The venue is described as a “traditional country pub” with an “olde world feel”

A stunning gastropub in a Cambridgeshire village is looking for new tenants. The John Barleycorn in Duxford, is one of two pubs in the area and is a popular spot among the locals.

The venue is listed by pub company Greene King, who describe it as a “traditional country pub which is full of character and charm”. They added: “It is a thatched pub with an olde world feel and is perfect for lunch and evening dining.”

Duxford is situated around 10 miles south of Cambridge and is widely known for its Imperial War Museum which hosts historic air shows. It is made up of many pretty houses as well as local amenities including a shop, a community centre with a park and a café.

Suitable applicants are described as experienced operators who can drive food and drink sales at the pub. Applicants should also “build relationships with the locals and become a community champion”, according to the British pub and brewing company. Additionally, Greene King believes it would also be useful for the new partner to have experience in dealing with a small number of letting rooms.

The weekly rent for the tenant agreement is listed at £769 adding up to £40,000 annually. The estimated annual turnover is expected to reach £528,992, according to Greene King.

The listing said: “The pub offers a mixed offering, split in favour of drinks sales at approximately 50 percent, with food and accommodation making up the rest of the sales mix. The pub lends itself to a quality food offering at both lunchtime and in the evenings, however for the locals entertainment and pub games are still something that is in demand.”

The property is available to view on the Greene King website. To see the full listing, click here.

On the edge of Yarm, a new development is going up called “the Cornfields”. It sounds enticingly rural although there are no fields left in the Yarm area that can ever again be a blaze of golden wheat because every one of them has had roads laid across it and houses built upon it.

The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

About a mile down the A67 from The Cornfields is The Tack Room, which is genuinely rural and once was a tack room. It is tacked onto the side of an extremely functional agricultural hangar in which an indoor riding school operates. To reach The Tack Room, you have to walk through the school viewing area where clouds of dust waft up as the horses trot by.

Entrance to The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

To my wife, Petra, a horse lover, these are the most exciting sights and smells in the world. I, though, am very allergic to horses, partly because of the effect they have on my eyes and lungs, and partly because of the effect they have had on our bank account over the years.

The Tack Room, though, has been turned out very nicely. Festoons of colourful plastic flowers give it a smart feel, although it is noisy.

The specials board overlooking the indoor riding school at the Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

There is a row of stools so that proud parents can have a coffee and cake while watching their daughters pilot their pony around the school, and there are covers for about 50 lunchtime diners – it is open from 9am to 4pm, closed on Mondays, but it is doing themed evenings on a Friday.

It was busy. We’d been advised to book for our Saturday lunchtime, and there was no room to accommodate the lady who had arranged to meet three friends there without securing a table.

The menu was short but surprisingly sophisticated for a riding school. There were four sandwiches – from Isle of Wight Heritage Tomato and Pesto to Shorthorn steak and homemade chimichurri – for between £12.95 and £14.95, and there were 10 main dishes, from soup (cauliflower velouté) to salad to a souffle, a pie, a burger and fish and chips, ranging from £7.95 to £19.95.

If I had been really brave, I would have gone for sardines on toast with fennel and rhubarb slaw (£15.95) from the specials blackboard.

As soon as we had placed our orders, Petra rushed off to look at horses doing horsey things which meant I was left to read the wall display about Thomas Bates, the great shorthorn cattle breeder from Kirklevington in the 1830s. Also on the walls were pleas to “back British farming” and to “drink Hawkstone”, which is Jeremy Clarkson’s beer.

Fittingly for such a pro-farming place, the meat was front and centre of the dishes myself and my son, Theo, had ordered.

Coronation chicken at The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

He had the Coronation Chicken (£18.95), a great piece of free range breast, its white, juicy meat gleaming against the darker curried coating. It sat on a very moist bed of curried butter and raita, and he had some (very good) chips. The menu suggested there should be some greenery in the form of spinach, but none arrived.

Pork Loin at The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

I had the even larger Pork Loin (£19.95) – it was so big and thick that, with its bone sticking out to be used a handle, it could have been an offensive weapon.

