The owners of the award-winning Northcote Manor have stepped into the pub food world and, as Tony Halstead finds, the Three Fishes is immediately making waves
When Michelin-star restaurateurs Nigel Haworth and Craig Bancroft announced they were branching out into food pubs, interest and expectation were inevitably high.
It took the owners of the award-winning Northcote Manor at Langho, near Blackburn, months of planning and hard work to get their first pub venture off the ground.
But when the Three Fishes at Mitton near Whalley, finally opened in September, locals who had followed the building work with eager anticipation soon realised the wait had been worthwhile.
The pub's dining tables were fully occupied from the word go, without so much as a column inch of newspaper advertising or a single local radio plug. "It was almost as if the Northcote's reputation had followed us down the road to the Three Fishes," said general manager Andy Morris. "We opened to a full house and trade has been simply incredible ever since. We never really expected to start with such a bang."
Many early visitors were understandably attracted to the pub because of its links with Northcote Manor, which Haworth and Bancroft have run with flair and innovation for the past 21 years.
Although the cooking at the pub is performed with the same honesty and attention to detail as at its illustrious counterpart, the comparisons more or less end there.
Good, honest pub grub
The Three Fishes offers food that is unashamedly "pubby" where else would you find a venue that boasts fish pie, haddock and chips and Lancashire hot pot as three of its best-selling dishes?
It all sounds, at the outset, like good, honest pub grub but where dishes like these really score is all to do with local sourcing of raw materials and produce that is viewed with almost religious fervour by all connected with the Three Fishes team.
No less than 33 north-west businesses and producers are regular suppliers to the pub and Haworth & Co flag up their names at every opportunity. Diners are left in no doubt as to where the food they will eat has been produced and sourced from. All 33 suppliers are named and identified on a map of the north-west on the back of every menu, supplying customers with a kaleidoscope tour of the best local produce the north-west has to offer. Within the first month of opening, 5,000 menus were taken from the pub by customers.
"Our suppliers are the stars of the show at the Three Fishes, I am just the producer who helps put everything together," says Haworth.
Whether it's meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, wine, beer, puddings, cheese, breads and cakes, or even ginger beer all suppliers are included in the regional walk-about of Lancashire and Cumbria.
"There is a resurgence in local sourcing running right through the pub and restaurant industry at the moment and its gathering strength," Haworth explains.
"Regional flavours are enjoying a renaissance and chefs and food operators are starting to delve into a vast, untapped market."
Catalysing rural economies
Haworth is a passionate believer in regionalfood identity, which he feels can catalyse rural economies and give local tourism a major boost.
He believes a good food pub can bring out all that is best in its own region and insists this is what customers are now increasingly seeking.
Certainly punters at the Three Fishes are attacking the pub's "home grown" menu in greedy fashion. If proof was needed, Nigel points to the 1,350 portions of haddock and chips served up each month.
"We have a dedicated fish and chipper working in the restaurant and that is all he does. His entire working shift is devoted to just one dish."
This is fish and chips in the grand, traditional style, with close attention to all aspects of the dish, including the marrowfat peas and the dripping. Maris Piper potatoes are used for the chips to guarantee consistency, while the fish is sourced fresh each day, direct from the Lancashire coast.
Diners can also choose from a changing menu of specials, described as "seasonal alternatives", which might include battered deep-fried skate or roast rib of Bowland beef.
Head chef at the pub is 38-year-old David Edward, who is a recent arrival in Lancashire from the south and confesses to being "gobsmacked" at the sheer scale and variety of quality fresh produce available.
He concedes that the potential and possibilities that regional sourcing provides for a chef are virtually endless.
The Three Fishes can seat 120 people at full tilt but restricts bookings to parties of eight or more. Morris believes this is the key to ensuring that tables are in demand right from the start of each session.
"But as soon as we are full we always start a blackboard waiting list so people know exactly where they stand," he says.
"We do not try to turn over tables as fast as we can. OK, people who arrive at 7pm expect to vacate their tables for later diners, but even on a busy Saturday night we would normally expect to get through 220 covers."
Seven chefs are on duty in the kitchen on the busiest nights, alongside 32 full and part-time staff to keep the Three Fishes' wheels turning.
It's been a frantic few months since the opening, but Haworth and his staff already have plans to move the business on. The menu was set to change recently with the approach of spring food, but the Three Fishes retained its essential flavour and its local suppliers "our regional heroes", as Haworth describes them.
Ribble Valley set to grow
The Three Fishes is part of Ribble Valley Inns, a new associate company set up by Northcote Manor to capitalise on the UK's growing pub-food culture.
Nigel Haworth says he is on the lookout for more pubs in other northern England counties where he can repeat the Three Fishes "experience".
"Ideally we would like between five and 10 pubs in other counties such as Cumbria, Yorkshire and Derbyshire," he says. "These are regions that can offer food operators the same quality local produce and we are already on the lookout for sites."
Haworth says that both he and Bancroft decided some time ago to get into the "mid-market" and saw pubs as an ideal way ofdoing so.
"We want to run pubs that offer customers a real flavour of their own region, which is what gastronomy is really all about."
Haworth admits, however, that he does not actually like the phrase gastro "but it has become a buzz concoction, which many people use nowadays when they describe an exceptional food pub."
He adds: "Good restaurants in France, Italy and Spain invariably reflect their local region and local cooking. So why can't a pub in the Dales reflect all that is best in Yorkshire or a pub in the Lake District the best of what Cumbria has to offer? Our pubs are getting better at this but I think they have a long way to go."
Ribble Valley Inns has invested some £250,000 in converting the Three Fishes from a derelict shell into a thriving pub food destination.
"The local country estate, which owns the building, was delighted to give us a lease because the place had been closed down for three years," Haworth says.
"We had a vision and a big idea and I am just thrilled things have turned out so well."
On the menu at the Three Fishes
Starters
Andrew Ireland's horseshoe black pudding, English mustard, onion relish £4.00
Warm Morecambe Bay shrimps, blade mace butter, toasted muffin £6.50
Three Fishes Soup, wicked mayonnaise, Aged Butlers Cheese, garlic croutons £6.00
Main courses
Three Fishes Pie, Fleetwood baked fish,mashed potatoes, with Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese £8.50
Slow-baked pigs' trotters, chicken and black pudding stuffing, mashed potatoes and sticky gravy £8.50
"Hindle Wakes" breast of Goosnargh chicken, bacon, plum & basil stuffing, pearl barley and button mushroom broth £9.50
Desserts
Lythe Valley damson jelly with whippedcustard