Just a forty-minute drive from Manchester, The Moorcock Inn is a favourite amongst foodies on both sides of the Pennines.
Recently awarded a top spot in the esteemed 2022 Estrella Damn Gastropubs Top 50, we knew we had to pay it a visit.
The pub recently merged its two menus into one, combining the bar menu with the restaurant tasting offerings into what equates to a long, glorious list of dishes designed to share – each sounding more indulgent than the last.
An unsuspecting candidate, this old-school Pennine boozer at Norland above Sowerby Bridge looks very ordinary from the outside. In fact, as we pull into the car park behind it, a bit stressed in the torrential rain, we all question whether we’re in the right place.
Image: The Moorcock Inn
We are. A chef in a cap, completely unprotected from the blizzard in his t-shirt and apron, is out there getting drenched. Talk about passion. With much of the menu here cooked over fire, we expect he’s accustomed to it. Wet weather is part of the moorland’s, erm, charm.
Stood in front of a roaring outdoor barbecue, he intermittently runs the gauntlet to grab what appears to be clumps of hay, thrusting his head into a covered box and emerging with armfuls of the stuff to help smoke and fire the huge charcoal grill.
Billowing clouds are smashed to smithereens by the driving wind and rain without mercy. We leg it past the barbecue, landing safely at the end of the bar – all wooden beams, exposed stone walls and black-as-the-night chalkboards – before being taken to our table in the snug.
The bar area at The Moorcock Inn. / Image: The Moorcock Inn
Snug it is, enough to quickly forget the downpour outside and de-layer whilst poring over the extensive drinks menu. Yes, it’s a pub, so you’d expect the drinks list to be relatively decent – but this offers so much more.
Experienced sommelier Aimee Tufford has put a lot of love and care into composing it, with a huge number of low and no alcohol beers sitting (quite literally) side by side with quality craft, keg and bottle options. There are stouts, hazy IPAs, lagers, saison – the 0.5 percents happily rubbing shoulders with the twelves.
Wines are mostly organic and low intervention, many served by the glass or carafe, more by the bottle. Elsewhere, there is a good choice of gin, kombucha, sake, cider and more. On it goes.
Image: The Moorcock Inn
Aimee heads up front of house with her British-Australian partner, Alisdair Brooke-Taylor, the chef. Prior to opening The Moorcock, the pair spent years together at Michelin-starred In de Wulf on the Belgian-French border.
Before its closure in 2016, Alisdair functioned as the right-hand man to Kobe Desramualts. At that time, it was considered in some influential circles to be the third-best restaurant in Europe. Let’s just say, the locals here are blessed.
Crispy potatoes, long-smoked over that fire outside then crisped and cracked in the deep fat fryer, take a pub classic to the next level – served split in a heap with a small dish of yeasty mayonnaise.
A serious hunk of sourdough – loaded with queen scallop, spider crab, grated turnip, chives and sunflower seeds – is turned to an eggy-bread sponge, oozing with salty-sweet roe custard that drips down the sides and swims at its base.
A whole charcoaled flounder, roasted and smeared in butter made from dried mullet roe, is soft and buttery, leant an umami saltiness from the bottarga.
Sauteed greens dressed in garlic and anchovy bring more of that salty, Southern Italian depth to the table, whilst a plate of shaved celeriac frisee with ricotta salata, capers and mustard lends the meal a smoky, pickled, earthy freshness.
Wood roasted flounder with bottarga butter. / Image: The Manc Group
Crispy pig tails stuffed with pork sausage, jerusalem artichoke and apple sauce. / Image: The Manc Group
Sauteed greens with herbs, heritage Carin peas and a garlic and anchovy dressing. / Image: The Manc Group
Crispy pig tails with apple sauce and artichoke, stuffed with sausage meat and blackened to the point of crumbling, are a literal reminder of The Moorcock’s nose-to-tail dining ethos. Nothing is wasted, as their presence so boldly attests.
Meat here is dry-aged and butchered on-site, using mature, whole animals taken from select local smallholdings that work mostly with the Rare Breed Survival Trust as a preference.
These regenerative ethics extend to the rest of the menu, too. Sustainable fish and seafood are taken from native waters in day boats only, and vegetables are organic, sometimes homegrown in their 2-acre kitchen garden, sometimes foraged.
Very much in the school of forage, ferment, cure and preserve, the ever-evolving seasonal menu champions a host of traditional homesteading techniques- right down to the handmade crockery on which everything is served.