Free range, it came with sauteed potatoes and a pineapple salsa, which gave pinpricks of juicy sweet explosions with every mouthful. Like the chicken, it was perfectly cooked but, like the chicken, it could have done with a proper vegetable element.

We quickly got a bowl of house salad (£5) to share, and set to work – there were very generous amounts of meat to be eaten.

Coronation Cauliflower salad at The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

Meanwhile, Petra was purring over her Coronation Cauliflower, Chickpea and Couscous Salad (£13.95) from the specials board. The cauliflower had the same distinctive coronation curry flavour – no heat – as Theo’s chicken, and amid the lettuce, cucumber, onion, chickpeas and giant couscous there were hidden raisins which gave it an additional twist. With a dollop of raita on top, this was a very successful dish – and good value.

Rocky Road at The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

For dessert, there were plenty of scones and cakes (about £4.85). Theo went for a rocky road with giant marshmallows sticking out of it, Petra had a large piece of carrot cake while I had a pear and raspberry frangipane, the latter two being served with pouring cream. They were very good.

Frangipane at The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

The coffee was probably better, and a note of praise for the tapwater. In some places, it is grudgingly served, but here it came in a chilled carafe with glasses full of ice and a slice of lemon.

And a note about the atmosphere: by the end of my cakes, my nose, eyes and lungs were in need of some fresh, horse-free air. Next time I shall prepare with an antihistamine tablet because The Tack Room would be worth going back to.

The Tack Room, Kirklevington, near Yarm (Image: Chris Lloyd)

The Tack Room

Riding Centre, Town End Farm, Kirklevington, Yarm, TS15 9PZ

www.tackroomkirklevington.co.uk

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 8 Surroundings 7 Value for money 8 Service 8

When you walk through the doors of this long-established Co Antrim pub, you almost feel like you’re being transported back in time. The subtle ‘ding’ of the bell above the door greets you at the same time as the friendly staff behind the bar at The Crown & Shamrock Inn.

The pub, located on the Antrim Road in Mallusk close to the busy Sandyknowes Roundabout, is only 20 minutes outside of Belfast city centre but feels worlds apart. For its owner, Aidan McAlinden, it feels almost like stepping into a proper rural pub in Donegal.

Since the 1930s, the bar has been in Aidan’s family, while there has been a bar on the site since at least 1872. It was originally a halfway house between Antrim and Belfast, and has kept close to its traditional roots since then.

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Speaking to Belfast Live, Aidan said the pub is a really special place. Looking back on its history, he said: “As a halfway house back in the day, people would stop halfway on the way home. Sometimes I think people didn’t make it the rest of the way, and would spend their earnings and keep their horses in the barn next door and stay over.

“The bar then changed hands quite a few times, and you can see all the deeds on the wall in the back bar. We have all the records of every time it’s changed families, or stayed within the family.

“Joseph Bigger bought it in 1901, and tried to reform it so it was less about alcohol and spirits, and more about Bovril and stew. It was about taking people in and looking after them.

“My great-grandfather, Neal John O’Boyle, bought the pub in 1930 and passed it down to his son, then to my grandmother, then my auntie. My wife and I moved back from Scotland to buy the pub in 2017 and we’ve been here ever since.”

It’s been almost ten years since Aidan took over ownership of the pub, with him and his family initially living upstairs as they took the reins.

“When we took it on in 2017, it was quiet. There was a small set of regulars,” he explained. “We were able to get planning to extend it, and with that and the beer garden we were able to double its size.

“I grew up in the bar. At the weekends when I was about 10 I would have come down and would have started emptying ashtrays and lifting glasses for a bit of pocket money, and slept upstairs in one of the spare rooms.

“So from a young age, there was always something about the bar I enjoyed. I enjoyed talking to people and pouring pints, it’s something I was reasonably good at.

“Whenever we moved back here, we moved upstairs when we bought the bar. We lived upstairs and raised our son Dylan, then Marley was born here, so we lived upstairs for three years as we put everything into the business.

“Having lived here is a bit of a bonus because I know how to fix it. It’s an old building so if isues come up like pipes get blocked up, which can happen sometimes if it’s busy, I know where to look and pinpoint the problems to fix it.

