Lindsay and the Oldest Hostelry Print
Old Bridge Inn

Enthusiastic and hard working describe Lindsay Eaton-Walker to a tee.

The 46-year-old mother of two runs the Old Bridge Inn at Ripponden - thought to be Yorkshire's oldest hostelry with her husband, Tim.

The inn has been in Lindsay's family for the past 40 years, and the couple took over two years ago.

While Tim is known for keeping a good cellar he only buys beer from independent brewers Lindsay is known for her food. The pub offers food most evenings and lunchtimes and is mentioned in several good pub guides. The latest is Les Routiers' first guide to pub grub, which came out last month. Lindsay discovered her passion for cooking by chance. Art was the love of her life but when she became disillusioned, her uncle Ian Beaumont, who owned the Bridge for 30-plus years, suggested she help in his Over The Bridge restaurant. The rest is history.

The pub is unique in many ways, one being that it doesn't have a pub sign hanging above its door. "It's always been a major stopping off point for traders and travellers on the trans-Pennine route, and until recent years we were led to believe it dated back to 1313 AD. But Tim went to Wakefield archives to do research and managed to trace it back to 1307. It's always been a hostelry, but in those days they didn't have Timothy Taylors," says Lindsay, who lives in Barkisland with Tim and children, 22-year-old Carly and 10-year-old Sam.