My Pub: The Pipe & Glass, South Dalton, East Yorkshire

Standing on the site of what was the original gatehouse to Dalton Park on the Dalton Estate, the site was awarded a Michelin Star in less than four years and still retains it to this day.

Here, James tells The Morning Advertiser​ all about the gastropub that also offers accommodation.

The pub ​

The Pipe & Glass is a former coaching inn set in the lovely, and very rural, village of South Dalton, about nine miles north-west of Beverley. The main building stands on the site of the original gatehouse to the Lord and Lady Hotham’s Dalton Estate, and parts of it date to the 17th century.

By the mid 2000s, Kate and I had gained a fair bit of experience in the industry – me in the kitchen, Kate front of house – and we decided we wanted to really go for it and run our own place.

In early 2006, we started hunting for the right place, discovered that the Pipe and Glass was for sale, and came to look at it. It was a bit overwhelming – the description ‘fully fitted kitchen’ essentially meant a fryer, a stove that didn’t work properly and a bank of microwaves.

But we bought it, moved in (literally – we lived upstairs to start with) and called in a lot of favours from friends and family.  Two weeks later, after a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of hard graft, we opened.

Things have evolved a lot since then – for a start, Kate and I got married in the local church, and we now have two children. On the business side of things, we’ve invested heavily in the kitchens, which are now state-of-the-art.

We opened two boutique accommodation rooms in 2009, building three more overlooking the gardens in 2015; then in 2019, we took on another building in the village and after extensive refurbishment added four more luxury rooms at The Old Lambing Yard, a five-minute walk from the pub.

Our gardens are a particularly popular feature – huge and welcoming, and very green: in the warmer months, people love to eat on the rear terrace overlooking the garden or the tables at the front of the pub looking towards the village. Both areas have plenty of seating, almost matching the space inside.  We also grow some of our own produce, and our chefs absolutely love picking directly from the gardens and from our innovative living wall of herbs.

We also try to be as ‘green’ as possible – we’re on the Wolds, which is popular with cyclists, so our bike racks are appreciated. And we have an electric charging point for both Tesla and universal use. 

The publican ​

Kate and I have always worked in hospitality. I trained as a chef at the then Scarborough Technical College and she’s always worked front of house. We met when we were both working at a pub in Worcestershire, and later worked together at the Star at Harome for our great friends Andrew and Jacquie Pern, which was a brilliant experience and taught us a lot.

I guess with our backgrounds, it was inevitable that we’d eventually end up running a pub and restaurant together.

The trade ​

We’re at the end of long road that cuts through the village of South Dalton and then goes into the Dalton Estate, so other than locals, there’s not much passing trade – so I guess in that sense, you might think of us a destination venue.

But it’s always been really important to us that the Pipe is as much a pub as it is having a Michelin star. We have a lot of locals who have been here longer than we have and will pop into the bar for a pint and a ploughman’s and feel completely at home.

We are, of course, very proud of our Michelin Star, and of our many appearances in the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list, but first and foremost, it’s the customer that’s most important to us – we strive to offer a consistently warm welcome and great Yorkshire hospitality.

The team ​

At any given time, we employ around 60 people; 15 chefs in the kitchen, including my head chef Ash who has been with us since he started as commis chef over a decade ago. We also have a large front of house team, headed up by Kate along with our front-of-house managers, our administration team – who take care of reservations and behind the scenes operations – and our meticulous housekeeping team.

Many of the team come from nearby; over the years, quite a few have gone on to own restaurants or head up other kitchens, and we’re always really proud when this happens.

The drink ​

We’re particularly proud of our wine list, which Kate has worked hard to develop over the years, and which won the first ever Wine List of the Year category in the Top 50 Gastropub Awards. Our own-label Pipe and Glass red, white and rosé wines are made by the great wine producers Moulin de Gassac. We have plenty of great value options on a varied list, including fine and rare vintages, so there’s something for everyone on there.

But as well as fine wines, we always stock a range of well-kept, hand-pulled ales, many of them sourced nearby. We have, for instance, a very good relationship with the Wold Top Brewery in Wold Newton, near Driffield: we worked with them to create our house ale, InnSpire,  a citrussy IPA with floral notes named for the pub and the local church, where Kate and I married, and our children were christened, and which has a particularly elegant spire that can be seen for miles around.

And we work closely with Dominic M’Benga at the Hooting Owl gin distillery, now in York – together, we’ve created a range of flavoured gins inspired by our gardens and herbarium. We’re also looking at the possibility of a Pipe and Glass rum with Dominic.

We also stock Filey Bay whisky from Wold Top’s sister distillery, Spirit of Yorkshire. I was born and brought up in Filey, so it seems only right.

The food ​

Yes, we’re Michelin-starred (and have been for the last 15 years), but we’d like to think that the menu is very accessible. There are dishes that have been on the menu here for years – we daren’t take them off, although they have evolved over the years.

Favourites like our potted pork starter, or our ‘classic pub grub’ fish pie sit alongside more seasonal dishes, Yorkshire game features heavily on the menu when in season, as well as fish, lobster and crab from the nearby East Yorkshire coast.

But you don’t have to book a table in the restaurant to eat here. We welcome walk-in guests wanting to eat at the bar or our outside areas, just like most country pubs. You can join us for a pint and a simple steak sandwich or choose from the main restaurant menu if you prefer.

The events ​

We’ve never gone in for big events with huge guest numbers, like weddings. They’re really more suited to specialist venues – plus there’s nothing more frustrating for a regular than to find they can’t get a drink in their local because it’s closed for the day for a private function.

But we do have a private dining room upstairs, which seats up to 10. It has its own kitchen so I can do cooking demos up there and it’s the only place we do a tasting menu – the restaurant is fully a la carte. And our conservatory, which seats 28, can be booked for a private event.

I collaborate with nearby catering colleges, offering work experience and inviting classes of students for the day to experience life in the real world, an inspirational visit with a guided tour of the grounds and kitchen, and lunch too. It’s great to be able to champion the next hospitality generation.

And we support lots of events out in the local community – last year, for instance, we laid on a buffet for 200 as part of the village’s coronation celebrations at Dalton Hall. And it wouldn’t be Easter around here without our annual Easter egg raffle. It contains 12kg of chocolate and, over the years, we’ve raised thousands of pounds for local charities.

The future ​

The Pipe and Glass has evolved slowly but surely over the past 18 years – we’ve never had million-pound backers or huge outside investment. We’ve just done the best we can at any given time to provide a really high-quality experience, and continually invested as much as we could back into the business to improve every aspect of it as we go along.

There have been occasional big investments, like developing our luxury boutique rooms but, mostly, it’s smaller things like sourcing a brilliant new supplier locally, spotting and training a talented young chef, or making sure we have a modern kitchen with great kit. It’s a business model that’s worked well for us, and our customers like it, so we’ve no plans to change it.

People often ask about us opening a second venue but we have grown the Pipe and Glass with time, hard work, investment and love. It’s like having multiple businesses in one place, so hopefully we have many years left to be able to welcome guests to our little corner of Yorkshire.

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