“I don’t see working here as a job, it’s more of a lifestyle for me, it’s something that’s great.”

Different pubs have their own personality, and for Aidan, it’s hard to recreate the traditional originality on display at The Crown & Shamrock Inn.

Many of the walls are wooden and adorned with old photos, articles about the pub’s history, and artifacts including a number of swords that were found in the attic in the 1930s.

“It’s been kept the same way it always has been,” he said. “We came in and the idea was not to change it but to add to it as such.

“It feels like stepping into a pub in Donegal. It’s got that character and warmth. It’s been in the same family for 96 years, we’ll be celebrating 100 years in 2030.

“A lot of pubs you see opening up in Belfast now are basically trying to base their looks on bars like this. If you look around, it’s all original stuff, the pictures on the walls haven’t changed and I’m sure some of them go back a couple hundred years.”

When the pub first opened, the area around it was mostly empty, with none of the housing estates and industrial sites that surround it today.

Aidan said over the years they’ve been able to become the local pub for many people moving into newly built developments nearby, and are proud to welcome everyone from all sides of the community, as their name suggests.

He said: “Old photos show this pub stood by itself. There were no houses in this area, no buildings, no industry around it.

“Over the years it’s really built up and there’s now developments still popping up, the Blackrock development was fantastic, the people in those places now have a community pub they can come to. People are able to come into a homey, warm pub environment right on their doorstep.

“From the developments around here we have great customers from all sides of the community, hence the name, so that’s something we push and are proud of.”

For anyone who hasn’t paid the pub a visit yet, Aidan lined up what you can expect. He said: “The staff are great and always give everyone a warm welcome when they come in. There’s loads of space, you’ll always find a seat.

“We’re a free house so we sell a bit of everything. We have brilliant gins and whiskeys, as well as craft beers from the likes of Our Brewery and Bullhouse, which are made within a sort of 10 to 15 mile radius of the pub. People have really appreciated being able to try new things and having that option for the drinks.

“Belfast Pizza Lads have been here since after coronavirus, and they do great pizzas. They work really hard to deliver good produce and they make everything in-house. You don’t see any crumbs coming back from the pizzas, so that’s always a good sign that the pizzas are great quality.

“If you’re visiting, you’re always guaranteed to have a great night, with a great atmosphere.”

Video by Belfast Live videographer Justin Kernoghan.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

“Jaws do drop. People leave quite wide-eyed … the best compliment we can get is someone going, ‘I didn’t know poetry could be like this.’”

Say Owt artistic director, Henry Raby, is recalling the reaction to the group’s poetry slam nights, held twice yearly at the Crescent.

One-hundred poetry loving fans gathered at the latest slam, on Friday, April 17, for a night of friendly competition.

Each poet has three minutes to perform. They are then scored by randomly selected audience members – and the poet with the most points wins.

Henry Raby on stage (Image: Charlie Kirkpatrick/Kirkpatrick Photography)

It’s a “unique” but “lively” evening, Henry says, and a chance to get people talking.

And “as much as it is electric and noisy” – it’s also a safe space to try performing for the first time, Henry adds.

Topics vary – from personal, heartfelt stories to lively political pieces – but they all “get people discussing”, Henry says. “It really grabs an audience.”

“Our slams are on Friday nights at the moment – so we have to deliver a Friday night out, or we’re not doing our jobs properly,” says Say Owt’s associate artist and creative director, Hannah Davies.

“At one slam,” adds Henry, “we had ladies in the toilet putting on their makeup because a poetry gig was the start of their night out

“They were opening with, let’s get down to the slam – then we’re going to hit York.

“That’s what we want it to be – part of your night out.”

Bram David Jarman (Jarmouse), Hannah Davies, Henry Radby, Stu Freestone and rapper Testament at Say Owt’s 10th birthday bash (Image: Supplied)

Henry, 37, who founded the group with Stu Freestone, has seen Say Owt grow from its first location at the 100-capacity Basement, below the City Screen cinema off Coney Street, to the 300-capacity Crescent. The group also hosts gigs at Theatre@41 Monkgate and at the Bluebird Bakery in Acomb.

