Travel & Tourism

The award-winning gastropub an hour from Manchester at the end of a beautiful valley walk

What a perfect Sunday

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 11th June 2026

Sundays don’t come much better than a beautiful walk in the countryside followed by a top roast dinner – and there’s an award-winning pub less than an hour from Manchester that should hit the spot.

Head across to this route in West Yorkshire and you’ll find yourself strolling through surprisingly varied and very green countryside, with stunning valley views, before resting your weary legs beneath the table of one of the UK’s top gastropubs.

If you haven’t guessed it yet – we’re off to the Shibden Valley, just outside Halifax, where your gentle hike will lead you straight to the warm embrace of the Shibden Mill Inn.

The walk begins in the car park beside the pub, but don’t get tempted in for a pint just yet.

There’s an easy-moderate 5.6km circular that will lead you along a country lane, dropping down to cross a brook, then heading back up a gentle incline towards the top of the valley.

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The views along the Shibden Valley from here are beautiful – lush green fields dotted with trees as far as the eye can see.

Views on the walk to Shibden Mill Inn
Views on the walk to Shibden Mill Inn
Views on the walk to Shibden Mill Inn

Then the route takes you along some wide open fields, with plenty of wildlife to spot along the way, before heading into peaceful woodlands.

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You can take a break here to paddle in the stream before continuing on through farmland, with friendly horses to say hello to.

Then you’ll find yourself back at the Shibden Mill Inn, a pub that’s consistently finding itself in the prestigious Top 50 Gastropubs list.

Dating back to the 17th century, it’s a pretty white building converted from a former mill, with ivy climbing all up its walls.

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There’s a sizeable beer garden – with a live musician playing when we popped in – but it’s hard to resist the cosy charm of the pub’s interior, where staff have to duck beneath the low ceiling beams and no surface feels totally straight.

The beautiful Shibden Mill Inn
The beautiful Shibden Mill Inn
Sunday roast at the Shibden Mill Inn in West Yorkshire
Sunday roast at the Shibden Mill Inn in West Yorkshire

The Shibden Mill Inn’s Sunday roast offering does a set menu, with two courses for £40 or three for £45, changing seasonally.

You’ll find pub classics on the starters, like chicken liver parfait and homemade soup, before delving into the main event – the Sunday roast.

We love a pub that gives you both mashed AND roasted potatoes, which the Shibden Mill Inn does, along with roast seasonal veg and a towering Yorkshire pudding.

There’s roasted salt-aged sirloin of beef, cooked perfectly pink (though they’re happy to give it a bit longer if you prefer your meat to not be blushing); or an excellent wedge of belly pork with crispy crackling.

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And on the side, a portion of cauliflower cheese that is actually more cheese than cauliflower. Perfect.

Puddings are a nice mix of heavy winter favourites and lighter, fruitier desserts – but we go full stodge, with a chocolate fondant dessert topped with torched marshmallow, salted caramel, and sugared pecans, and have no regrets.

If you want to replicate this Sunday walk and roast, you can see the full circular route here.

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Featured image: The Hoot Leeds

Travel & Tourism

Ryanair is being investigated over charging parents to sit with their children

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Ryanair plane

Ryanair is being investigated by the Government’s leading regulator over charging parents to sit with their children.

Currently, Ryanair’s terms and conditions require at least one parent to sit with their children aged two-11 when they fly, but this is done through what the airline calls a ‘mandatory family seat’, meaning the parent must pay in order for them to secure a seat next to their child.

This fee applies to both outbound and return flights, and typically costs around £8 each way – but for all other passengers, reserving a seat is optional.

And it’s this that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation.

CMA evidence suggests this approach to seating is used across the majority of Ryanair’s UK routes, and the watchdog understands that Ryanair is the only major airline flying out of the UK to impose this charge.

Other airlines offer to seat children with a parent or guardian without the need for a paid-for adult seat reservation, or they allocate seats together automatically during booking for free. 

The CMA says it’s investigating, in particular, whether Ryanair’s approach to seat reservations may mean parents are being charged for the airline to meet its child safety and disability‑related obligations as set out under aviation rules.

