The humble sticky toffee pudding is one of the nation’s favourite desserts. The delicious dessert made up of a moist sponge cake, chopped dates and a toffee sauce is everything you want in a pud – and it seems its humble beginnings began in a small pub in Yorkshire.
The place of origin for the sticky toffee pudding is a highly contested debate, but one with the oldest claim is The Gait Inn in Millington, East Yorkshire. It’s said that the landlady at the time, put the pudding on the menu before anyone else’s claim back in 1907. It’s the oldest claim, and if you ask us, we believe it, but unfortunately its origins have been lost.
Millington is a quaint little village hidden in the Yorkshire Wolds near the market town of Pocklington and is home to the stunning little pub that is said to have invented the sticky toffee pudding dessert. The old pub still stands in the same spot with the same name – although the current owners don’t know much about the history, but do serve their own version of the dessert, which we can attest it bloomin’ brilliant.
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They also serve up a range of pub grub classics – and we went for a visit and had a delicious pie and chips and a lasagna, which we chased down with a pint of Black Sheep and a cider.
If the pub is or isn’t the place of origin for the sticky toffee pudding, it is still worth a visit. It’s a proper old fasioned pub with classic furnishings, wood beams and a roaring fire along with a central bar area. The perfect place to visit after a walk in the wonderful Millington Woods. It’s a dog-friendly pub as well, which is always a plus as we like to take our pooch everywhere with us.
Other claims to the invention of the sticky toffee pudding include Sharrow Bay hotel in the Lake District, which is said to have put it on the menu back in the 1970s by Francis Coulson and Robert Lee. The food critic Simon Hopkinson said Coulson told him he received the recipe from a Patricia Martin of Claughton in Lancashire, and that Martin had received it from Canadian air force officers who lodged at her hotel during the Second World War. Aldo, Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire (1960s).
Check out our visit to The Gait Inn, Millington below:
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