The venues have grown in size and guest poets now include renowned names, but the group’s ethos remains the same, says Henry. “[The gigs] are lively, fun – it’s a bit raucous and a bit silly.

Say Owt guest poet Maureen Onwunali (Image: Supplied)

“We’re trying to defuse any sense that poetry has barriers or is stuffy or boring. It’s got to be very immediate.”

Henry, from Foxwood in York and now living in Leeds, puts Say Owt’s success – and York’s “robust” poetry scene – down to the diverse voices in the city.

It was punk – particularly the punk poet John Cooper Clarke – who inspired Henry to start performing poetry.

John Cooper Clarke (Image: PA)

Henry liked performing, but not acting – and “couldn’t work out what performing was without the acting”, he says. “Then I saw John Cooper Clarke at a GCSE poetry event and went, ‘Oh right, that’s it’ … That punk attitude of just getting up and doing it. It’s quite DIY and it’s putting your heart on your sleeve.

“It’s exactly what I love about poetry – you don’t even need a guitar.”

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No poets are the same – particularly in York, Henry says. “They either want to tell really personal, heartfelt stories about themselves and say something really important.

“Or they want to raise the rafters with something political. Or they want to just make people laugh and put a smile on their faces.”

A community has grown around the poetry nights, Hannah adds. “We’ve had couples meet and get together at our poetry nights.

“Friendships have formed. We’ve got a core of really loyal customers and audience members who come back.”

‘My journey into poetry came out of frustration’

Hannah’s first poetry performance was at a Say Owt slam – and followed her background in theatre.

“I started as an actor and then was a playwright and a single mum,” says Hannah, 47, from Fulford in York and now living in Saltburn. “My journey into poetry came out of frustration about how the theatre world wasn’t really serving me, and about where my life was at the time.

“I had these acting skills and these writing skills. I just thought, let’s write something for me to perform. Because no one can say no. I can just go and do it.”

And she did. “My first ever slam poem I did was at Say Owt. Then I became a Say Owt fan girl.”

Hannah Davies on stage (Image: Supplied)

“It’s liberating to go and say what you actually think about things on a stage,” Hannah says, but admits that performing for the first time was “absolutely terrifying”.

Hannah has continued to perform poetry and is now preparing to support World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker at the Theatre Royal on June 17, presented by Say Owt.

“I’m really excited to get on that stage and have a little taste of what it feels like to be Harry Baker,” Hannah says.

“But we’ll treat it like it’s a gig in the back of a pub,” says Henry. “I don’t want it to feel like a formal show at the Theatre Royal.”

• Say Owt holds its Bad Betty showcase at Rise Up at the Bluebird Bakery in Acomb on Wednesday (April 29).
• Harry Baker takes to the stage at the Theatre Royal on June 17.
• And Hannah Davies will be performing The Ballad of Blea Wyke at the Bluebird Bakery in Acomb on July 10, and at Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17.
• For more gigs, information and tickets, visit www.sayowt.co.uk/upcoming-events.html

Almost 40 years without a semi-final appearance in the most prestigious of domestic cups is a footballing barren land. More so when the club that have trudged across it for nigh on four decades were responsible for an iconic moment in the cup’s 1972 centenary edition.

Since Billy Bremner lifted the FA Cup, headlines around Leeds‘ association with the competition have been largely corrosive for the club’s reputation.

The tone was set in the 1973 final, when second division Sunderland shocked Don Revie’s side beneath Wembley’s Twin Towers.

There have, of course, been positive times – the run to the 1987 semi-finals and, memorably, Simon Grayson’s third-tier outfit beating Manchester United in their own backyard in 2010.

Otherwise it has been capitulation at Crawley, humiliation at Histon, submission at Sutton, harrowing against Hereford, no-show at Newport and wretched at Rochdale.

There are others too, and that is why being back at Wembley for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea matters.

“It’s massive,” says long-standing supporter Gareth from Morley. “I’m old-school. Never seen us in the final and only one semi-final.

