The Pack Horse — Restaurant in Bury

Found this on a Google search and took a drive out to try it. Impressive building from outside with lovely scenery.

Once inside we were asked if wanted to sit in the main area or in the conservatory. We chose the main area but I suspect the conservatory would be a great choice in the summer months considering the view you probably would get from there.

I had already decided to go with the three course set lunch at £17.95. My brother opted for just a mains and went with the Classic Beef burger with fries at £16.50. Was quite impressed with the menu as seemed a decent number of options. The set lunch gave a choice of 4 starters, 4 mains and the same for desserts. It looks like this gets changed on a regular basis as the lunch menu I got was not the same as the one on their internet site.

My starter was Black Pudding and Smoked Bacon salad. Very well presented and very tasty but would have liked a bit more black pudding and bacon. Still, a good start to the meal.

For mains I got Sausage ( pork and leek) and Mash. Sausages were nice. Mash was as well. Well mashed with no lumps but a relatively small portion and, for me, could have done with some more butter. I thought the gravy was quite thin and not really very tasty. Didn’t add anything to the dish for me.

My brothers burger looked good. It was piping hot and he enjoyed it. However, right from the off he said his fries were a bit cold. They looked quite pale, almost underdone but I tried one and it tasted ok but it was cold. In hindsight he should have raised it with one of our servers at the time rather than after the meal. Should really have asked for them to be replaced. Maybe there was an issue in the plating up in the kitchen because his burger was red hot.

For dessert I had ordered the Strawberry, Rhubarb and Gooseberry Crumble. It was served with ice cream. I asked the server about this as was sure menu said custard. He replied that it came with the option of either. I didn’t get asked for my choice. I checked after and the menu does say custard. I didn’t bother me but it might if a customer has any allergens. We were not asked if we had any before ordering. We don’t but always nice to be asked. Putting that to one side the dessert and the ice cream were delicious. The crumble was piping hot. One of the servers confirmed they were home made on the premises. I would have liked a bigger portion though. One, because I’m greedy. Two, because it was delicious.

We finished our meal with a cappuccino each. We were asked if we wanted sugar when they were served and it was nice to see no sugar rationing here. We got a glass jar packed with both brown and white cubes. And the coffees were excellent.

We noticed about 6 or 7 staff seemed to be on duty. We were served by at least 4 different ones. Much prefer to have the same person serving on but have to say all the staff who dealt with us appeared very polite and well mannered. And they were able to answer any questions we had or were happy to go into the kitchen to check. Would give one of them 10 out of 10 for his observational skills. My brother had taken his last sip of San Miguel and barely got the empty glass to the table when the young man was straight over asking if he would like another.

So overall despite one or two little issues a pretty good dining experience. The lunch time set menu served between 12 and 5pm, Monday to Friday, is excellent value for money and I would recommend it. The establishment is a little out of the way for us and is therefore unlikely to become one of our regular dining venues. But I’d be happy to dine here again and would recommend it for a visit especially on a summers day to admire the...

I'm slightly baffled by some of the reviews here. From the top: it used to be a much smaller local with a limited (but pleasant) menu and limited beers - it was nice as it was, and I remember a memorable Xmas day meal here; we were ushered through the bar into the spare dining room at the back (I know this dates me) and ate an excellent meal, whilst watching the fetching dual tableux of big thick flakes of snow falling outside and my dear old mad Tory mum freaking out about being 'snowed in', much to the amusement of my Lancastrian in laws.

But I digress. The next step was a purpose built restaurant extension at the back, and very posh it was, in keeping with the village of Affetside which, whilst it looks very rural and sleepy, is full of expensive properties and affluent professionals. If you've ever been to Great Budworth in Cheshire, you'll get the picture.

So the Pack carried on, but after one - perhaps two - changes of ownership, things began to decline seriously, and in due course the place was shut, seemingly for good, until Hydes came back on the scene and poured a spectacularly large amount of money into the place, gutting the inside completely and starting more or less from scratch.

Hydes actually phoned me up to ask if there was anywhere in Tottington where they could hold interviews for the new staff (all of them new, I suspect). One can't say they weren't thorough. And, lo, the Pack reopened, and after a week or three, my partner and I went in to look at the transformation. It's no longer a little old rural pub that does food, and that's been constant ever since, but it certainly had teething problems which are tolerable if the prices are cheap, but which they weren't (and still aren't). Suffice to say I left it a while before returning.

T'other half likes the ambience though, and subsequent visits showed that they'd listened and learned - presumably having had a few sharp conversations with customers. The food was better (but stil not cheap) and the service was much improved too.

Fast forward to last Saturday, and the rare chance for myself and my beloved to have an afternoon to ourselves (our dear little female piranha off at someone's 9th birthday party), so herself suggests the Pack.

We had the vegetarian meze, with a side of chips and a bowl of glazed chipolatas (I'm an omnivore who's known to sulk in the absence of Quality Meat Products - unless I'm at the fabulous Aladdin in Withington, but that's a very different sotry), washed down by San Miguel and a G&T respectively. Total price - about £34 for that lot (more than one pint, he added sheepishly), but it quite exceeded my expectations, and the service was attentive but quite unobtrusive, which is how it should be.

The Pack's worth a call, and the food appears to now by consistently good, with flashes of "oooh, that's clever" and "oooh, that's brilliant". The beer's kept well, the place is clean and the service is how it should always have been. The only - and it was the only - downside was the three self entitled middle class, middle aged oafs sat in the same area whose grasp of social propriety and discourse seemed, at best, vestigial. I assume that they also swear like that in front of their kids and grandkids at home.

But that's a tiny niggle. Be prepared for daft prices - think restaurant prices - but certainly...

I took my mother and daughter to The Pack Horse on Friday 2/08/24 for the 'Light Lunch' menu, which we had seen advertised online beforehand. We had travelled quite some distance to get to the venue and had chosen the restaurant because of prior knowledge of its external seating areas and countryside views, having been there some years before.

On arrival I asked for copies of the menu and advised the member of staff that we intended to dine outdoors and enjoy the countryside views, given the lovely sunny day it was. When we looked at the menus we were surprised to see that they did not include a section covering the 'Light lunch' menu. I went back into the restaurant and spoke to a male member of staff, whom I believe was the manager. I enquired whether the Light lunch menu was still available and advised him that we had seen it on their website earlier that day. I was told by the staff member that if we were going to order from the Light lunch menu then we would not be allowed to dine outdoors on the terrace! Furthermore, the Light lunch menu was only available inside, which seemed very unusual and a tad discriminatory. Given we had pretty much already made our food choices from what we saw on the website earlier, we were forced to relocate to a table inside the restaurant, which was very disappointing.

After ordering a round of drinks they were served relatively quickly. However, it took quite a while before our food order was taken and then too long before it was served. Having said that the restaurant was popular with customers that day and quite busy.

Our food choices were all good having selected two courses each from the Light Lunch menu, which was limited albeit very good value at £14.95 per person. Staff service was friendly albeit a bit slow.

So in conclusion our visit to the Pack horse was really let down by the fact that we weren't able to be served any food from the Light lunch menu at a table on the external terrace. It could only be served indoors. If this restriction was the official policy of the Pack Horse then that is highly unusual and not truly 'customer focussed'. Furthermore, there was nothing posted on the Pack Horse website to stipulate that food from the 'Light lunch' menu can only be served within the restaurant and not at tables on the external terrace. If that is the policy then the Pack Horse's website needs...