Bishops' Mill, Walkergate, Durham

Feb 1 2009 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

Telephone: 0191-370 8510
Rating: 14/20

ME and the missus had a bit of bother with our latest scran.

We had planned to set off into the countryside to sample the food at a little pub we’d had recommended to us.

The boozer — in County Durham — was highly praised by friends of ours who have, in the past, put us on to some great little pubs.

And I can see why they liked it. It is small, looks welcoming from the outside and serves a carvery on a Sunday.

Mrs E and I ordered our drinks at the bar and sat down in the restaurant and waited, and waited . . . for 20 minutes before a waitress came to take our order. Eventually, she arrived, only to tell us that we should have just gone straight to the carvery.

However, we were keen to order some starters first, but she said she wasn’t sure if they were available on Sundays and set off to ask the chef.

Mrs Eats and I looked at each other with complete bemusement . . . the tables were set with cutlery for three courses and a menu listing all the starters was on every table. There was also a chalk board nearby which was advertising the starter of the day! Then we noticed that, as our tardy waitress set off on her pointless quest, she was constantly coughing into her hand without a handkerchief. Well, that was enough for me and Mrs E!

We downed our drinks and headed off towards Durham, where we came across the modern-looking Bishops’ Mill near the town’s Gala Theatre.

We were both very hungry by now and knew The Bishops’ Mill — a Wetherspoon’s pub — would provide what we were after without any fuss or hassle.

Inside, we found it very large and spacious and split up into three areas which all seemed to have their own character.

It also has a number of open flame fires which, as well as warming us up, also proved very welcoming.

Like most Wetherspoon pubs, The Bishops’ Mill serves a full menu all day and, on Sundays, has a Sunday lunch deal where you have a choice of chicken, lamb, beef or a vegetarian option with a drink for £6.50, which we both agreed was pretty good value.

But, before we made our main course decision, there was the starters issue to sort out. And there was no “we might serve them today, we might not” going on here!

Spoilt for choice, we opted for a “combo sharer” for £8.99, which consisted of chicken wings, breaded mushrooms, roasted garlic and lemon mayonnaise dip, spicy coated king prawns, sweet chilli dipping sauce, beer-battered whole onion rings and chips. This was more like it!

Ravenous, we polished the lot off in no time and, soon after, our main courses arrived. She Who Must Be Fed had opted for beef, while I plumped for chicken.

Both meals came with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing balls, peas and broccoli. And very nice it was too. My only complaint being that the stuffing balls were a little dry.

The Bishops’ Mill wasn’t the nice country pub we had set out to find but what we got was just the ticket.