It's only occupies small premises but I'm informed that Cafe Tapas was booked up Saturday night!

No and I wont do either.

Tried to book a table for 6 in order at the Millstone, Mr Freds and the Oyster and Otter yesterday and all were booked up! Recesssion? What recession? Anyway it turned out to be a real result cos I booked in to the Cafe Tapas on Fairfield Farm complex on the A59 at Mellor. I couldn't find a tel number until I actually googled 'cafe tapas blackburn'. A secret gem imo which will surely not stay secret for long. Cafe during the day from breakfast turns into a Tapas bar in the evening. For just over a tenner there are a few tasty starting nibbles followed by 6 tapas courses of choice from an extensive menu and accompanied by an absolutely superb paella. If you want more you can have more but tbh what came with the deal was plenty. No licence so it's take your own drinks. So good and so cheap that we left a 20 quid tip for the waitress! Could be quiet at the moment for a lone couple but absolutely bob on for a larger group of people who like a selection of foods to sample!

I wonder a. how much the Goodwillie signing has cost BRFC? and b. how much has been skimmed by Dastardly and Muttley from the deal?

Twice in the last 2 saturdays for me at the O&O Paul. I've recommended it on here in the past. They do do most things very well, don't overcharge and imo it is getting busier and busier. Interestingly on the other side of the coin we were talking in the local last night about hearing a number of bad reports about the Clog recently, also a few comments about the menu needing upgrading too.

4 pints decent lager @ 4 quid = £16 4 pints decent lager in a pub @ 3.40 = £13.60. £2.40's sod all and would not be enough to put me off eating in a decent restaurant. I imagine they simply do not want people popping in for a bevy. btw what is your opinion on the prices on their wine list?

Wonder how Preston managed to get this years Preston Guild celebrations past the Chief Constabule? Never mind the tradition dates back centuries and before any half arsed risk assessments were dreamt up cos Preston has lots of streets to cross and kerbs to trip on.

Sorry no I haven't.

Went there today. Spectacular building but unspectacular fare imo although wife and daughter thought it was good. My judgement may have been influenced by the size of the portions. In fact thinking more about it it definitely was.... it's what I call a cheese butty restaurant cos when you land home you need a cheese butt to fill up.

We've done all this. Probably illogical but whilst I don't particularly object to eating chickens that are just 6 weeks old or 6+ month old lambs I do prefer to wait until a calf turns into a cow. I guess it's based on the fact that lambs and chickens are virtually fully grown whilst a 6month old calf is still only one quarter to one third it's finished weight. Lost potential / waste of a life and for what? Granted Rose veal is a better option than the veal production practised on the continent and a much better option than the ludicrous practice of just a year or so ago of slaughtering a perfectly healthy newly born calf simply because it was the wrong sex. Some things are just wrong in our food industry, chucking dead or dying fish back in the water just because they are the 'wrong sort of fish', burying pheasants that have been shot for sport, fois gras, hallal / kosher slaughter and duck that has never even seen a pond for starters.

It's not the food it's the pretentious wording of the menu that irks. It seems every bloody eaterie in the County is getting on that particular marketing bandwagon at the moment. Banging on about Lancashire this and Lancashire that as if it were the best food ever produced yet about 15 miles along the A59 the Clogs sister establishment the Bull at Broughton the menu is mainly about Yorkshire fare. Can't both be right can they?

I'm sure that you know what they say about 'bullshit baffling brains' Baz.

