The Ship Inn will re-open its doors tomorrow, after a fire damaged the pub last October.
The fire, at the pub in Aldborough, was started by a washing machine and caused extensive damage. The restoration has cost £500,000 and the pub is now larger with enough seating to accommodate up to 200 people inside and outdoors.
Brian Rey and Elaine Howden, the owners of The Ship Inn, have been restoring the pub since January.
Brian said:
“It’s been amazing the response we’ve had from the community and our staff. We had 16 staff members and they all wanted to stay on, which I have to say was quite moving.
“We now can seat around 200 people throughout the garden and pub. We now have wi-fi outside and a second card machine to bring outside. We’ve also now bought a new pizza oven.”
Last October, the pub set on fire through an electrical fault with a washing machine. The emergency services were called when a fire alarm sounded at 2am.
Brian spoke about his experience when the pub set alight. He said:
“It was hardly believable, I thought I was hallucinating. When we called 999, five fire engines turned up. We were told that if we ingested smoke for another ten minutes we wouldn’t be here today.
The store room after the fire
“We just stuck some face masks on and I knew we needed to get out of there.
“After the fire, we had no heating so we spent a lot of time in bed, simply to get warm. We had one electric heater plugged in and that’s it.”
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Brian and Elaine have seen many high-profile guests to their pubs, including Prince William and Harry, as well as Gordon Ramsay.
The couple’s old pub, The Fenwick Arms, was featured on an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares in 2006. In the episode Gordon said he had ‘a lot of respect’ for Brian, as well as claiming that their Yorkshire puddings were ‘excellent.’
The episode led Gordon and Brian to set up a ‘Real Gravy’ campaign, which was created to promote Brian’s gravy and Sunday roast.
“I’ve had five million emails about the Real Gravy campaign and I’ll never be able to get through all of them,” Brian said.
Stray Kitchen is our column all about food written by renowned local produce expert, food writer and chef, Stephanie Moon. Stephanie is a champion of food produced in the UK and particularly in Yorkshire and the Harrogate district.
I love, love, love this time of year, and the feeling of festive fun is really growing in tempo this Christmas…
So how do we make Christmas easy? This is a question I always get asked, and truthfully, I don’t think catering for a large group at Christmas is easy at all. But there are some ways we can make it as pain free as possible.
Mulled wine: Everyone has a mix they love, and for me it is a bottle of Malbec red wine, shot of brandy, shot of sloe gin, a clove studded orange, three cinnamon sticks, and three star anise, brought up to the boil with two glasses of lemonade and a glass of cranberry juice. Sweeten it up to taste, and for a real trick, pour it into a slow cooker so the mulled wine is warm and ready to go when your guests arrive.
Nibbles and dips: I love a quick homemade hummus. Boil two tins of chick peas with the aqua faba (chick pea juice inside the tin) until the juice evaporates. Add crushed garlic and tahini with some Ras El Halenout (spice mix), rapeseed oil, a splash of water and lemon zest and juice. For something to dip into the hummus, try my simple recipe for Harrogate blue cheese straws.
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Ingredients
- 1 packet of ready-to-roll puff pastry
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 eggs cracked and mixed into egg wash
Method
- Brush the egg wash over half of the pastry.
- Add 150g of grated Harrogate blue cheese and 2 teaspoons of finely dusted smoky paprika.
- Place the other half of the pastry on top and egg wash again.
- Cut into strips about 2cm thick and twirl to give that lovely shape.
- Pinch onto the tray to allow the straws to bake evenly and straight.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C, then cut whilst they cool.
Starters: Jazz up your prawn cocktail with some cooked lobster and a few slices of locally smoked salmon for a real treat. For the Marie Rose classic, try adding some finely chopped soft apricot pieces. Or, if you fancy a tropical alternative, why not add some fresh mango pieces and a light curry powder to your mayo.
Time to bring in the turkey! Steph is pictured here with London based chef Valentina Harris and her assistant Cher, at the Ideal Home exhibition.
Main: The turkey is the main event. Everyone cooks their’s differently and has their own favourite stuffing mix, but the gravy often gets left to last minute. Show your gravy some love this year and really glaze the turkey tray properly, removing the fat to get all that extra flavour into your gravy. To make a light roux, whisk this onto your flour and butter mix and cook out well with a good splash of red wine and stock; add a little redcurrant jelly for sweetness and hey presto, you’ve got a lovely turkey gravy.
Pudding: To flambe or not to flame, that is the question. If you do, make sure it is on a robust serving platter: one year I had a disaster at home, when the platter broke and flambe juices ran down the dinning table! Always warm the alcohol before pouring over the hot pudding, then set it on fire just before you enter the room… making sure decorations and long hair is well out of the way!
Have fun, and remember it is your Christmas to enjoy too!
Ho Ho Ho
Steph x