The last time we went to The Grouse Inn at Oldfield near Haworth, some years ago now, the plate of sandwiches we had cost us an arm and a leg.

Things seemed to have changed a bit. The pub is under new stewardship, and we enjoyed a pleasant reasonably-priced evening out with good food.

Because of a certain footy match against Germany, the new dining room off the main bar was reasonably quiet for a Saturday night, which suited the four of us well enough.

The wine list, still in its infancy apparently, is restricted to just ten choices, but the food menu has a good varied choice, including a number of vegetarian selections.

From the starters, I once again went for the soup, a tasty home-made cream-of-mushroom variety, while two others tried a melon dish and a deep-fried cheese platter to stir the taste buds.

The cheese platter, I have to say, looked very tempting, with brie and mature cheddar, mixed salad, chutney and redcurrant sauce - but I needed to leave room for a main course.

None of us went for any of the two fish dishes or the five specials, but all picked from the main course menu, my choice being a favourite with men for some reason - the Grouse Inn Pie.

This was an excellent home-made pie, generously portioned, stuffed with chicken, ham and mushrooms in a creamy sauce.

With it came fresh, crisply-cooked vegetables - or salad, if you preferred - and home-made chips.

The others thoroughly enjoyed their choices of chicken cordon bleu, deep fried and stuffed with ham and cheese, pork and chive sausage with mash, and, for our daughter, a pleasantly basic version of gammon with egg, which was just to her taste.

I left the tasting of the desserts to the others, having been filled to capacity with my previous two courses, and they were happy to tuck into a selection of ice creams and a strawberry and cointreau dish that looked very enticing.

As the roar from the distant TV room bar told us that England were probably a goal to the good, we enjoyed a round of coffees in sensible, good-sized mugs that left a satisfying taste in the mouth for a very reasonable final bill, with drinks, of £56.

For the disabled, there are no steps into the inn, but there are steps down to the restaurant area.

Doug Akroyd

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.