The watchdog wants to determine whether or not this practice is in line with consumer law, and whether the airline’s contract terms are ‘unfair’ if they put customers at an unfair disadvantage.

Inside an airplane
Ryanair is being investigated over charging parents to sit with their children / Credit: Gerrie van der Walt (via Unsplash)

Under consumer law, businesses must show a total price that includes all unavoidable charges, rather than adding extra charges separately or later in the process, as this ensures consumers can effectively compare prices and understand the true cost of what they are buying.

“Lots of families save up to afford a summer holiday and we know that extra charges can quickly bump up the price,” commented Hayley Fletcher, who is the Senior Director of Consumer Protection at the CMA.

“Our investigation will consider Ryanair’s approach to family seat reservations and how the cost is presented to consumers to determine whether they comply with consumer law.

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“For the past year, we’ve told businesses to ensure their customers are shown the total price upfront – those who don’t face the very real possibility of action from the CMA.”

At present, the CMA is currently at the beginning of its investigation, and has reached no conclusions about whether Ryanair has broken the law.

Featured Image – CCNull

Travel & Tourism

The tiny van parked beneath a tram stop that’s quietly making some of the best coffee in town

Danny Jones Danny Jones Elliott's coffee van Manchester Cornbrook tram stop

In a city as big and bustling as Manchester, let alone all the other great on-the-go food and drink spots across the ten boroughs, it can be hard to know where to start – that’s why Elliott’s coffee van is cleverly grabbing people on their way in and out of town to sample his stuff.

With brilliant blends, bakes and other kinds of brews up for grabs, it’s becoming a regular stop for us.

Finding a good cafe in transit can often be somewhat of a challenge, especially when you want to support independent businesses wherever possible.

If you’re happy to settle with one of the big brands that you’ll find at most major stations, grand, but if you want a proper good grind, perfect temperature, not to mention great service from a friendly face, then come and see Elliot.

cornbrook coffee van manchester
assembly coffee pastries
elliots mcr
Credit: The Manc Eats

Having recently celebrated more than a year since he first posted up outside the admittedly ‘no man’s land’-ish Metrolink station, this busy little bee has brought a welcome dose of energy and colour to this particular Bee Network interchange.

While Cornbrook doesn’t feel as lonely and forgotten as, say, Pomona, just one stop along, it’s long felt ever so slightly too out of the way, lonely, and a bit grey.

Thankfully, these days (at least if you time it right), when you go around the corner and head towards the archways bordering Castlefield and the edge of Trafford, you’ll now hear tunes coming down the road, and instead of simply smelling petrol or dank water, you’re hit with a whiff of freshly roasted beans.

We get the same warm feeling when we arrive here as when we see neighbouring Libby’s canal boat cafe floating just outside The Wharf.

It’s also worth noting that Elliot doesn’t just buy any old grounds: he’s a passionate barista who has such a love for the good stuff that he decided to buy a little Piaggio Ape 50 three-wheeler van and turn it into a mobile cafe, serving speciality coffee from around Greater Manchester and loading it all up himself.

Spotlighting everyone from Kobean and Assembly to wholesalers like Carter – not to mention fresh pastries and sweet treats from beloved Stockport bakery, Sticky Fingers – this lovely lad is indie through and through.

elliots coffee gift cards
As well as loyalty, he even does gift cards.
elliotsmcr instagram
When we say everything is freshly pressed, we mean it…

Having gone full-time last August after starting in June 2025, we’re chuffed to bits to see it going so well for him, especially seeing him slog through the Manc weather come rain or shine, even giving us our fix during the colder months in that often rather dark Cornbrook corner.

What’s more, he’s also got some solid tunes on rotation, whether you need an extra early morning pick-me-up on your commute besides the caffeine, or just want that added boost later in the day.

Elliot serves with a smile and is always happy to have a little chinwag; better still, while he’s getting bigger and longer lines nowadays, the queue always moves quicker than you think it will.

For anyone looking to pay him a visit, his opening hours are 7am-1pm every day bar Mondays (six days a week is still no joke), and you get him for an extra hour until 2pm on Saturdays.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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