“The FA Cup, for me, is the best club competition in the world. I can remember the ’70s and ’80s finals – the build-up on both channels. In the team hotel. The interviews. It was brilliant.”

The cup is not Leeds‘ only concern as the season reaches its conclusion, as they continue their for survival in the Premier League.

“Forget survival v cup final,” says Gareth. “Just do both. We need to get to remembering that football is about winning. Not taking part or surviving. Winning!”

Fellow fan Tony, who like Gareth is in his 50s, has a slightly different take.

“It’s a weird one,” he says. “I always want to win, but Premier League survival is all I think about.”

With 40 points on the board, Leeds may already be safe. After facing Chelsea they welcome relegated Burnley to Elland Road on Friday.

“Sunday is a free hit,” says Tony. “I’d take beating Burnley over beating Chelsea.”

Pragmatism for some, then, but pomp for others.

Steve, from Kirkheaton, is travelling first class on the train to the semi-final – and plans to take his 90-year-old mum to the final if they make it.

“It’ll be a great day out and we have a chance,” he says. “Chelsea were shocking against Brighton.”

HARKERSIDE Moor to the south of Reeth is teeming with history. Ancient history at Maiden Castle, more recent industrial remains and all framed to lovely views down this part of Swaledale.

Reeth has a huge village green with an impressive array of 18th and 19th century houses on its west side.

To the north lies Arkengarthdale, a lovely valley devastated by the floods in 2019. However, we are heading south to cross the River Swale.

Walk past the National Park centre into small Anvil Square and take the footpath signed ‘To the River’. Turn right onto a lane heading west before turning left and heading towards the river. The path veers right as it closes in on the river and arrives at a Suspension Bridge. It was built in 1920, washed away in 2000 and rebuilt in the same style.

Over the river it is possible to turn right and follow the riverbank but the right of way (footpath/bridleway) is a few metres up the hillside. Turn right and return to the riverside and follow the path for half a mile to a farm opposite an arc of stepping stones on the river.

Head through the farm buildings and climb to a road. Turn left for 100m on the road and take the signed footpath opposite. The path continues uphill towards a large bush, the site of Maiden Castle. The grand name masks what is in reality the earthern remains of an Iron Age fort, well preserved none the less.

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From the south west corner of the fort turn right and follow the footpath for half a mile. To the left are the spoil heaps of Harker Lead Mine, the first of a series of reminders that this landscape was once a busy, thriving industrial community.

The industrial remains of Swaledale give the area its own distinctive character. Before reaching Browning Gill there are a couple of paths/tracks heading south up the hillside, meeting either at or near a shooting hut. Turn left onto a wide land rover track which heads east across the high plateau of Harker Hill. The views over Reeth into Arkengarthdale and beyond are excellent; it is a high, airy panorama.

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It is perfectly possible to follow the land rover track for a further two miles all the way until it meets a road. However, after a mile there are two tracks which fork to the left, downhill. We are heading for the Grinton Tower and Youth Hostel and one path keeping to the north of Grinton Gill is particularly pleasant and avoids some later road walking.

This path arrives to the north/uphill of the lodge and from there it is only a few minutes’ walk into Grinton village. Pop in to look around the impressive St Andrews Church, probably the best in Swaledale, before crossing the road bridge.

A path on your left avoids much of the road and crosses some fields and the banks of the River Arkle. When it meets the road follow it into Reeth and its cafes and pubs.

Fact file:

Distance: Roughly seven miles

Reeth Grinton map

Height Climbed: 320m (1,050 feet)

Start: SE 038993. Parking on or around Reeth Green.

Difficulty: Medium. Too many paths rather than too few confuse a little near the river and there is a climb in order to arrive on the moors but this is generally a straightforward walk.

Refreshments: Reeth has a choice of pubs. There are two cafes but they may be on winter hours.

Be Prepared: The route description and sketch map only provide a guide to the walk. You must take out and be able to read a map (O/S Explorer 30) and in cloudy/misty conditions a compass (essential on this walk). You must also wear the correct clothing and footwear for the outdoors. Whilst every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers head out at their own risk.