Lunch at The Black Lion Hotel, Richmond

If you are heading to Richmond, North Yorkshire, and looking for a family-friendly, dog-friendly pub to have lunch at, I would recommend you try The Black Lion Hotel in Richmond. We went there a few days before Christmas with the dogs and had a lovely lunch which was only spoilt by my resource guarding dog. But other than him, it was a very welcoming and friendly pub, and one I’d definitely go back to – without the dog.

This post is sponsored by Open Table.

Making The Booking

I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to book for lunch and was open to suggestions, but I did know that we would have the kids with us (11 and 9 years old), and the dogs. We have two Westies, and they don’t get out as much as I’d like them to, but I knew that on our first day off work for the festive season that we were going to head out for the day and take the dogs with us. The plan was to go somewhere we could have a nice walk before lunch, tire the dogs out, and then settle in for a nice lunch.

I went on to the Open Table website, which couldn’t be easier to use. As expected, you can set your date, time, and number of people and put in a rough location of where you want to go, such as North Yorkshire. You can filter further by including things such as cuisine and seating options. It even has the option to search by cuisine, and one that I thought was really inclusive, the ability to search by Minority Owned/Operated which is great.

Once you’ve selected your filters, it will give you a few options to choose from, and from there, you can click on the establishment and see more information about it, such as the menu, images of the food, what kind of ambience it has, and the location. We picked The Black Lion Hotel based on its location being in the town of Richmond, near parking (it has its own parking), and because pub menus tend to mean, there is always something that the kids will eat.

I did call ahead to confirm that it is dog friendly because I always feel the need to make sure in advance, rather than turn up on the day and it not be suitable. The lady who took my call was very friendly and helpful.

Things to do in Richmond, North Yorkshire

Richmond is a market town set in the gorgeous North Yorkshire countryside. Besides all the dog-friendly walks in Yorkshire that you can enjoy from here, you can also visit the ruins of Richmond Castle, and it’s near Richmond Falls. My friend Erin has an article on more ideas if you’re looking for things to do in Richmond Yorkshire for kids.

Unfortunately, we were delayed leaving home so we didn’t get there early enough to have much of a walk before lunch. I suspect that might be the reason for all the unnecessary resource guarding from Benji. *Insert eye roll*, but we did manage a quick walk around the town square and the little park near the town centre.

The Black Lion Hotel does have its own parking area behind it for patrons, but we opted for public parking as we weren’t sure how long we’d be walking around before and after lunch.

Lunch at The Black Lion Hotel, Richmond.

On arrival at the pub, we were welcomed by the hosting team, who quickly took us through to the nook where there was a water bowl for the dogs. There were 4 tables in there, and they seated us at one in the corner, which I was grateful for. When making the booking I’d requested we sit near an outside wall, rather than in the middle of a crowded restaurant which can be a bit much for our dogs. So I was grateful our request had been noted.

On seating us, the waitress took our drinks order and allowed us a chance to settle in. It had been raining on and off, and the girls were a bit damp and cold, so requested hot chocolates whilst I had a much-needed glass of wine and my husband had a pint of diet Pepsi.

The menu consisted of typical pub food, something for everyone, which is exactly what we like. They had a kids’ menu, too, which is great as my youngest still often chooses from there due to smaller portions. On this occasion, though, we all chose something from the main menu.

I had the Steak Pie & chips, my husband had a Brie & Bacon burger, my eldest daughter had a macaroni and cheese, and my youngest had the Gammon steak. Just look at how delicious this food was!

We all thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at The Black Lion Hotel in Richmond. Their menu is a mix of good wholesome pub food and a few dishes of the extra special variety. Their drinks menu is well-rounded, too with a great selection of beers and ales available too. The location is right in town, just off the main square with loads of parking and seating available. The staff were lovely and attentive to our requests for extras etc.

If you are looking for a family-friendly, dog-friendly pub in Richmond, I would recommend you try out The Black Bull. Booking with Open Table couldn’t be easier too, as they offer a wide variety of options and an easy-to-use booking system. One of my favourite features was the reminder emails and text messages that they sent. They even offer a one-message reply to cancel your booking if you needed to for when life gets in the way. Thank you to the staff at The Black Bull Hotel and Open Table for a lovely lunch out.

Disclaimer: This review is sponsored by Open Table. We paid for our own meal.

For More Dog-Friendly places in Yorkshire, click the image below