The Coldest Welcome Ever Warmed. John Hurstwood Tales of a Legend. Part III.

There’s a lovely little bit of folklore about John Hurstwood that tells you everything you need to know about the spirit of this inn.

They say that back in 1754, John had a rather peculiar rule of thumb when it came to greeting customers: the worse the weather outside, the warmer the welcome inside.

If you strolled over the ford on a glorious, sun soaked and shiny July afternoon when the valley was warm and peaceful (no temporary traffic lights or motorway closures running our little village!!), John would give you a quiet nod from behind the taps, pull your pint without much fuss, and let you get on with your day.

"Sunshine does 'alf mi job for mi," he used to grumble.

However if you showed up in the dead of winter, with a brutal Pennine gale howling off mean the moors Green Withens, sleet freezing to your coat and your teeth chattering from fording the icy river, it was an entirely different story.

The moment the timber door blew open, John would have you out of your sodden cloak before you could even ask, I even imagine he hung it upon the hook of the middle bar fire, what do you think? He’d herd you straight into the inglenook, kick the bellows into the fire until the hearth roared red hot and burning bright, press a steaming mug of mulled brew into your cold hands and then sit down beside you with an ear ready for whatever news you carried from the road and your treacherous journey.

Whether it was a packhorse driver carrying bolts of cloth or a solitary wanderer caught out in a drift, nobody left John’s fireside until the frost was well and truly driven out of their bones.

Historians might call it local pub legend, but after four generations of my own family keeping this same hearth glowing, I know exactly what John was about. A pub isn't just somewhere to buy a drink when the sun shines; it’s the place you head for when the weather turns wild and Tim is our modern day legend when it comes to these fires!

Nearly 270 years on from John Hurstwood, we still look at it the exact same way. If it’s freezing outside, you know where our fire is and from Rushbearing onwards you can guarantee it will be on.