Shoulder of Mutton, Middleton Tyas, Richmond (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Shoulder of Mutton, Middleton Tyas, Richmond

10:35am Friday 3rd July 2009

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A village pub in need of some TLC.

AFORTNIGHT ago in this column, a colleague catalogued the woes of the British pub, particularly the escalating number of closures. All sorts of figures are bandied about. Whether one is more accurate than another doesn’t really matter, the evidence can be seen with our own eyes. For every pub that’s surviving, there’s another with the lease, or freehold, for sale.

Only a small number could be said to be truly thriving.

A debate about the plight of the village pub was set off on a recent Saturday, returning from Richmond and thinking of somewhere for lunch.

We passed the Traveller’s Rest at Skeeby, a lovely pub that’s been boarded up for months as the pub company tries to find a buyer for the freehold.

Sylvia reckoned it could be a going concern, given its main road-side location and the prettiness of the village. I was a more sceptical. Skeeby’s not a big village. There’s no money to be made on beer, so it could only survive as a food provider, and that’s a crowded market.

This debate trickled on till Scotch Corner hove into view.

We easily resisted the faded charms of the hotel and the Little Chef on the other side of the “Corner” and, instead, headed down the hill into Middleton Tyas to the Shoulder of Mutton.

At first, on seeing the empty front car park, we thought for an instant that it, too, had closed, but the front door was open and, yes, lunch was being served.

The Shoulder of Mutton is owned by one of the big pub companies, Punch Taverns, and run by licensee Liz Ramsey, a former Orange call centre manager who took it over almost three years ago.

A brief conversation with Ms Ramsey after our visit revealed that trade was difficult, and following a quick internet search, we discovered the lease of the Shoulder of Mutton is for sale.

That may explain the rather subdued atmosphere we encountered on first entering.

We seemed to be the only folk in, but then four or five groups swiftly arrived and the place seemed almost busy.

Ms Ramsey certainly had her hands full as she seemed to be the only member of staff.

Serving behind the bar, taking food orders and doing the waitressing too, she was very pleasant but did seem a tad rushed off her feet. Such is the life of a pub licensee these days. The margins don’t allow for many staff.

The food was pretty good with one small but nevertheless significant exception, so we might as well get it out of the way now. The vegetables that accompanied our main course were simply dreadful.

Flacid, water-logged carrots, grey, utterly tasteless swede and pallid spring greens that tasted like nothing we had ever encountered before. It brought to mind fried wash leather, but as I’ve never eaten wash leather, chamois or other, that may not be accurate.

Everything else was really quite good, and given the past experience (Blue Lion at East Witton, no less) of the chef, Tommy Jeffcoate, perhaps that’s not a surprise.

My fillet of salmon was just cooked about spot-on and sat on a truly excellent creamy asparagus and dill risotto (£11.25).

Sylvia wanted the goujons of haddock but only fried whole fillets (£8.25) were available.

It was decent enough without being spectacular. The chips were similarly acceptable and the garden peas were, well, garden peas.

We split a dessert, a very cheesey vanilla cheesecake topped with granola and blueberries (£4.95).

The granola was inspired.

Along with the crispy base, it made for a double helping of slightly chewy crunchiness.

The service from Ms Ramsey was very good considering she was for the most part working single-handedly.

The pub itself, inside and out, seems tired. What was once a pub full of character now seems like a pub on its last legs.

It perhaps wouldn’t take much to put it right. A thorough clean, removing some of the gin traps (just how many do you need?) and other grubby-looking dusttrap knick-knackery and giving the whole place a coat of paint would work wonders.

The character can be retained but it needs some refurbishment.

We don’t blame Ms Ramsey.

She looked like she was doing her level best. We’re not sure the same can be said of Punch Taverns.

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