I visited a dog-friendly pub in 'serene' village near Leeds and shared a Sunday roast

The Fox at Walton offers a shared Sunday Lunch option for when you want to enjoy a weekend meal with friends and family so I went to try it out.

The village of Walton is quiet on Sundays. It’s peaceful, serene, and slow moving. Yet, nestled in the area is The Fox at Walton, a pub bustling with customers enjoying drinks and food galore.

A unique feature of The Fox at Walton is that it is a dog-friendly pub which meant our dog had an instant invite to come along. The staff were more than accommodating and found a table with space for him to lie down and a bowl of water to quench his thirst. Fellow guests also offered him strokes which suited him just fine.

It was a bit difficult for our dog to fully settle due to the amount of inevitable distractions in a pub including the smell of all his favourite foods. Sometimes I’d look down, see his nose twitch in interest and I’d feel a twinge of guilt for not sharing my food. Therefore, I’d say the decision to bring your dog should depend on their specific temperament. This is the perfect pub for older dogs who are easily tired and happy to laze, but it’s not ideal for excitable pups with never-ending energy.

We began our meal with our drinks: a Palm Lash cocktail and a Hawkstone Lager (also known as the beer brewed by Jeremy Clarkson). Both offered bold tastes with fruit-fuelled punches. For the Palm Lash, the basil and coconut infused rum dominated, creating a love it or hate it flavour which I luckily loved. Meanwhile, the Hawkstone Lager had a light citrusy taste and plenty of hops. Both were refreshing and matched well with the food to come.

Onto the mains, we opted to share a Sunday Roast between two which starts at £18 per person. The Fox at Walton offers a family style lunch service where your meal is served on a sharing platter for you to divide between yourselves. It’s easy to order - simply choose what meats you want to order, and it’ll arrive in due course alongside core roast favourites such as buttery mash, cauliflower cheese, glazed carrots, stuffing, and more. There’s an option to have meals separately but I personally found the shared platter experience made dining more enjoyable. Rather than quietly tucking into our own portions, the food became the subject of conversation as we marvelled at each taste and negotiated portion sizes.

On the plate itself, you’ll see supersized Yorkshire puddings asserting that yes, puddings belong in a roast. These were cooked wonderfully - crunchy, tender, and chewy. The next largest item on the plate was the chicken. A blend of bone and breast, this was soft and succulent, made exactly how chicken should be. Portions of the roast extras - the mash, the stuffing, the roasties, were a bit small for my liking and I found myself cutting these up into tiny chunks just so they could last longer. However, they still tasted fantastic. Ultimately, the main meal was a comforting delight.

A good roast dinner should fill you up and make you want to curl up on your sofa and slug out afterwards. But before we could go home, we had to try dessert. In the theme of sharing, we decided to try an option vaguely labelled on the menu as “chocolate” with no further description beyond “more chocolate…”. We speculated what may arrive, imagining a chocolate explosion with profiteroles, cake, sprinkles, and more. The result was something tamer and more upmarket - a mousse brownie hybrid with ice cream. However, though it didn’t match out wild imaginings, the dessert was delicious. The white, milk, and dark chocolate flavours created a mix of sweetness and richness that was lovely to indulge in. This was a soft dessert perfect to divide between two after our filling main.

Ultimately, The Fox at Walton provides outstanding service and outstanding food. It’s difficult to get a Sunday Roast exactly right as we all like ours so differently, however The Fox at Walton treated us well. It provided not only a warm and nourishing Sunday Lunch but a yummy dessert also, exciting drinks, and a wonderful atmosphere. All in all, this is a fantastic place for the family.