After all day slaving in the garden me n'er indoors decided we couldn't be bothered cooking and decided to go out to eat. She suggested the Clog, I suggested the Oyster and Otter so completely illogically but with a couple of good reports in mind we went to give the Boars Head / Hoghton a try. We got there and were perusing the menu just as some band were going through the final motions of setting up before performing. The singer (presumably) was doing the old "testing.... testing..... one two ......... one two three" accompanied with a few strident guitar chords all of which was blasting out of the speakers and easily loud enough the endanger the 16th Century foundations of Hoghton Tower over a mile away! Needless to say we turned on our heels and got tf out as fast as we could. Dunno what the Boars Head is trying to achieve but attempting to be a restaurant and a lively pub at the same time might just see it fall between two stools. Back to Fenny and a packed Oyster and Otter where we were infrmed a table for two would be at least 30 mins! All that and not a plectrum or an amplifier in sight! I must say this place about has it right imo, good food, excellent beers and wines and good service at reasonable prices. They deserve to do well. Anyway with the grubs biting 30 mins was too long to wait for a table so it was off to the Clog..... Now someone up there is taking the proverbial. I fancied steak and chips but I've have serious issues with something described as a "Pure Angus 12oz Rib Eye" and a handfull of chips costing £25! ( I'll say it again... rib eye and twenty five effin quid!! Surely it can't be much more at the Northcote can it?) Main gripe beside the cost is how do I know if the meat is 'Pure bred Aberdeen Angus' or not? I've no idea myself and not only that but I seriously doubt that any retail butcher let alone 99% of chefs could accurately identify beef breeds from the appearence of a random piece of steak. Needless to say I chose something else from the menu. Take note here folks most beef cattle reared in the UK are not Pure breeds but are cross bred out of Holstein dairy cattle (not that there is anything wrong with that other than public perception). Furthemore the predominant beef breed in this country is Holstein crossed with Limousin with Charolais and Aberdeen Angus crosses tying for second place just ahead of Simmental and Belgian Blue crossed animals. So a question.... who has ever seen steak in a restaurant described as anything other than Aberdeen Angus? 'Organic Simmental', 'Grass fed Belgian Blue', 'Aged Charolais' apparently simply don't exist in menu speak do they? Yet somebody must be eating it. Be aware that then majority of this Aberdeen Angus malarky is nothing more than a con.... and almost as big a con as 'organic' food. Sorry but the Clog is not off the hook yet either. My pet hate are pretentious menu's and the Clog's is right up there at the top of the table. I'm going to quote a few choices from their menu in the guise of Bullsh1t Man..... *English Welfare Friendly Veal kidneys. Bullsh1t! Veal is only welfare friendly if you are partial to eating babies. *New Seasons salt Marsh lamb Chops (cooked crispy like your mother does) Bullsh1t! Now how the hell can anybody claim that bit of nonsense? Especially in my case when my old mother passed away last year. *Fish & Chips - Battered deep fried line caught Haddock. Just what difference does it make whether the unfortunate haddock is caught on a static line, a rod and reel or the net of a trawler I can't imagine. More Bullsh1t. And my personal favourite.. (V) Salad Nicoise– New Potatoes, Bobby Beans, Baby Gem Lettuce, Soft Boiled Egg, Anchovies, Red Onion, Heirloom Tomatoes & Olives, Virgin Olive Oil, Bread from the wood burning Esse. Wood burning Esse?? sfw? It’s still only bread isn't it? Bullsh1t! Pretentious menu claims are all the rage at the moment. It's spreading like wildfire, everything is local and nothing is intensively produced if you believe the claims. Btw all claims on the Clog menu are covered by a little rider at the bottom of the menu informing the less discerning diner that “Provenence may vary due to supplier availability”

Since just after the war apparently. Speaking of the war..... Not to worry though it'll never happen again cos the Health and Safety Exec will simply never allow another World War. Various Risk assessments will render it just too damned dangerous so everybody will just have to stay home and be nice. .... The biter bit being that those feeble buggers continually remind us all that most accidents occurr in the home anyway. Just as an aside a young relative is dead chuffed cos he's in line for the supreme top shop floor job at his company which will allow him to work virtually anywhere ... He's being sent to complete a H&S course. Pathetic isn't it?

Already looking like there will be major financial repercussions felt here in the UK as well as all around the globe for your current drought and heatwave speeedie.

Last I heard he'd been banned for an anagram of hair colour. That was approx 12 months ago. Whether he's still around I don't know.

Serves you right for asking em. The World's gone stark staring mad. Just as an aside why not a timed pub crawl through Brig dressed primarily in black but with Rovers scarves, rosettes, badges etc and with the coffin already in place at it's destination? Wouldn't necessarily be organised and would be spontaineous.

Serves you right for asking them. Should just do it even if it means carrying the bloody coffin along the pavement. For the police to force a break with a 60 year old tradition is reprehensible but hardly untypical and sadly completely predictable. Just who tf do these jumped up little big men they think they are? Plod 1. "This Bamber Bridge coffin jobby .... I've put a line through it Guv is that OK?" Plod 2"Yes Sergeant, I'm on duty that weekend and I don't want my sleep disturbing." First the Venkeys, then SkyTV and the press and now it seems to me that even Plod is taking orders from the Fat Controller these days.

Is that £6 each? If so nobody's getting fat on either side.

Garden fronted terrace! Such decadance. Surely that's against your socialist principles?

Whoevers under the brolly can't see that or they'd be running.

Not sure I should add this here but Paul Round's wife Sue passed away this week after a long illness. Very sad.

I hope they wash their hands thoroughly before preparing any food I might eat.

Must say I've heard similar reports.