UNTIL recently the Waggon and Horses was essentially a good village pub that served adequate pub meals and had the added attraction of a bowling green at the rear.

It remains a good local with recommended cask ales and still has the green. However, much more emphasis has been put on the food.

Friends of ours who enjoy good, wholesome fare visited the restaurant and rated it "excellent", so we decided to try for ourselves.

On the evening of our visit the welcome was warmer than we had experienced when we ate there occasionally some years ago.

The restaurant is in the small front room which has no pretensions to being anything other than a pub parlour.

We were served with speed and courtesy by the man who was also in attendance behind the bar.

Neither the menu nor the wine list is extensive, but the fare is well chosen. Traditional dishes featured strongly, but I should guess that they all would have those little refinements in presentation that make a meal special. Ours did.

A Vindaloo Curry was about as exotic as the fare got, but we chose elsewhere from a list of popular starters.

My Pate of chicken, bacon and orange (£2.95) served with a Cumberland sauce and toast was among the best I have had.

My husband had a succulent Bury black pudding (£2.85) which came with a warm and creamy wholegrain mustard sauce.

There were proper chips as well as new potatoes and three good vegetables with our main courses.

I had a Chicken Special at £.7.75, a sizeable fillet of chicken stuffed with garlic and mushrooms and wrapped in bacon.

A pyramid of five lamb cutlets (£7.95) sprinkled with herbs was my husband's choice. Being of such good quality, the chops were soon reduced to bones.

There were also the usual steak dishes and other grills.

The small list of sweets at the remarkably generous price of £1.50 each included such favourites as Death by Chocolate and Sticky Toffee Pudding. But my husband chose the Baked Alaska.

He thoroughly enjoyed this sweet which I have not seen on a menu for very many years. The man who served us confessed that he had eaten three of them since the batch arrived. My husband's coffee was up to the restaurant's high standards.

You may feel limited by the wine list, but you will not carp at the prices. A bottle of house wine can be had for a mere £5.99.

A Rioja red, not on the list, was commended to us and proved good value at £.7.99.

Our total food and drink bill was £32.24, which presented the best value for money we have enjoyed for some time, including as it did two pre-dinner aperitifs.

Children are welcomed and the restaurant will serve smaller portions of dishes like scampi for them.

There is also a special price for Sunday lunch for children.

Disabled diners should find access reasonable, the restaurant being at carpark lever. And there is plenty of room at tables for a wheelchair.

There is always a choice of vegetarian meals on the list of chef's specials.

Pool and darts are played at the pub, but they are in another room and not intrusive.

There is adequate parking at the front and side of the pub.

Hawkshaw is on the main road between Bolton and Ramsbottom. Doreen Crowther

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