I stayed together with friends in the 3 Peaks Bunkhouse, which is located at the back of the Golden Lion Hotel. The Hotel's pub was recommended to us by the Bunkhouse's owners as a convenient place to have a meal after the whole day of walking. We thought it was fantastic that we didn't have to worry about driving somewhere else after completing The Three Peaks Challenge. We were really looking forward to a relaxing evening in a local pub.

We decided to give the pub a try a night before the walk. We made it there for approx 8pm (Friday). We had a look around, then concentrated on the menu displayed above the bar. We checked whether they were still serving food and they were. We made our choices, but then a staff member approached us and informed us that we could only choose from the carvery (limited by that time). We asked if one of our party could have a veggie burger (included on the black board, but not part of the carvery) as he was a vegetarian and there was no vegetarian option on the carvery. The staff member double checked with the kitchen and said that it was not a problem. We paid for the meals at the bar, received tickets and headed off for the carvery.

The choice on the carvery, size of our portions and quality of the food were very average for the price paid (just under £9 pp). The two of us, who chose carvery, agreed that our meals were overpriced. The 3rd person had much worse experience. The veggie burger arrived surprisingly quickly. The meal again didn't look particularly impressive for the price paid. Our friend took a bite, looked underneath the bun and...he nearly spitted the food out of his mouth! The bun was covered with mould! He immediately took the meal to the bar, where he was told that 'fresh bread was delivered this moring'. He was offered a replacement meal, but he decided not to take a risk and asked of a refund. He ended up eating a bag of peanuts, while the two us were finishing our meals.

The beer served in the pub was fine (however, my pint of Landlord was served in a Black Sheep glass, which I found really annoying). The waiting on staff were two grumpy lads, looking less than 16.

After having such a bad experience with food and customer service at The Golden Lion Hotel, we decided on the following day to drive (despite of walking all day) all the way to Settle to a lovely pub, which we knew from our previous visit to Yorkshire Dales. We were served hearty portions of tasty meals for the same price. The staff was very attentive and my real ale was served professionally.