We finish with both of the puddings (there are just two on the list). In a nod to locale, one is a rhubarb frangipane puff pastry tarte doused in a thick. tangy lemon curd with pumpkin seed praline. The other, a giant plate of choux pastry boldly redefining any interpretation we previously held about profiteroles.
Filled with a squash cheesecake mousse and milk ice-cream, it gives off the slightly cheesy tang of fermentation. All is balanced by a huge drizzle of salty-sweet butterscotch sauce. It’s the pudding that keeps giving, all three of us attack with vigour – only turning over to the rhubarb puff when it’s done.
This is a glorious pub, serving glorious food. This new offering feels wonderfully relaxed, combining the best of both restaurant and bar menus. We completely see what all the fuss is about.
Highballer – Stockport’s new bar from the brains behind Cherry Jam
Danny Jones
Stockport is riding a real wave of excitement right now, and aside from being dubbed ‘the new Berlin’ a couple of years back, it’s also enjoying a big bar boom right now: case and point, Highballer, which has just been opened by the blokes behind a familiar local name.
Given the experience behind this new venture, we have a feeling this one could finally stick for what has proved to be a tricky unit in the past.
Created by Neil Garner – the man behind charming indie bar champions, Cherry Jam – Highballer is another music-forward venue from a team with experience across both industries.
Looking to carry on where Amp, Dr Feelgood and even Remedy Bar left off before them, Highballer is the latest watering hole to appear inside 11 Market Place following a successful pop-up earlier this year.
No, it’s not the ‘Gary the Gorilla’, sorry – but it does give a nice little nod to Almost Famous. (Credit: Highballer)
With Amp closing at the start of the year, Garner saw the opportunity to step in turn the place into something familiar but new, promising more music, karaoke and bandaoke; a fresh new food menu, darts, pool and even the classic American lawn game, cornhole.
Having already opened earlier this month, toasting the arrival with a bonus Oasis reunion launch party on Friday, 20 June, the crowds are already starting to return. As for Garner, he brings an incredible pedigree to the new project.
A world champion flair bartender boasting 28 years in hospitality, he’s worked in over 100 countries, including time as a Las Vegas performer, not to mention holding a Guinness World Record and coming runner-up on Britain’s Got Talent as the founder-creator of entertainment act, ‘Barwizards’.
During his time down south, he also created the UK’s first adult playground called Roof East in London, which was ultimately sold a decade after winning Britain’s Best Outdoor Experience in 2024.
With his baby and the neighbouring bar Cherry Jam located literally just around the corner and down the brow, the reputation is already there, hence why it was busy from minute one.
Highballer sitting pretty in the shadow of two famous Stockport landmarks. (Credit: Supplied)
Stockport town centre has plenty of new pub and bar openings, from the resurrection of the old White Lion this time last year and the recently debuted Underbank, to fellow newcomer Fitzpatrick’s (formerly Bask), so it’s nice to see yet another one added into the mix.
Before Highballer, Neil spent years behind the scenes at some of the UK’s biggest festivals, running the backstage bars in the mid-noughties for events like Reading and Leeds Festival, Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and even Coachella.
In terms of food, he also spent time living in Seoul, where he developed a serious love for Korean, meaning that their collab with Manc favourites BAB was a natural fit.
On the menu you’ll find:
Korean Fried Chicken – crispy and packed with flavour
Loaded Fries – choose between pulled pork or spicy grilled chicken
Cauliflower Bites – crispy and full of spice
Gochujang Mac n’ Cheese – creamy and with a kick
Korean Cheese Corndogs
Korean Grilled Cheese
BAB MCR have come to Stockport to lend their talents to Highballer. (Credit: Supplied)
With ‘power hour’ karaoke sessions, Vimto mojitos named not just after the drink but the giant gorilla bouncer sat outside (great name), not to mention a big terrace to bring those beer garden vibes, they’ve got all the ingredients for an instant hit.
Oh, did we mention there are drink deals all week long? Well, there are. Cheers to that. Speaking to The Manc, Garner kept things short and sweet as he’s confident the product will do the talking, but admitted he’s “buzzing” to be opening another venue in the borough.
Balancing live music, entertainment, and hospitality is a tall order for anyone, but with the expertise behind this place, it stands as much of a fighting chance as everyone else.
It’s been a big couple of weeks for food and drink in Stockport.