Merchants 1688, 29 Castle Hill, Lancaster LA1 1YN (01524 66466). Starters £7-£11, mains £12-£32, desserts £8-£9, wines from £21
It’s tempting to describe Merchants 1688 in Lancaster as a lovely painting in a terrible frame, but that doesn’t quite do the job. The restaurant’s setting, that frame, is potentially gorgeous. It’s a trio of ancient, brick-lined arched cellars dating back, as the name suggests, to the 17th century. By the door, scribbled up on a blackboard, is a timeline, detailing their construction in 1688. By the mid-19th century, they were home to a wine and spirits merchants called Richard Hinde & Co who remained there until at least 1934. Intriguingly, it says the address was at the same time also the site of a temperance hotel. Presumably it occupied the building above, for those swearing off the booze stored in the cellars below. The whole site was listed in 1970, and in 1984 the subterranean space, reached via smoothed flagstone steps and arched doorways like you’re entering a hobbit house, was converted into a pub. The whole place is deliciously seasoned with history.
