A chef near Greater Manchester has expressed his disbelief after his pub was named one of the best in the UK.
Luke Payne, who is both head chef and co-owner of The Pack Horse in Hayfield, tweeted his delight yesterday after his pub was ranked as one of the country’s finest offerings.
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The ‘seasonal, contemporary gastropub’ in Hayfield, which is located near Kinder Scout in the Peak District, has been named as one of the top 50 gastropubs for 2022.
Swadale heritage breed pork chop with its own crackling, Navarrico Judion beans in a leek, garlic and smoked pig stock cassoulet, and salsa verde / Image: The Pack Horse Hayfield
Writing “thank you, thank you, thank you” on his Twitter, the chef tweeted his heartfelt thanks to all of those who had supported the pub during the voting process and helped them make it into the prestigious top 50 list.
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“The top 50. Wow. I genuinely didn’t think we would do it,” he wrote, seemingly in disbelief.
The news comes after the pub ‘sneaked’ into the 2021 long list at number 79, following one of the most difficult periods for hospitality in recent history.
Each year, Top 50 Gastropubs list fifty of the best in the country (although we know all too well in the north that there are many, many more than that, being particularly spoilt in this part of the country).
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Last year, however, the guide extended its list to 100 in a bid to encourage more diners to get out and spend money in their local venues.
At the time, list Editor Nicholas Robinson told the Morning Advertiser: “What’s great about gastropubs is the diversity of the food they offer. It’s not all fine dining with foams and gels, but a real mix of high-end, refined restaurant quality dishes mixed with pub classics and simple food.”
Image: The Pack Horse Hayfield
Image: The Pack Horse Hayfield
“But what ties all amazing gastropubs together is the quality of their ingredient, the skill of the chefs behind the dishes and the environment you eat in.”
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At The Pack Horse Hayfield, there are several menus on offer: an a la carte, a bar snack menu, and a Sunday roast list.
Regularly changing to fit the seasons, those that appear on the website are sample menus just to give you a flavour for the variety on offer.
A Sunday Roast at the award-winning pub, officially listed in the Top 50 Gastropubs for 2022 / Image: The Pack Horse Hayfield
With a snacks section offering everything from rock oysters (served raw or Korean-style) to Manchester eggs and Cobble Lane charcuterie; and starters ranging from High Peak lamb kofte to Loch Fyne diver scallops and Cured chalk stream trout, the menu is certainly a varied one.
Elsewhere, impressive-sounding mains listed on the sample a la carte include the likes of local estate venison loin wellington with a pickled walnut duxelles, Swaledale mutton rogan josh, and a wild rabbit and smoked pig’s head pie with its own liquor.
As for pudding, crowd-pleasing favourites include poached pears, vanilla creme brulee with shortbread, salted caramel custard tart, pistachio cream, or Baron Bigod cheese served with a treacle and walnut malt loaf and balsamic onions.
It’s easy – for us at least – to see why the Pack Horse has made it onto the list. We think Luke Payne is just being very modest, which is rather charming actually.
To find out more and book a visit, head to the pub’s website here.
You’ll soon be able to leave WhatsApp group chats without anyone finding out
Emily Sergeant
In what is sure to be music to the ears of those sick of having irrelevant memes sent to them every 30 seconds by people you barely know, you’ll soon be able to leave WhatsApp group chats without anyone finding out.
Whether it’s a group made up of extended family members you see only see twice a year, colleagues at work, mutual friends you’re not really that keen on, or people you only met one time because you were at the same pre-drinks together before a night out, most of us are part of a WhatsApp group chat we’d rather not be.
The type of group chat you’re not really sure how you became a part of, and the type of chat you’ve got no clue how to politely leave.
And a big part of the reason most of us can’t bring ourselves to leave those groups is because, the second you do, a little notification pops-up at the bottom of the chat to notify everyone else that you have “left” – which can, understandably, be pretty awkward and embarrassing.
Luckily though, WhatsApp and Mark Zuckerberg – who is chief executive of the messaging service’s parent company, Meta – is soon to introduce a handful of new changes designed with the aim of making written messages as “secure as face-to-face conversations”, and one of those changes is allowing people to leave group chats without other members in the group finding out.
You’ll soon be able to leave WhatsApp group chats without anyone finding out / Credit: Pixabay
The company says that now only administrators of the group will receive a notification to inform them a member has exited the chat.
On top of that somewhat life-saving change, the other changes being introduced will allow people to control who can see when they are online, and also prevent screenshots being taken by other users of auto-deleting ‘View Once’ messages.
At present, the messaging service broadcasts to all contacts of a user when they are online and have the app open, but now, this is something that users will be able to choose to share with others.
WhatsApp had also previously-warned users to “only send photos or videos with ‘View Once’ media enabled to trusted individuals”, as it was possible to take a screenshot or screen recording of the message before it disappeared – but now, the act of taking screenshots will be prohibited.
In his post announcing the new WhatsApp updates, Mr Zuckerberg explained that the company will “keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
It’s part of a number of new changes aimed at making messages as “secure as face-to-face conversations” / Credit: Eyestetix Studio (via Unsplash)
Meta has stated on a number of occasions that it believes end-to-end encryption is the only way to ensure users are able to message each other without a third party eavesdropping on them.
Mr Zuckerberg announced his plans to transform privacy on WhatsApp in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal back in 2019, and made it impossible for Meta itself to read the content of messages that users share, which is similar to how it cannot access the content of WhatsApp messages.
However, these changes have not yet been implemented across Meta’s other platforms.
“We believe WhatsApp is the most secure place to have a private conversation,” added Ami Vora – Head of Product at WhatsApp.
“And to spread the word about these new features, we’re also kicking off a global campaign, starting with the UK and India, to educate people about how we work to protect their private conversations on WhatsApp.”
The search effort now involves Maryport Rescue Coastguards, Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team, Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service, Coastguard Rescue Helicopter, the Ullswater Ranger, Whitehaven Coastguards, the Police and Northwest Ambulance Service.
A spokesperson for Cumbria Police today said: “Searches yesterday concluded early evening and were due to resume this morning.”
Anyone with information relating to this incident can report online at www.cumbria.police.uk/reportit quoting incident number 113 of 7 August 2022 or call 101.
Georgina Pellant -
14th December 2021 
