Come and experience how magical your wedding can be by visiting Ripon’s leading wedding suppliers all under one roof – ours! This event showcases the perfect venue, music, bridal wear, flowers, beauty, glamour and all the special finishing touches to make your wedding and honeymoon fabulous. PS. IF YOU WANT A CELEBRATION FOR A DIFFERENT REASON, COME ANYWAY- These suppliers do a lot more than weddings……

* Free admission

*Free glass of fizz for first 100 guests

*Free goody bag for the first 100 brides

*Charity prize draw, over £500 of prizes, in aid of The Walled Garden Scheme, Palace Road, Ripon

* Live music by Frankly Jazz

Put your man in the “man creche” hosted by Miss Deal casino and enjoy a bridal fashion show at 7pm!

This event is sponsored by BOOTHS of Ripon: many thanks to them. We shall be host to the following exhibitors: Carlton Couture, Expression Photographers, Henry James, Jeni Hudson, Paper and Bloom, Philip Hall, Robert Barwick-Ward, Sugar-crafted Cakes, The Greenhouse Florist, The Party Shop, Travel Counsellors, U Image Consultancy and many more on the night.  Between them all, we’ll have it covered!

It doesn’t seem five minutes since the last offer but we are looking forward to meeting old friends and welcoming new Times reader customers for lunch or dinner in November and January . Tokens are available during the week beginning October 31st in the Times, Sunday Times and online! Its a great deal, especially when the food is as good as ours!  You often ask me why we do it and sometimes when we are absolutely rushed off our feet, I can’t answer you! But it is national advertising and I always hope it will lead to greater things.. see you all soon, I hope.

It was a lovely wedding. The family were enjoying a superb meal in the restaurant and it was time for the dessert. All was well until the fourth table when I led the girls out carrying three plates of creme brulee. I don’t know how it happened but I disappeared under the table with an almighty crash. The next thing I knew I was being told not to move by a sea of concerned faces. I was so not going to get up anyway, I was covered in creme brulee. Meanwhile the head chef first aider had been summoned by a waitress : “An old lady’s collapsed in the restaurant.!” Right! I felt like hanging up my apron but then they clapped and cheered when I dared go back in again(showered and changed I might add) so how can I let my public down?!  Thank you to the bride and groom and their understanding wedding party. You know who you are!!  I am being retrained….

For all our online subscribers and those on our email VIP club, a 2 course lunch from our daily set lunch menu is yours for £10! 3 courses for £12.50. Please mention the offer when you book. Tables of 1 up to 6 please!

This is an great career, looking after a hotel and restaurant, meeting new guests and old friends every day of the week, entertaining them as though it were my home – which it is really – I hardly see my own! I am always interested in why people have chosen to come here and there are so many: a lovely couple were celebrating the anniversary of their engagement – he proposed at Fountains Abbey and had a meal here to celebrate that night – many years ago now, but how nice to be able to celebrate with them again.

Many of you come to see how the restaurant has changed since Louis was the famous[ maybe that should read, infamous!] owner from 1949 to 1966. He taught a generation of young men from a wide area of Yorkshire how to appreciate wine and fine dining, it seems! The stories people tell about the way he flouted present day food safety rules or threw out guests for infringements of his rules would make a great book.

A growing number are staying here because it is halfway between Scotland and all parts South. I wish I could advertise that somewhere. Anniversaries are a major draw along with special birthdays: if its not that then it may be the first night in months or even years that a couple manages to get away from their children for a night to completely indulge themselves. I have been fascinated to meet a couple who were married here in 1957 and appreciated their photographs very much.

 Some people have stayed with the ambition of seeing all the Cathedrals in England, others to attend a concert in the Cathedral or spend time visiting all the great gardens in the vicinity. Others to watch their horse run at Ripon or one of the other local race courses.

Thanks to you all and long may it last!