The Lord Crewe - Northumberland

I was hiking and arrived at ‘The Lord Crewe’ around nine am, the cleaning crew was just finishing up and frankly, when I looked around, I wasn’t expecting a lot for a WFPB as it seemed extremely traditional. The Hotel/pub is very well appointed and indicative of most establishments of its like, clean and with an up to date interior. However, despite my backpack, hiking poles and other accoutrement, I was warmly welcomed and invited to sit and rest with a delicious oat milk Americano. I was delighted to find a Vegan Breakfast option and summarily received a very tasty and welcome surprise. Grilled ; vine-tomatoes, and Portobello mushroom accompanied with two slices of (Vegan black pudding, a serving of baked beans and two sausages which had me in some disbelief about their PB authenticity. They were, of course, the famed ‘Moving Mountains’ sausages and were the centrepiece of the entire meal. Portion size was a little ‘Nouvelle Cuisine’ for a hungry hiker and a slice or two of lightly toasted Sourdough bread would have done wonders too! (Which I was informed was there as an additional extra.. perhaps it could have been offered at the time of ordering? . But, all in all, a positive experience and I would recommend ‘The Lord Crewe’ to any passing Vegan looking for options. They have Plant based options for other meals throughout the day.

We stopped for lunch. Nice restaurant with friendly staff and dogs welcome. The vegan options were limited but what there was looked good. We had the celeriac soup which was delicious. There were a couple of vegan mains but too much for lunch time so didn’t try.

We ate here recently whilst on holiday nearby. I'm not sure whether the menu was more limited because of Covid because the vegan options were just the soup of the day and the quinoa and beetroot burger. This area is not a a vegan hotspot though and we were very pleased to find this place. I'm told that the burger was absolutely excellent. It was a warm sunny day and the beer garden was a very pleasant place to sit for an hour.

We were recommended to try the crab sandwich, but were disappointed with the dry bread and minimal crab filling. The steak sandwich also had little meat and was all presentation with no substance. The restaurant is only partially dog-friendly, with a dog bowl outside for pets. The staff member who greeted us made us feel unwelcome, as if we were not good enough for the place. Local establishments offer much better quality food and atmosphere for a similar price. We don't mind paying for good food, but we expect a higher standard. This was the worst dining experience we have had in years. If you want a great crab sandwich, we suggest looking elsewhere.

We booked a table online for Saturday Nov 4th and it was all very straight forward, unfortunately when we arrived for some reason our table was in an area set out for customers with dogs? I'm allergic to animal hair, but stuck it out as the menu was very good and I particularly wanted the Lobster Thermidor, which was very nice. We only had mains and the one drink, as I could feel my allergy starting to take hold, which in turn leads to an asthma attack. For people booking online, this should be made clear and an option to decline eating in this area available. It spoilt the whole eating experience for me at this lovely place. The staff are lovely especially the guy who took our orders and served our meals.