The Hare and Hounds, Hebden Bridge: Yorkshire pub’s challenge to devour 42 ounce mixed grill once completed by YouTuber Beard Meats Food

James Fielden and his family leased the Hebden Bridge pub Hare and Hounds in October 2020 and the industry was struggling at the time due to Covid.

He was looking for a way to put a spotlight on the pub and generate attention for its social media. After noticing the popularity of food challenges on TikTok, he was inspired to set one up for the pub.

Historically, Yorkshire pubs served a mixed grill, so Mr Fielden decided to combine the two together; the chef created the King of all mixed grills.

The feast, which he named The Animal, is a 42 ounce mixed grill which consists of a 12 ounce Cumberland sausage ring, a 10 ounce gammon, a 10 ounce rib eye steak and 10 ounce chicken breast. Accompanying the meats are two kilograms of thick skin on fries, large onion rings, tomatoes, flat bread mushrooms and a portion of salad.

Mr Fielden, who grew up in Hebden Bridge, posted flyers and social media posts advertising the challenge; if the visitors can eat it all themselves in one sitting, they will get the meal for free and they will receive a t-shirt and a few other merchandise. There is no time limit to the challenge.

The challenge caught the attention of YouTube star Beard Meats Food who has nearly five million subscribers on his channel.

“I was out in the car park and got a phone call from a guy who said I’ve heard about this Animal mixed grill you’re doing, I’m really interested in coming to do it and doing some filming,” Mr Fielden said.

“To start with, I thought it was someone messing about, I never heard of Beard Meats Food before and I nearly turned him down.

“I went with it and arranged for him to come along. He was an absolutely lovely guy, he was so humble and quite a small guy which is remarkable for what he does.”

He completed the challenge and uploaded the video to his channel. It garnered 2.3 million views which helped boost the pub’s social media presence.

“He did his usual tagline at the end: ‘can I see the dessert menu’, had the dessert as well and edited his videos himself and put it on YouTube,” Mr Fielden said.

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“It’s got a ridiculous amount of views. That really helped with what we were trying to achieve. It boosted our reach on social media.

“We’ve now got around 50,000 followers on Facebook and 50,000 followers on Instagram; for a little tiny country pub, it’s crazy.”

Another YouTuber, Lea Shutkever, who has 565,000 subscribers on her channel attempted the challenge a year later. Her video was viewed 252,000 times.

“She wanted to come along and try and beat Be at Meats Food’s time on the challenge,” Mr Fielden said.

“She put together her own video, she completed the challenge, though she didn’t beat his time. What a lovely woman she was. She looked in pain afterwards.

“That went on her YouTube channel and got loads of hits and really helped us. Off the back of that, we got more people [approaching us] who wanted to do the challenge.”

When discussing why his food challenge became so popular, Mr Fielden said: “Now in the modern era of social media such as TikTok, a lot of people spend a lot of time scrolling on their phones and anything that’s different and of interest is popular.

“These food eating challenges have come out of nowhere. People are just amazed; how can one human being put nearly six or seven kilograms of food into them, it’s crazy.”

The ingredients for the mixed grill are all locally sourced.

“To cook it and put it together, it consumes half the kitchen; there’s so much to do, so many different things to cook that it was becoming a bit of an issue,” Mr Fielden said.

“We brought it back on and said you can still do [the challenge] but it would be by pre-order with advance notice and a deposit.

“We’ve got an award-winning butcher down in Hebden Bridge, a mile away from us, called Dan Gibbon.

“He’s a young lad and his meats are outstanding; all the meats in the pub, we get from him. It’s all locally sourced.”