Hale Barns, Pakistani Restaurant Guide

Opened in April 2025, this much-glazed 1980s landmark has, in its time, served as the HQ of the Co-operative Bank, and was converted following a £1.5million refurb into a new Indian restaurant with three banqueting suites accommodating 1,250 people plus a 400-seater restaurant. It opened too late for any survey feedback, but in his June 2025 review, The FT’s Jay Rayner was forced to rethink his prejudice against buffets (the menu format here, at £29.99 per person). “The aesthetic is classy cruise ship” and a buffet counter “so long you could run time trials down it” with 100 different dishes to a mainly British Asian crowd: the warming lights are not kind to poppadoms, but the fried items – chicken wings and samosas – turn over so fast they don’t have a chance to go soggy, while the “startling array of curries actually benefit from sitting on a gentle simmer”.