Cockermouth Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “Good all round” – this vegetarian restaurant in a pretty townhouse next to Cockermouth castle offers diners the popular option of tasting everything on the menu. Louisa & Colin Le Voi, who have run it with minimal help for 32 years, have put the restaurant on the market but are in no rush to retire.

This famous 400-year-old Lake District inn with its own brewery is the “perfect choice after a day fell-walking – you can eat in the bar or more formal dining room”, or outdoors in the summer. A less enthusiastic diner said that “as at many places in the Lakes, you’re paying for the location”, but still scored the food relatively highly.

“New chef Jack Bond has really hit the ground running” since he joined this “welcoming” converted coaching inn near Keswick with lovely views over the Whinlatter Forest in early 2024, delivering “excellent food in this stunning setting”. In July, he and his wife Beth (the general manager) took things one step further, purchasing the property from Liam & Kath Berney, who retired after 22 years. On early reports, they are making an excellent fist of their new venture, with a “treat” of a seven-course tasting menu (for £120 per person), while at lunch a five-course version is provided (at £75 per person). Top Menu Tip – “particular highlights were the Duck Leg ravioli with the lightest fluffiest Everything Bagel Shokupan; the Gin-cured Trout with Horseradish and the Pumpkin Agnolotti. A real surprise was the Creedy Carver Duck with Kalettes and Rhubarb served with a ‘citrine’ (which has cured my 50-year trauma caused by an unfortunate early duck a l’orange incident!). And the cocktails are sensational (the Winter Old Fashioned is particularly recommended!)”

On the lower slopes of Skiddaw, England’s third highest mountain, a luxury mid-Victorian Lakes hotel that “never fails to impress”. The restaurant has been relocated over the years to amplify the “wonderful views”, and it continues to please with its “good variety of dishes” (from Sunday lunch to salads and Cumbrian rarebit) that are also “exceptional value for money”.

“Whether you’ve just been for a hike up Skiddaw (just to the north) or a gentle stroll around the lake” (Derwentwater, just to the south), restore your spirits at this buzzing bistro, whose adventurous and keenly priced dishes (aka “fellpots”) make it “the best thing in town” according to its fans. The owners’ local mini-empire also includes cocktail and burger bar The Round, set on the storied fell-running ground of Keswick’s Market Square (where many loops start from the door) and, as of 2022, Fellpack House (FKA The Hazeldene), a nine-bedroom boutique hotel on ultra-pretty street The Heads.

This “really buzzy place in the centre of Keswick” offers a “great choice of freshly cooked and delicious burgers, with the option to change the bun for salad”. Part of the locally owned Fellpack operation, it even convinces doubters – “I’ve reached an age where burgers are not for me anymore... unless I’m at The Round”.