When did you last have a good pub meal?
In 2024, on average a pub closed every single day in the UK, with more than 2000 pubs closing since the start of 2020 [source]
For the longest time, I’ve been fighting not to promote whatever shite restaurant has dedicated its entire marketing budget to influencers. It’s boring, homogenous slop ‘content’, and does nothing for punters. Instead highlighting places that categorically won’t give away free meals and as a consequence, can be less visible on the love/hate beast that is social media. You will not see The Rat Inn on any ‘scranstagram’ accounts not because most of them only post about chip shops that have given them a free sausage and chips (genuinely, a post I have just seen), but because it’s a bloody hard time for hospitality. Never mind being on the side of a hill just off Hexham, never mind when you’re trying to cook things from scratch and give a damn about what you’re serving the customers.
It’s no wonder the pubs are dying.
Country pubs come in two flavours. Mostly they’re ‘nice for a pint but don’t even look in the kitchen’ types. I have a soft spot for these, they’re the backbone of the UK. But the ‘food comes first’ destination pubs are almost always worth the diversion. The Rat is firmly the latter. You could definitely come and just enjoy a pint in the sunshine for the stunning views over The Tyne Valley from the beer garden in the summer. Or in passing while walking the dog. But check out the chalkboard menu and you’ll get a flavour for what they’re doing here. Proud of provenance and sure of self, it is pub food done well.
You’ll find three dependable courses, some sandwiches and pub snacks on the side. A small wine list. Meat heavy, classic dishes, pub favourites, and super Sunday roasts of course. It’s hard not to like.
Often, my faves at The Rat have been starters, like these two below. I ordered both because it was the day after the work xmas party and I was dying, but hard to pick a winner between chipolatas, puy lentils & parsnips, and the creamed sprouts with chorizo & Stilton on toast. Yep.
Absolutely illustrative of what you get here, I could have just had more like these and been pleased. They personified exactly why I wanted to be at The Rat on that day. At first glance a bit of a ‘chuck what’s left in the fridge in a frying pan and hope for the best’ but that’s hiding a chef that knows what people want, and how to give them it. Both gutsy as hell and huge on flavour.
‘Twas Christmas so this turkey schnitzel (£25) with sprouts (again) hit the brief perfectly. Meat & two veg? Completed it mate. Humongous portion, sticky jus, doing turkey justice.
A special moment for the chips here. Get these with the interesting sandwiches, a steak, or just on the side, but do get them. Always piping hot, pick-at, pub potato perfection. Modestly advertised as ‘handcut’ on the menu, they know how good they are. Pubs HAVE TO have good chips, These are examples that make you realise how many shit chips you’ve had recently. You’re gonna enjoy burning your mouth on them, tawny-tinged morsels compelling you to eat another one long after you’ve filled up. If you do nothing else, come to the Rat at the end of a nice Northumberland walk, get a pint of local cask, and some of these. We had some salt and vinegar. Like me after eating these, they need nothing more.
What The Rat does is take the hallmarks of good pub food, which I would regard as paying justice to classics, without trying too hard. Soups here are always banging, properly seasoned and chocka with ‘does what it says on the tin’ flavour like this cauliflower & cheddar. Like anywhere else prices have nudged more towards ‘go as a treat’ rather than ‘go ‘cos it’s the weekend’ but that’s more a reflection on the sad state of the world/economy/country at the moment.
That said, we couldn’t resist last month’s first Hexham Restaurant Week. Rude not to when 3c for £30.
When it came to desserts, well I always want to try and order something that showcases a bit of pastry talent, but there’s just nowt better than STP is there? The homemade ice cream was the clincher and it indeed is a textbook version of the dish that every pub needs to have on its menu. To be fair, this panna cotta was a delight, and generally The Rat is somewhere you’ll get a ‘proper’ crumble, tart, cake or cheese board. And that word ‘proper’. The Broad Chare leans heavily on it. That place in Sunderland also leans on it. Whether it means the kitchen knows how to make a ballotine, or sufficiently seasons a bit of fish, it’s implied but always present here, you’re getting care and safe keeping.
This isn’t a puff piece about the real appeal of good pubs. The premise of hot fires, cold beers, sense of a shared space for locals and visitors, and conviviality is obvious. But increasingly these things aren’t enough — when pints are eight quid and a meal out is three digits. But if all of that, and sticky toffee pudding with ice cream, and those chips doesn’t make you get down to your local pub? Then there’s no hope. It would be redundant to say that The Rat Inn has ‘character’, but it is an intangible and in reality it is hard to achieve and what separates a Hungry Horse from somewhere you want to try and want to like and want to succeed. The Rat has been here for 300+ years, and again makes the Top 50 Gastopubs this year, so I’m sure it’ll be alright for years to come. But whether you’ve ticked off every pub in the North East, or haven’t yet ventured up this hillside, stick The Rat on your ‘to do’ list and visit A Good Pub.
Contact: theratinn.com
Opening: Food Wed-Sat 12-8pm Sun 12-3pm
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