The Auctioneer

History

The pub at the cattle mart, and the only venue on this site that exists because of livestock. It stands at Borderway Mart on the Rosehill estate, off junction 43 of the M6, and it is one half of a building: the Auctioneer is the restaurant and bar, the Shepherds Inn alongside it takes the weddings, functions and corporate events.

The mart came first. Harrison & Hetherington, auctioneers in Carlisle since the 1890s, when Mr Hetherington of Kendal bought the auctioneering business on Earl Street, took a ninety-nine year lease at Rosehill in 1973 and built a new mart there. The Auctioneer opened in 1991, and the name is literal: it is named for the men selling the stock next door. The Shepherds Inn itself, the function-room half of the same building, opened in August 1974, built by Pioneer Foods.

It has held its reputation for food since then, under head chef Karl Gray. Silverside of beef is the dish it is known for, with roast lamb, pork and turkey most days, and the pub standards alongside: battered haddock, wholetail scampi, Cumberland sausage. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options are on the menu too.

It is a different kind of pub from most here. No old building, no scheme history, no street corner. It serves farmers on sale days, coach parties, wedding guests and people coming off the motorway, which is a fair description of what Carlisle's edge looks like now.

The town's older auction marts are a thread of their own: Mr Harrison's mart on Botchergate held a Christmas fatstock show in the 1890s, and Telfords' mart stood on Earl Street before the trade moved out to Rosehill.