The Old Post Office, Haworth: The charming Yorkshire restaurant set in the Brontë sisters' local post office

Folk are sitting out eating fish and chips, drinking beer on the church steps and outside the Haworth Steam Brewing Co a happy crowd with dogs are vaping while visitors slog up and down the steep hill instantly recognisable by their unsuitable shoes.

There’s a fair amount of theming, as you’d expect; The Original Bronte Stationery Store and the Cabinet of Curiosities, where Branwell used to score his laudanum, and walking from the car park I think I saw some flats called Wuthering Heights. I might have made that up.

I’m generally not a fan of themed restaurants, but tonight I’m at Haworth Old Post Office, literally where they bought stamps and sent off their manuscripts, so it would be a bit odd if there wasn’t a bit of a Bronte thing going so I’ll cut them some slack.

The original Victorian Post Office counter is the first thing you see, and a handsome chunk of wood it is too.

If you ask nicely they’ll let you open the drawer where there are still coins and stamps. Barely an inch of wall space hasn’t been hung with a portrait of one or another of them, or facsimiles of their tiny books with tiny writing.

But it’s more of a tribute than a museum, and the interior is very pleasing, with beams, open fires, comfy benches and quiet corners.

Owners Mark Carson Graham and Charlie Cowling have spent a couple of years meticulously renovating it, making sure the windows, walls and even the chimney pots are right – and they’ve really pulled it off.

I’ve a tendency to drone on that I’ve had enough of ‘small plates’ as a concept, then a menu like this one lands on the table and I do my usual U-turn.

There are around a dozen including the likes of pickled anchovies with blood orange (£5) shell on tiger prawns, nduja and garlic butter (£8) crab & hot smoked salmon, lemon, shallot, coriander (£10) and we would have happily scarfed the lot.

Instead, heritage beets came to the table, dressed in white balsamic and hazelnuts and it’s one of the best fivers I’ve spent in a while. Just the right amount of bite, with that seductive earthy punch, the hazelnuts providing great crunch.

In direct contrast, butter bean stew (£6) is super smooth, vibrant with lemon and slightly boozy with wine – the sourdough that arrived at the start is great for mopping up those juices.

Next up, Yorkshire asparagus in a sea of lemon butter and showered in Gran Levanto parmesan and the cutest edible flowers – it’s May on a plate. I find it impossible not to ask for meatballs if they’re offered, and these juicy little Calabrians are absolute beauties, sitting in a vivid almond romesco sauce, sweet and zippy with a hint of garlic, heat and smoke.

Leaving the best until last (at least according to Himself across the table) is a stunningly simple, but clever thing: baked goat cheese, honey and pistachio – just three ingredients, and it’s gorgeous, vibrant with colour and great depth of flavour.

In fact many of the dishes have three ingredients – four at the most, which speaks of thoughtful cooking, where everything has equal presence on the plate, each complementing the other. There’s plenty of choice for vegetarians and vegans, and they’ll adapt dishes if asked.

Chef Imogen Tilt designs the menu and works across two sites – the other being the rather elegant Hawthorn, just down the cobbles a bit, and part of the Carson Graham/Cowling stable. I’m reminded that I wrote it up in 2017, and liked it a lot.

I’d spotted ‘golden syrup ginger cake’ on Instagram so dessert was nailed on before we arrived, and it’s a stunner: light, soft, sticky cake with honey caramel and ginger ice cream – a sort of STP but without winter heft so perfect for summer.

Hummingbird blueberry and crème fraiche cake with cream cheese frosting is lovely, and pretty as a picture. Next time, it’s Sicilian lemon sorbet and pistachios for me.

They’re open during the day, and more or less the same menu is on offer plus some very good looking open sandwiches, including the likes of slow roast ox cheek with horseradish, dill pickle, sauerkraut and fried egg, and Portobello mushroom with Yorkshire Blue, spinach and garlic butter – all a tenner.

The excellent coffee is Dark Woods Under Milk Wood and the choice of tea is impressive. Take to the tables and chairs on the street outside on a fine day, or the secret yard at the back.

Upstairs there’s a big dining room with views up and down the town – a great place for a party – after which, if you find yourself a little worse for wear, you could put your head down in the back room, as Branwell used to do after a heavy sesh at The Black Bull.

His friend, the Post Master John Hartley would guide him up the narrow stairs, and his sister Emily would light a candle in the window of the parsonage as a signal to her brother that he could venture home without incurring the wrath of his dad.

Sitting in the window watching various dramas unfold in the street, smartly dressed Airbnb-ers wander up to the menu board outside the Post Office and try to make their minds up, as you do when you’re on holiday.

I was willing them to climb the steps and commit; lots of them did and I’ll wager they’ll have been as delighted as I was.

Welcome 5/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices 5/5

Haworth Old Post Office, 121 Main Street, Haworth. BD22 8DP www.hawortholdpostoffice.co.uk t: 01535 329080

Food served Wednesday - Saturday 12pm-2:45pm, 5pm-7:45pm and on Sunday 12pm-2:45pm. Open sandwiches only available at lunchtime (12pm-2:45pm)