Curry!

When I was first living in and around Kirkby Lonsdale, in 1991, it was a fairly settled and staid old place. One could see how it might - over the next few years - become a retirement town, like Grange-over-Sands.

But then in 1992 an energetic young forward-looking headmaster - a sort of anti-Gove, if you like - took over the secondary school. Within a decade people were moving to Kirkby Lonsdale to ensure their children were in the catchment area and that influx of young families changed the dynamic of the town.

And that meant we got a curry house.

There was some resistance, of course, but I knew the battle was over when I saw one of the most vocal opponents of the restaurant sat in there having a poppadom and a pint of lager one Saturday evening.

Originally the restaurant was at the back of the Royal Hotel but when those premises were sold it moved up above the bakery, where it resides to this day. The location means that it doesn't have a conventional curry house feel, as you can see from the grand stone wall.

Like (I suspect) so many families, we are curry lovers and none more so than my brother, and so there was an assumption that we would end up in the curry house one evening while he was here and so we did. Here we are, pictured, in that thankfully short period after the drinks have arrived but before the poppadoms have shown up.