A pub in Manchester has launched a new ‘traditional’ pub menu for dogs featuring roast dinner bones, ‘Bark’ burgers, roasts, and fish and chips.
The Metropolitan Pub in Didsbury, part of the Stonegate Group, has partnered up with Sir Woofchester’s, a hospitality-focused dog food provider, to provide the new gastro-style feast for customers’ furry friends.
The group has over 80 Stonegate pubs across the UK offering the new dog menu, and also plans to introduce some seasonal new dishes to the menu as the year progresses – promising it will introduce a doggy Christmas dinner and a Valentine’s Day menu in the coming months.
Staples of the new menu, available now at The Metropolitan pub in Didsbury, include roast dinner bones, Bark burgers and a fully-fledged roast dinner, as well as traditional British pub favourite, fish and chips.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
The menu also includes doggy drinks, with dog-friendly beer ‘bark brew’ and even a paw-star martini on offer.
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All the doggy food products included in the new menu are grain free and include freeze-dried raw ingredients, so no matter what your dog’s dietary requirements there should be something on the menu for even the fussiest pooch.
We headed down with The Manc superstar Vinny, a six-year-old Bulldog cross with allergies of his own.
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On arriving at The Metropolitan, Vinny received special treatment as staff filled up his very own water bowl from a dedicated doggy service section that has been created outside.
Dog water bowls are refreshed from a dedicated black barrel wearing a dog collar, whilst next door, dog menus and cosy blankets for colder can be found in the house kennel.
After a quick scan of the menu, we opted for a plate of fish and chips for Vinny and a bowl of treats – both brought to our outdoor table by friendly staff who went above and beyond to make sure Vinny was comfortable.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
We can confirm that the treats and meal were a hit, as he dug in with absolute gusto – spilling biscuits around the floor and he buried his nose in to get at the sweet potato chips and tasty morsels of silver fish.
The pub has always been dog friendly outside, but it has only recently begun to welcome dogs indoors too – a move that was initiated by new General Manager Sam Rawlinson.
Sam told The Manc that so far the new dog menus have been going down really well, and on average the pub is currently selling between four and five a week.
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Being that Didsbury is such a doggy area, he said, “it works really well.”
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Eats
The cosy Peak District pub serving a pick’n’mix sausage and mash menu
Daisy Jackson
There’s a Peak District pub that’s turned one of Britain’s most beloved comfort foods into a full-on pick’n’mix.
Tucked away in the postcard-perfect village of Castleton, Ye Olde Nags Head is serving up a fully customisable menu of sausage and mash dishes.
We’re talking near-endless combinations of proper pub grub.
You start by choosing your sausages from a daily rotating selection (not a sentence you hear every day, but we’re into it).
Expect classics like Cumberland alongside more adventurous options like venison and mustard, or even wild boar and orange, plus a veggie sausage daily.
Then it’s onto the mash – you can go for flavours like cheese and onion, wholegrain mustard, or even black pudding mash.
Classic cumberland, mustard mash, and mushroom sauceVeggie sausage with cheese and onion mash and classic gravyTucking in
To finish? A choice of rich, hearty gravies and sauces to bring it all together, whether that’s a classic onion gravy, a peppercorn sauce, or a creamy wild mushroom sauce.
And if that wasn’t enough, you can even upgrade your bangers and mash pick’n’mix by having it all served inside a giant Yorkshire pudding.
Ye Olde Nags Head is a historic 17th-century pub, with a roaring fire in every room and cosy bedrooms upstairs.
Inside Ye Olde Nags Head pub in the Peak DistrictYe Olde Nags Head pub is near Mam Tor
It’s one of those flagstone-floored, beamed-ceilinged, mismatched-furniture type pubs that welcomes everyone in every state, whether you’re caked in mud from a hike or popping in on a coach tour.
Another of the pub’s specialties is the Derbyshire Breakfast, a hearty plate of sausage, smoked bacon, black pudding, free range egg, grilled tomatoes, field mushrooms, baked beans and fried bread.
The pub also offers takeaway breakfast butties, so you can use it for both a pre-hike stop and a post-hike pint.
Given it’s just minutes from the ever-popular Mam Tor hike, this is one pub you’ll definitely want to add to your next Peak District day out itinerary.
The hillside farm in the Peak District making its own ice cream
Daisy Jackson
Did you know there’s a 300-year-old farm in the Peak District serving up some of the freshest ice cream you’ll ever taste? And yes, you can meet the cows that made it while you’re there.
Welcome to Hope Valley Ice Cream, a family-run gem where things are kept refreshingly simple: happy cows, proper farming, and seriously good ice cream.
Set in the heart of the Peak District countryside, this place is about as wholesome as it gets.
The ice cream is made on-site in the farmhouse, literally just metres from where the dairy herd are out grazing.
You can watch the animals, wander around the farm, and then tuck into a scoop or three perched on a milk pail stool, or a picnic bench (or even a decorative tractor).
Hope Valley Ice Cream has some amazing seasonal ice creams, like lemon curd, elderflower, and blackberry, alongside all the classics and a rather delicious tiramisu.
You can grab a cone, sit down with a coffee (again, made with milk from the nearby cows), or go all in with a freshly-made waffle if you’re feeling fancy.
Takeaway tubs from Hope Valley Ice CreamYou can get a mini pail of ice creamMeet the newborn calves at Hope Valley Ice CreamTuck into your ice cream on a milk pail stoolHope Valley Ice Cream
And if you’re the type who really loves ice cream? You can actually order a full pail of it, with four huge scoops plus whipped cream and sauce.
The farm itself is run by the Marsden family, who’ve been working this land for generations. It shows in everything – they’ve created a place that feels genuinely welcoming, not just another tourist stop.
Beyond the ice cream, you’ve got plenty of reasons to stick around. There are calves (including the newest tiny arrivals), plus donkeys and pigs to say hello to.
Whether you’re heading out on a hike or just fancy a drive into the Peaks, this is one pitstop that’s absolutely worth it – and honestly, it’s worth the trip on its own.
Georgina Pellant -
4th July 2023 
