Golden Lion Hotel, Duke Street, SETTLE, BD24 9DU [Map]
01729 822203 
11-23 MO-SA; 12-22:30 SU
Accommodation, Car Park, Evening Meals, Real Fire, Lunchtime Meals, Rail Station Near Pub

Jim outside the Golden Lion, July 2001

I like Settle, it's a friendly country market town (market day Tuesday) with little shops on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales situated at the southern end of the Settle to Carlisle railway, saved from closure in the 1980’s it really is a journey to remember with wonderful scenery and quiet country towns and villages to explore on the way. Jim and I had just spent such a day on the line and found ourselves at 6pm on a summer Saturday in need of some good beer and filling food. We had no particular intention to visit the Golden Lion but it seemed the pub that had the greatest pull on us. We were certainly glad that we ventured into the Lion which dates back to around 1640. The Thwaites beer was on good form and at a price that set it about half the cost of many bars in our capital city. You might even be lucky and catch one of their seasonal beers.

The beamed bar that you enter into has a very high ceiling, an absolutely huge fireplace and a ‘pattable’ cat. We were welcomed by the friendly bar staff and noted that the clientele was a mix of locals and visitors. Much of the conversation while we were there in July 2001 was of the Foot and Mouth outbreak that had recently hit the area. The pub also has quite a reputation for good food at lunchtime and during the evening during the week and all day during the weekend, but it might be an idea just to double check. We had a lovely lamb pudding dish (encased in suet) - it escapes me what it was called but it was excellent. They do warn that there may be a little wait before you receive the food, but I can assure you that it was well worth waiting for.

Oh yes, and if you don’t fancy leaving the pub at the end of the night they offer accommodation too..…

Jim relaxing by the river but a few miles up the S&C railway, July 2001