The White Hart
51 Stockport Road
Lydgate
Saddleworth
Oldham
Greater Manchester
OL4 4JJ
Tel: 01457 872 566
The tale of the White Hart is, in many ways, typical of great old hostelries in Britain. It was built in the late 18th century to provide a refuge for travellers who had crossed over the Pennines from Yorkshire, but 200 years later was half derelict and abandoned. Cue visionary arrivals who saw what it could become and then put plenty of their hard-earned cash behind it,turning it into a successful gastro pub, with a fine-dining restaurant and homelier brasserie.
John Rudden's food has earned the place two AA Rosettes for the past 10 years, high scores in the Good Food Guide and the award of Greater Manchester Pub of the Year for both the
AA Guide and the Which? Guide last year.
Talking to joint owner Charles Brierley
Typical clientele: Mix of locals, businessmen and travelling diners. Saddleworth is quite highly populated, plus we also attract people from Cheshire, Stalybridge, Rochdale and
Oldham. The location is ideal.
Style of food: Traditional English with a contemporary twist. The brasserie is more rustic, both in feel and food; the fine dining restaurant is more modern, and the food reflects that. To give you an example, you can put a prawn cocktail on by doing it as Tiger Prawns with a spicy tomato compote and not with Marie Rose sauce. You can do the classics, but in a modern way.
No. of wines on list: 180. The list is designed to make it accessible to all levels of customers, split into My Favourites, an easy-to-use Taster Section for people who don't want to go through the whole list, then the rest by French regions and countries of the world.
House wines: All from Caliterra in Chile: a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay, plus a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon. £14.75.
No. served by the glass: The four house wines, currently four rosés from the My Favourites section, plus another four reds and whites and Champagnes.
No. of half bottles: About 20. I've put the half bottle
list near the front of the list because I think it's something you should promote. We often find people have two halves with the meal rather than one bottle.
Most expensive wines on list: The 1957 Château Yquem, at £700, and four vintages of Château Pétrus - 1979 is the priciest at £550.
Most-used merchant: Vins de Bordeaux, based in Oldham, is the only one we use and I haven't found anyone better.
Typical mark-up: House wines will be marked up at around 65% to 70%, the margin on more expensive wines will be lower. On a £25 bottle, we might look at 50%.
Which regions/countries give the best value?:
France. The trade is struggling there, they're having to look for new markets, and they're trying new things. It will become really competitive, and I think Australia's had its day.
What are your most popular wines?:
I'm a big fan of Spain. That gets a lot of space with us, so it's very popular. France, too.
Trends: Move back towards the Old World - places like France and Spain. Italy's got a bit of work to do because people just don't understand it. But Spain has huge potential growth.
What's the key to making wine sell?:
Personal recommendations, putting your name to a wine, and letting people try them. We have some fantastic wines like Palacio de Bornos from Rueda and an Albariño, but people won't buy them because they've never heard of them. We put the Rueda in our favourites section, I write a spiel about it and we sell it by the glass. If people can try a bit without buying it, then you'll probably get a sale, either by the glass or the bottle.
Do you run events like wine tastings or gourmet food and wine evenings?:
Yes. As well as specific regional wine and food events, we do three wine tastings a year that are the best attended and the cheapest. There are 120 different wines presented by 15 reps. We put on a tapas bar, a sausage bar, an oyster bar and a cheese bar. People pay £10 to get in, which gets them a glass of wine and some food, then they buy tokens to buy tasting samples, which vary from 60p a go for a half glass of wine that would be £6 retail, £1 for a sample of a £10
bottle etc. People try a huge range of wines, and most people don't spend more than £15. We get 280 people in, and we're always way oversubscribed.