterly disappointed that the restaurant disappeared in this way, it was a little gem that was so underappreciated by the owner that now no-one will have the pleasure of eating there again.

I hope that those few who dined at The Vanilla Room had a wonderful meal, and I look forward to dining with John again when he decides to focus his efforts and present his food in another restaurant.

Matt

[Andy Lynes]

matt - thanks for the update. just to clarify, you were actually a chef at The Castle Hotel/Vanilla Room? It's not clear from your original post.

[Matt]

Not a chef, I suppose the closest way to describe it was Restaurant Manager, although John had very clear ideas of what he wanted for the restaurant.

[fisherman]

always helpful to make things like that clear in the original post, otherwise people may just assume you're advertising the place in question, certainly seemed like you were a punter in your description of your visit to the castle hotel