Thornton Marsh Mill Tavern restaurant review: Feast for five was worth every penny and made up for no booking rule

What’s worse is the thought of hop-footing back home and having to switch the oven on, unprepared, at 5pm on a Sunday.

But thankfully, taking the risk at Thornton’s Marsh Mill Tavern was one worth taking.

In the shadows of the historic Marsh Mill, the Manchester based Joseph Holt brewery pub is well known locally for it’s Sunday carveries as well as its over-indulgent looking desserts.

The car park was overflowing and I was so convinced we wouldn’t be seated that I went in alone to check it out first.

Luckily, the man on the front desk directed me to the conservatory area and to a spacious table in the window with the family following shortly after, once a parking space had been found.

It was busy and they were queuing for the carvery and to be honest we weren’t quite sure if it was table service or order at the bar. There weren’t any kids menus either so we went in search to find out what to do.

Spotting the A3 sheets with the kid’s menus on the desk at the front, we grabbed a couple and headed for the bar for some drinks.

The pub proudly services a wide selection of international award-winning lagers and ales as well as hand-picked wines. We tried one of Joseph Holts own brews – Crystal lager.

Tasting lager is a bit lost on me (I honestly can’t tell the difference) but this one was particularly light and fresh. It has won awards as well.

It was Sunday so it was the carveries for hubby and I. Eldest lad chose the lightly seasoned classic beefburger, lightly seasoned and added in the cheese sauce and bacon for an extra £1.25. It came with skinny fries and was a mouth-watering feast of meal.

Still opting for the children’s menu, middle child chose sausage, creamy mash and beans and our youngest went for the battered cod, chips and beans. Both were sizeable portions, which was a bonus because I wonder how long a children’s menu will fill their appetites (they’re 12 and 11!) but it’s always a safe bet. Ice-cream for dessert was included in the price but with Nutella Brownie and cookie dough tart on the main dessert menu… there was little we could do.

The queue for the carvery had died down enough to make a dash for it and they were just re-filling the vegetable choices.

Roast ham, beef and turkey were the choice of meats – beautifully tender, particularly the beef and served with Yorkshire Pudding.

Red cabbage, a selection of carrots, cauliflower cheese, green beans, sprouts, mash, new potatoes and roasts were piping hot and cooked to perfection. I did hear the guy behind me asking for the spiced potatoes –they weren’t available that day and he was quite disappointed. We felt like we’d missed out – they sounded a popular choice so must be good.

The delicious sweets we tried included sticky toffee pudding and chocolate fudge cake, no complaints there whatsoever.

At £77.85 all in for five of us, including drinks, we will go back.