ONE aspect of our changing High Streets is the growing number of "ghost" bank premises.
The often-grand buildings that were once the anchors that oiled the commercial engines of our town centres with cash and friendly bank managers are now for the most part empty shells.
New uses have been found for some but too many struggle to find a new function – the Barclays branches at Northallerton, Stokesley and Richmond spring to mind.
But happily there is hope, for one, the former HSBC branch in Leyburn, after something of a false start.
The Grasshobbler in Leyburn in the former HSBC bank building (Image: Malcolm Warne)
Closed in 2017, it was initially converted into flats with a Costa Coffee on the ground floor.
But given that Leyburn's not exactly short of places selling various forms of hot beverage, and I suspect that there aren't many Dalesfolk wedded to the idea of taking small buckets of frothy, sugary slop for a walk, it perhaps wasn't surprising when that closed too.
Then earlier this year Stephen and Milly Bennett, who also own the famous Cover Bridge Inn down the road at East Witton, came up with a new plan for the former Costa part of the building – a small plates restaurant and cocktail bar.
Seems like a brave idea in Leyburn but tapas is everywhere these days – as last week’s review found in Bishop Auckland.
We felt a bit nervous approaching the handsome, stone-dressed building in, as you would expect, a prime position in the middle of the town.
Leyburn was almost deserted early on a midweek early evening.
We had visions of entering a cavernous old banking hall and sitting in splendid isolation.
Inside the Grasshobbler in Leyburn (Image: Malcolm Warne)
But we found ourselves in a surprisingly intimate space and while it wasn’t packed there were a few folk in, some eating and some just having a drink, and more arrived later.
Apart from the high ceiling there were few clues to its previous function.
There’s a sparkly-lit bar and about a dozen tables.
The dominant colour is what I imagine would be described on a posh paint chart as smoking jacket green. It's pretty cool for Leyburn.
Inside the Grasshobbler in Leyburn (Image: Malcolm Warne)
The menu is long on wines, beers and exotic cocktails and there’s a good selection of small plates (15) plus sharing boards – charcuterie, cheese and a mix of the two ranging in price between £17 and £23.
Individual small plates range from £7 for a warm beetroot salad to £16 for a rump steak which stretches the concept of small plates a bit but we imagined it’s probably not a massive steak at that price. The majority of dishes were around the £8-9 mark.
We were advised by our helpful and chatty waitress that five or six would make a meal for the two of us so we went for five as a concession to our collective conviction to rein it in a bit after a long and calorific holiday.
And five turned out to be just fine.
We opted for some creamy and garlicky hummus (£2) to go with our rosemary and seasalt focaccia (£7) which was the first thing to arrive at our table.
The prawns at the Grasshobbler in their gentle sauce (Image: Malcolm Warne)
Then came the chilli and garlic king prawns (£8.50) – plump, juicy, well worthy of the ‘king’ description size-wise and bathed in rather gentle chilli and garlic sauce.
Having spent an extended period in Spain recently we’d been used to rather more ballsy, power-packed chilli and garlic prawns but perhaps this more refined take on the Iberian classic works better here.
The fishcakes (Image: Malcolm Warne)
Then came some really good salmon fishcakes (£9.50) with a Thai sweet chilli sauce, packed with fish and surprisingly light for something deep-fried.
The charred tenderstem broccoli (£7) came with a gently piquant salsa verde, pine nuts and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
Finally, some chicken tikka skewers (£8.50) with a cucumber and mint raita were a delicious finale.
The chicken tikka skewers (Image: Malcolm Warne)
Everything we ate was beautifully cooked, using high quality ingredients and attractively presented. All-round a very lovely experience.
Our quibbles were minor. We could have done without the very sad-looking pot plant on the window ledge by our table which seemed to be in desperate need of water.
The receptacle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar which came with the focaccia was too deep, so that you had to dip your chunk of bread right to the bottom of the pot to get some of the vinegar. Which meant the bread soaked up too much oil.
Picky, I know, but a shallower dish would work better.
These are things the Grasshobbler can easily fix.
They can’t do anything about the two unisex toilet cubicles accessed directly from the bar/dining area.
I might be accused of being a bit of a wuss about this but I felt just a little uncomfortable conducting my ablutions with just a single door and a couple of feet between me and my fellow drinkers and diners. Maybe they did too.
The bill, with a couple of glasses of Pecorino white wine, was an eminently reasonable £52.50.
Read more
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The Grasshobbler
7 High Street, Leyburn DL8 5AQ
Tel: 01969-368347
Web: thegrasshobbler.com
Open: 1pm–10.30pm Tuesday to Friday and noon–10.30pm on Saturday. Last food orders 9pm.
Ratings (out of ten):
Food quality 10
Service 9
Surroundings 8
Value 8