CityLife

Barn Owl

THERE are some pubs where you feel you are gate-crashing a true local.

The Barn Owl is not a back street, centre-of-the-community boozer in the Rovers Return tradition, but it does have the air of a place that only true locals know about.

One reason must be the location. On an out-of-the-way lane somewhere between Lymm and Altrincham, The Barn Owl is nestled beside green fields and the Bridgewater Canal.

Narrowboats moor here and walkers and cyclists use the towpath opposite, though there is no useable route on the pub’s side of the water.

Cheesy soundtrack

Indeed spot the boat was the game of choice as we waited for lunch in the large, open-plan room in this modern-looking, pub, which has more going for it than the first impression of flashing gambling machines and a cheesy soundtrack suggests.

Landlord Carl Warburton has nurtured the place for more than 10 years and his family help out behind the bar and in the kitchen.

The meals are simple but created with consideration and I had an excellent, plump steak and kidney pudding (£8.95) with nice, crunchy veg and mash.

Opposite was grilled seabass (£9.95) which showed the kitchen can also handle more delicate produce.

Traditional puddings

Children can have two courses from their own menu for £5.95 – with meals from healthy food guru Annabel Karmel’s recipe range – or attack a huge plateful from the carvery for £5.99 (£7.99 for adults). There were traditional puddings, too, at £3.95.

When we visited, diners outnumbered drinkers, who are well served with seven handpumps.

My pristine Wychwood BeeWyched Honey’d Ale was an indication of why the Barn Owl – twice voted Lymm pub of the year as well as winning awards from the Campaign for Real Ale – is again in Camra’s Good Beer Guide, the 2010 edition of which was out last week.

Supreme but heavyweight

Along with other casks, including the tremendous Volunteer Bitter from Bolton’s Bank Top brewery and Marston’s Long Hop, there is a menu of continental bottled beers with the likes of Kwak, Lindemans and the supreme, but heavyweight Rochefort 10, from Belgium.

No wonder the locals want to keep this place a secret.

The Barn Owl Inn, Adgen Wharf, Warrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 OSW (01925 752020).

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