The Rat Inn

A Hill Above the Valley

The road to Anick climbs out of Hexham and deposits you on a ridge with open views across the Tyne Valley — a setting that makes the destination feel earned. Rural Northumberland has a particular category of pub that predates the gastropub era by centuries: the drovers' inn, built to serve working travellers and livestock traders moving across the uplands. The Rat Inn is one of the surviving examples, an 18th-century building that has been thoughtfully revamped without erasing the character that makes such places worth visiting in the first place. The atmospheric bar, the quirky collected objects on the walls, the sense that this is a pub that local people actually use — these are not designed effects. They are what happens when a place is run with a clear understanding of what it should be.

The Ale Programme and the Drinking Culture of Rural Northumberland

The North of England has developed one of the country's most active microbrewery scenes over the past two decades, and rural Northumberland sits at the edge of that movement. Pubs in this part of the country increasingly function as distribution points for small regional producers who lack the volume to reach urban markets. At The Rat Inn, up to six ales from North Country microbreweries rotate on tap at any given time , a number that places it comfortably above the token-regional-ale approach common at gastro-leaning rural pubs. The selection changes with availability, which means the experience of drinking here is genuinely tied to what local producers are releasing. For context, bars with serious regional ale programmes in British cities , Bramble in Edinburgh and Schofield's in Manchester among them , tend to fix their credibility through either depth of range or rotating curation. The Rat Inn operates on the latter model, using geography and season as its editorial logic.

Wine list takes a similarly considered approach for its size. A dozen selections are available by the glass, personally chosen rather than pulled from a bulk supplier list. For a rural pub at this scale, that level of glass-pour range indicates a kitchen and front-of-house operation that takes the full drinking experience seriously, not just the ale side of it. Venues like 69 Colebrooke Row in London or Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu build their identity around programmatic precision in drinks. The Rat Inn's identity is grounded instead in place and produce , which is a different, and in this context more honest, form of curation.

The Kitchen's Argument for Northumbrian Provenance

British pub cooking occupies a wide spectrum, from reheated convenience food to cooking that would hold its own in a mid-market city restaurant. The Rat Inn sits clearly in the upper portion of that range, with a kitchen whose commitment to local sourcing is specific enough to be verifiable: a board in the pub lists the farms and herds that supply its meat. This is not unusual among destination dining pubs in the UK, but the specificity matters. Named-farm sourcing in a pub context signals a supply relationship built over time, not a seasonal marketing claim.

The seasonal menu puts weight on steaks, sold by weight and served with the pub's own steak sauce , a format that keeps the kitchen's sourcing argument front and centre. The daily specials list extends the range considerably, running to dishes such as pork and black pudding terrine and griddled sea bass with roasted cauliflower, lemon and caper butter. Desserts show similar craft: Basque cheesecake, Manchester tart, and a rhubarb crumble with homemade ice cream have all appeared on the rotation. The kitchen reads as one that takes both its ingredients and its technique seriously without positioning itself as a fine-dining destination , a balance that is harder to maintain than it looks.

One reader who lives locally summarised the offer with useful directness: "Great food, great atmosphere, proper pub." That compression of priorities , food first, atmosphere second, pub identity confirmed , captures the appeal accurately. This is not a dining room that happens to have a bar. It is a pub that happens to cook well.

Where It Sits in the Broader Picture

The gastropub category in the UK has fragmented over the past decade. One tier has moved upward toward destination-restaurant pricing and tasting-menu formats, effectively abandoning pub identity. A second tier has remained pub-first but allowed the kitchen to become an afterthought. The more interesting properties occupy the middle ground: genuine pubs with kitchens that apply real skill to regional ingredients, priced and formatted as places where a local might drink on a Tuesday and a visiting couple might eat well on a Saturday. The Rat Inn belongs to that third category, and the Northumberland setting gives it a distinct identity within it.

For comparison, bars like Mojo Leeds in Leeds or Dear Friend Bar in Dartmouth each build identity around a specific drinks vision that defines the experience from the first interaction. The Rat Inn's equivalent defining element is geography , the Tyne Valley views from the hill, the Northumbrian farms named on the board, the North Country ales on tap. The drinks and food are expressions of place rather than expressions of a programme, which is a coherent and defensible position for a rural inn of this age.

Planning a Visit

The Rat Inn is at Anick, Hexham NE46 4LN , a short drive from Hexham town centre, which is itself accessible by rail on the Newcastle to Carlisle line. The journey from Hexham into Anick is brief but requires a vehicle or taxi; the inn is not walkable from town. Given the kitchen's emphasis on daily specials, visiting on a day when the specials board has been freshly written rewards the effort of the drive. Hours and booking details are not confirmed in publicly available data, so contacting the venue directly before a first visit is the practical approach. For a fuller picture of what Anick and its surroundings offer, our full Anick restaurants guide, Anick bars guide, Anick hotels guide, Anick wineries guide, and Anick experiences guide cover the wider options in the area.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Rat Inn more low-key or high-energy?

Firmly low-key. The atmosphere is that of a working local pub , atmospheric bar, collected objects on the walls, regulars who drink there habitually. The cooking raises the offer above a standard village local, but the energy and format remain rooted in pub culture rather than restaurant culture. It sits closer to Bar Kismet in Halifax in terms of a quietly confident local identity than to a high-volume urban bar. Price and format both signal an unpretentious night out rather than a destination occasion.

What do regulars order at The Rat Inn?

The seasonal menu centres on steaks sold by weight and served with the pub's own steak sauce, drawing on named Northumbrian farms and herds. Beyond that, the daily specials board is the kitchen's more expressive register, offering dishes that rotate with ingredient availability , pork and black pudding terrine and griddled sea bass have both appeared. The ales from North Country microbreweries are the obvious drinking choice, with up to six on tap at any time.

What is the standout thing about The Rat Inn?

The combination of a genuinely atmospheric 18th-century drovers' inn setting, a kitchen that names its Northumbrian suppliers on a board in the pub, and a rotating selection of North Country microbrewery ales. In a part of England where rural pubs often coast on scenery alone, the kitchen's seriousness about provenance , backed by reader recognition for its food and atmosphere , gives The Rat Inn a clear identity. The Tyne Valley views from the hill are a material part of the experience too.