I can't help it. I'm Northern. I like a pint of bitter and a bag of pork scratchings (pictured here in a swanky gastro pub served with guacamole!!??) when I'm whiling away the hours in the boozer.
However I was heartily disappointed when in one trendy London pub I read a chalkboard that promised home-made pork scratchings for £1.50 to add a salty edge to my pint of Doom Bar.
The thought of home-made pork scratchings made me realise how far this Yorkshire lad had come. No longer was I stuck in the back streets of suburban Sheffield drinking Barnsley bitter for £1.28 a pint tucking into a packet of Mr Porky's. I'd made it. I was in the heart of London town buying a pint for £3.00 about to munch on home-made pork scratchings. Wow.
Sadly my high was soon to be eclipsed by a low. 'We don't serve pork scratchings before six,' I was told - which I also took to mean 'You are far too over-weight to eat such a fat-based product and I am doing this for the good of your health Sir'.
It just goes to show the price of progress. Home-made they might be but the chef can't cook them before six leaving this punter hungry. Beware any pub advertising home-cooked crisps. You might not get them until seven. Heaven only knows what might happen if you ask for a bag of scampi fries.
