Stewart Ross: My Yorkshire

What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

I must have been about two or three years old – I was born in York in 1962 – and we’d just moved to Leeds. It was Christmas time, and my younger brother, Pete, was still a nipper in his pushchair. I can vividly remember the crowds, the Christmas lights and the feeling of expectation in the air.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why?

Upper Wharfedale and Upper Wensleydale, in equal measure. The scenery in both is just spectacular and it makes you believe totally in God’s own country. Who could fail to be impressed with Mother Nature in places like these?

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

Going for a really good long walk in the Dales and finding an unspoilt pub at the end of it, sitting outside with a beer or two in the sunshine, and putting the world to rights.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

Dentdale is up in the far north-west of the county and as near as dammit in Cumbria, which is another place I love. But if you stand in the graveyard of St Andrew’s church, and look around you, well, it’s simply breathtaking. There’s a long set of wrought-iron railings which seem to curve into the distance, and I could stand there entranced for hours. There are some lovely old houses, and two rather good pubs, The Sun Inn and The George and Dragon.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

I was lucky enough to have met the legendary Freddie Trueman and I found him – as everyone did – to be a unique character, and a real gentleman. I was also involved with a beer festival which was opened by another legend, the wonderful Dickie Bird. He was a proper trouper, and it was a case of put him in front of a microphone, wind him up, and watch him go. He was unstoppable, and the drinkers all loved him. Dickie doesn’t drink beer – although he likes a glass of claret – but he was sporting enough to hold a pint to his lips for the photographers.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

Our local lad, Mr Patrick Stewart, who has done the lot, from the classics with the RSC, to Star Trek, from a one-man theatre show to hit movies. I think that we’d get on rather well, but I could expect a bit of stick from my wife, Laura, if she wasn’t invited as well, because she adores the man.

If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem, what would it be?

It’s not exactly hiddden, but I just love Staithes – the old streets curving down to the sea, the air, the view over the water, everything about it. I’m not so sure that I like it in season because it does get like a Yorkshire theme park, and rather crowded. In autumn, it’s perfect. A friend of mine, owns the pub there, the Royal George.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The scenery, everything from coast to Dales, from Wolds to the river waters and the people. I believe that Yorkshiremen have strength of character and that we are not all brusque, dour and grumpy old souls, although there are some that are. We are rather maligned in that respect. I think that under a pretty tough skin there’s much more sensitivity than you’d first suspect.

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

I have to drop my voice here and whisper that I support Arsenal. I have done since they won the double in 1971. But I do look out for the local rugby and cricket results, and if fishing counts as a sport, I’m a keen fly fisherman – for brown trout – and I love being on the Wharfe at either Addingham or Middleton. It’s a very good stretch and a lovely way to wind down.

Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?

The Swan at Addingham is a lovely place, still very traditional, with little nooks and crannies and snugs and things. It’s also got an old-fashioned range and in the winter, when it is glowing away, it’s a lovely place to park yourself. I find that whenever I’m in a pub, I’m looking at what the drinkers are ordering. It all helps the market research for what we’ll be brewing next. Well, that’s my excuse for having another, at any rate!

Do you have a favourite food shop?

My wife, Laura, is the one who shops and also cooks, and she tends to go to Booths in Ilkley, although I know that she supports a lot of the smaller independents as well, which is as it should be. We use Lishman’s, the award-winning butchers, a lot as well.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

Better in a lot of ways – it’s far cleaner now, and many of the city centres, like those in Leeds and Sheffield, have been completely revitalised. They have a spirit and they’re so alive. And in our own business there are now a lot more micro outfits, producing some really memorable ales, and that’s all to the good. It is, however, scandalous that Tetley’s have abandoned Leeds. Tetley Ales were once synonymous with that city and with Yorkshire – the famous jolly huntsman logo was everywhere. And they just upped sticks and left. Where’s the loyalty in that? Appalling.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

William Wilberforce gets my vote. He must have been quite a man – determined, with principles, and ahead of his time. I haven’t got a lot of time for politicians in general, but Wilberforce, the man from Hull who stuck to his guns, was one in a million, and he changed the way the world thinks.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

I’ll say so. I’m proud to be part of a slowly-reviving industry and prouder still to have put something back. The old Ilkley Brewery Company ceased trading in the 1920s when it was gobbled up by another firm. To bring it back to life again is rather special.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

I’ve got a soft spot for Kaiser Chiefs, and Laura and I collect art work by a local painter, Lucia Smith. We have a few of her landscapes which are really rather beautiful, and everyone who comes to the house admires them. She works in acrylics and watercolours.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

They’d have to be taken to Aysgarth or to Kettlewell because to me that is the beating heart of the Dales. If you had to bottle Yorkshire and sell it over the counter, it would smell of Essence of Aysgarth.