Gavel Cafe at Thirsk Auction Mart serves hearty meals

Last Friday called for a visit to Thirsk Auction Mart, just off the A19 at Thirsk Rural Business Centre, to cover a Back British Farming meeting held as part of the nationwide backlash from the agricultural industry to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget last autumn.

I was there on reporting duty, and was joined by my brother, Andrew, a dairy farmer at Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, and his teenage college student Tegan – plus about 200 other interested parties.

Outside, the mercury was still below freezing, and inside the mart wasn’t much warmer, despite the overhead heaters. As the meeting went on the temperature did rise considerably – but that was more down to the spicy nature of the debate between the audience and the panel of politicians.

Chicken burger and chips at Thirsk Auction Mart’s Gavel Cafe

The meeting concluded at gone 1.15pm with the speakers in no doubt about the scale of anger from the floor, and with dinner time almost past, the three of us shot into the warmth of the Gavel Cafe and Bar to see what was on offer.

The overhead menu tantalised us with the likes of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (£8.50), steak pie (£8), lasagne (£7.50), quiche, salad and chips (£6.50), a variety of sandwiches (£3.25) and proper puddings (all £4) – treacle sponge, lemon meringue pie, fruit crumble etc.

Just as we were getting excited, the ladies behind the counter apologetically told us they usually stop serving at about 1pm and only had a few bits left. Well, plan B didn’t turn out to be half bad.

A hot beef roll, chips and gravy at Thirsk Auction Mart’s Gavel Cafe

I had a hot beef roll, Andrew had a chicken burger with a covering of optional grated cheese and Tegan went for a sausage sandwich. All came with an enormous stack of chips and a mug of tea or coffee.

My roll was packed with thick slabs of tender beef and thick, tasty gravy. Andrew described his chicken burger as being like a mini-parmo in a bun, while Tegan was very happy with his flavoursome sausage butty. The chips were hot, light and plentiful.

Service, as you would expect, is canteen-style and on a busy day with probably scores of extra people to deal with thanks to the meeting, cheery, helpful and efficient.

A sausage butty and chip at Thirsk Auction Mart’s Gavel Cafe

Now, onto the pricing. Inflation and agriculture seem to have a curious relationship whereby costs seem to go up massively but revenue, not so much.

A case in point – at the meeting beforehand, one farmer said he was getting £123 a tonne for wheat in 1983 and last year, he was getting £177 a tonne. He had calculated that should be more like £655 at today’s prices. I’m not sure exactly on what basis that was worked out, but based on the Bank of England Inflation Calculator, it should be £409 a tonne. Either way, that’s quite a startling comparison.

Back to the food, and in 2010, my fellow Eating Out columnist Malcolm Warne and two teenage sons had dinner at the Gavel Café for £15. The Bank of England tells me that should now be £22.67 (very precise). But in January 2025, for our three huge sandwiches, all with chips, three hot drinks and a bottle of fruit juice, we paid £17.80.

Thirsk Auction Mart’s Gavel Cafe

I don’t know much about economics (perhaps I should ask Rachel Reeves for a crash course – or maybe not, on recent form) or what this says about market values, but this seems an absolute bargain.

And more than that, in these tough times for the whole farming community, when the stress seemingly just keeps on coming, our mart cafes, with their hearty fare and warm welcome, are simply priceless.

Recommended eating:

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The Gavel Cafe and Bar,

Thirsk Auction Mart,

Thirsk Rural Business Centre,

Blakey Lane, Thirsk, YO7 3AB

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 7 Surroundings 7 Service 8 Value 10