Sebby’s, Pocklington: The former estate agent serving up delicious wood-fired pizzas in Yorkshire

My late mother was evacuated to Bishop Wilton in the war and the farming family she stayed with there later retired to Pock and one of those gorgeous, big Victorian houses opposite the rugby ground on Percy Road.

Dusty summer sunlight streaming through the sash windows and three coal fires blazing come winter.

They maintained a smallholding in the long, walled kitchen garden. We’d visit several times a year – always on a Sunday - and, for city kids, it felt like a proper taste of the country.

We’d chase chickens, pick apples, pull tatties, go for a walk and then eat a massive farmhouse dinner with Yorkshires the size of bread bins before dozing on the drive back to Hull.

The mere mention of Pock consequently evokes very fond, bucolic, childhood memories.

Today, I don’t visit as much as I’d like.

The occasional gig at the Arts Centre is about the only time I’m in town. And there’s hardly ever a chicken to chase at them.

I would go more often but one of the reasons I don’t is there are so few decent places to eat and drink.

There are a couple of passable cafes and I quite like the Market Tap, but there’s otherwise nothing to really get stuck into.

It’s a bit like Driffield; another affluent, decent-sized East Riding town that’s punching well below its culinary weight.

A delight, then, to discover Sebby’s.

Young Seb Murgatroyd has overcome years of people doing Snagglepuss impersonations at the mention of his name (something I must admit I immediately did) to open his first restaurant in the old bank on the main drag through town.

From York via London, the former estate agent and photography student has been around doing various jobs with varying degrees of satisfaction.

Then he got himself a training in wood-fired pizza making and opened the restaurant that bears his name in February this year.

Considering he has no particular experience in catering, he’s doing marvellously well and me and my kids ate heartily with him and his dangerously enthusiastic young staff last week.

The menu contains mainly pizza and pizza-adjacent choices and is relatively brief, yet perfectly effective.

There isn’t really anything on offer that will surprise - it’s all stuff you’ve seen plenty of times before – but there is nothing you won’t want to order, which is always preferable to an over-long, under-enticing bill of fayre.

An opening bruschetta could have done with a bigger hit of garlic or maybe a twist of salt, but the freshness of the tomatoes more than made up for any lack of savoury punch.

A bowl of Padron peppers did their stuff and caused an inevitable argument over who got the last one.

The deli platter is a solid choice for anyone not in the mood for pizza. Decent meats, well-kept cheeses and a pleasing selection of crackers and accompaniments mean that you can properly fill your face without overdosing on dough.

The pizzas, though, are where it’s really at. There’s a choice of ten. Some appeared excessively loaded for my liking.

We tend to go on holiday to Italy most years, and if we there tried to order anything like the Sebby’s rustica pizza – 13 listed toppings - we’d definitely be greeted by waiting staff with either dismissive snorts or, quite possibly, light violence.

The pizzas when they arrived, though, were rather more demure than the menu might have you believe.

Maybe the emphasis on named ingredients is simply a case of ensuring clarity for our allergic chums.

Judging by the amount of times we were asked about allergies (I counted five between being seated and ordering) it’s a Sebby’s obsession.

As to the pizzas we ordered, they all had great bases – chewy yet crunchy with a hint of semolina flour – and just the right amount of topping.

All are served with fior di latte mozzarella. I was genuinely interested to learn this is because it’s made with cow’s milk and expresses less moisture when cooked.

So I’ll be switching to that to avoid soggy bases when home-pizzaring in future.

You’ll have your own favourite pizza so there’s little need to run through all the familiar names but, if you are looking for a recommendation, I really enjoyed the padana – pecorino, fior di latte and goats cheese with caramelised onions, spinach and garlic. Not as cheesy as I feared and pleasantly sweet and sticky.

The kids both went for their usual stupidly spicy choices – nduja and the ‘fusion’ - so I’ve no idea what they tasted like as I refuse to expose myself to the type of chilli heat they both seem to have inherited a predilection for from elsewhere in my family.

Their loud moans of satisfaction would suggest they enjoyed them, though.

Seb ‘Heavens To’ Murgatroyd (sorry) is doing exactly the right thing and keeping it simple.

He takes good care of the ingredients and runs his debut restaurant with vigour and vim. His inexperience doesn’t show but his enthusiasm certainly does.

I can’t think it’ll be long before Seb and his trusted team are looking for another small East Riding town in which to open a second branch of Sebby’s. Driffield, I reckon, may soon be getting a resultant culinary leg-up.

Desserts at Sebby’s are prepared locally but not in-house, and we were too stuffed to try them.

So – should you plump for a sweet - your bill may come in slightly more expensive than ours did for three starters, three pizzas, some chips and a couple of drinks each - £93.

Not excessive these days and we all boxed up half a pizza each as the portions were welcomely hearty.

So that price also bought us cold pizza for breakfast. Second only to cold curry in the pantheon of takeaway leftovers for breakfast.

Welcome 5/5

Food 4/5

Atmosphere 4/5

Prices 4/5

Sebbys, 31 Market Place, Pocklington, YO42 2AS www.sebbys.co.uk