The Rock

22 Broad Carr Lane, Holywell Green, Halifax, West Yorkshire

HX4 9BS, 01422 379721

?therockhotel.biz

Local lad Lee Stevens Marshall is capitalising on his six-year success at the über-contemporary Design House restaurant at Dean Clough, in Halifax. With his father Lester, he has sunk three quarters of a million pounds into the Rock, a tired old former boozer just down the Calder Valley, in the picturesque Pennine village of Holywell Green.

Gone are the sticky carpets and leaky conservatory: punters can now settle into sumptuous striped velvet bucket chairs and nicely worn leather Chesterfields to peruse the tempting menu. That sort of money buys luxuriously refurbished bedrooms, too - 27 in total. Also on offer are swish conference and wedding facilities - they hold a wedding licence, and it seems a good place to get spliced, with a lavish interior offering far-reaching views over the distant flinty moors.

Marshall earned his cooking stripes at the Dining Rooms, in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, via Cornwall and La Cachette, in Elland, West Yorkshire, before taking his skills to the Design House, a slate-floored, Philippe Starck-fixtured glass-sided shrine to modernity in the leviathan mill building that was Crossley's, the biggest carpet factory on the planet.

He's created a loyal fan base, serving innovative food at midweek prices; presumably they will follow him to the 17th-century Rock for a more traditional but nonetheless rewarding experience. And here, of course, you can also pop in for a pint of good local beer and sandwich in front of a roaring fire in the bar. This is walking country, and the Rock - in a wayside coaching inn, in its heyday - will be a welcome sight on a damp day, always plentiful in Calderdale.

The Rock was due to launch last year, but hit snags with the builders (comforting to know that even when you're spending strong money, it still doesn't get the job done on time...) It's had a soft opening, and the pair are going for the Big One in April. Their aim? Versatility and flexibility in a relaxed, easy atmosphere; Marshall senior and junior want to be seen to be able to pull off catering for hundreds as well as chatting with locals over a pint.

There's a sophisticated 40-seater restaurant on the first floor, bristling with starched linen and gleaming napkin rings; the USP here is silver service, the zenith being your dinner arriving under a cloche. For me, this kind of flourish carries connotations of leathery beef in Selfridges back in the 70s, but the Rock might just be able to pull off the retro thing: the food here is top-drawer.

In the kitchen, executive chef Marshall guests on his nights away from Dean Clough, otherwise leaving rising star Keith Hopkinson from Clifton's award-winning Black Horse in the hot seat. There's more than a nod to Marshall's "fusion of modern European cuisine" so ably executed at the Design House; locally sourced ingredients make up imaginative dishes, and the good value £14 fixed-price menu might offer baked cod loin, garlic bruschetta, sun-blushed tomato and black olives to start, with confit duck leg, boulangère potatoes, chorizo and peas to follow.

In the evening, everything moves up a couple of notches, when the likes of king scallops with cornflake crust, radicchio, endive marmalade and five-spice essence jostle for position with chargrilled free-range chicken, butternut squash and pine-nut pancake with light curry cream.

After a yomp across the hills, the welcome at the Rock, coupled with properly interesting food, will cheer the dampest traveller.

Mandy Wragg

PubChef rating: ***

Pub Facts

Owners:

Lee Stevens Marshall & Lester Marshall

On the menu:

Starters:

caramelised ham hock terrine with pineapple chutney, balsamic glaze (5.50); buffalo mozzarella, marinaded chargrilled vegetables, foccacia and rosemary croûtes (6.95)

Mains:

smoked haddock, bubble & squeak, poached egg, mustard butter (11.50); pan roast rump of lamb served pink, aubergine and potato mille feuille, pea and broad bean red wine jus (16.50)

Desserts:

trio of brûlée (5.50); sticky toffee pudding (5.50); apple & berry charlotte, vanilla Anglaise, Chantilly cream (5.50)

Menu innovation:

big bacon sandwich with a bloody Mary ("to sort out that late night/morning after feeling"); fish finger sarni with Heinz ketchup; three-course Sunday lunch with the chef carving at your table "bringing back family values" (18.95); silver service in dining room.

Wine list:

Four white, four red and three rosé keenly priced house wines starting at 13.95 (ten of these by the glass) and a good selection herded under headings such as spicy, fruity reds, tangy & creamy whites & in the pink. They're big on Champagne here, with a number of Laurent Perrier on offer.

Standing out from the crowd:

Elegantly proportioned private dining room upstairs furnished with your own waiter if you want to avoid the riff-raff.