White Lion Inn in Derbyshire Dales

Cosy and friendly place, but a shame they've stopped doing food.

Sadly only serving drinks and open reduced hours. But a lovely warm welcome. Traditional pub, lovely and clean. Dogs welcome. Short walk to Matlock Bath or Matlock in the other direction.

Nice country pub with great views, although no food. Thoroughly recommend for a holiday beer or two

We come here regularly. Always a good welcome, good beer, good company 👍

Stopped here for a drink before heading toward Matlock Baths. Really clean nice pub with great prices for drinks (can't comment on food as we did not eat here) and a lovely atmosphere. Also superb beer garden with great view. Will be back when in the area for sure.

Called in for a drink with friends on Saturday night and we all thought what a lovely pub this is. Nice decor and very cosy. Loved the candlelight Owners were friendly and we said we would definitely return here and sample the food. Excellent place.

Sat outside in the sun for a pint or 2 mid walk. Nice location

We didn't actually have a meal here or a drink but We certainly will have a meal and a drink or two on our next visit to Matlock.Why? Because we happened to get stranded in our car during a brief snowstorm and had to park up and abandon the car in the White Lions car park gratefully pushed in by Spence and a kind neighbour. We were so grateful for His help and just wanted to thank Him for that by writing a Thank You Review.

Nice atmosphere and very friendly and accommodating staff (edit after "response": No, apparently they are hateful). We were told they had a reduced menu due to stopping food sales soon. Whilst they tried to give us what we wanted, one meal was very basic but ok, the other was partly inedible due to fatty, unappetising chicken. Overall: nice place, forget the food. --- Thanks for your response, I guess I was wrong, and apparently the staff or owner are hateful and should not run a customer-facing business, let-alone serve food. I hope your business fails and you learn how to be respectful.

Unfortunately, the man behind the bar was rather rude to us when we sat in front of the fire and made us feel that we wouldn't visit again.

Lovely friendly pub, with fantastic decor and incredible service! Warm, funny and welcoming hosts. Dog friendly, with beautiful views from the beer garden at the front. We were treated to the most incredible sunset during our most recent visit. The menu is very tasty, but sadly a bit limited. The bar boasts a wonderfully cosy log burner, which is an absolute delight in cold winter evenings. Decent selection of drinks, including my favourite lily's cider. Highly recommended!

Lovely evening. Lovely food and very quick service. Cheese platter particularly nice. Dog friendly. Merry Xmas to all the White Lion staff.

Nice to see a smartly dressed person behind the bar and welcoming great place to eat and drink an English pub at it's best

Great food with lovely service! We came as a very last minute date as my mother offered to have the kids overnight on the same day- surprised to get a table! Our starters were fantastic fresh and very hot We had our mains one special which was spectacular the chicken was tender and juicy The waitress we had was lovely too friendly and very accommodating with my allergies felt very well looked after Great night and thanks for making date night special!

Great local pub, with two of the best hosts we have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Would highly recommend.

Had a great lunch here. Friendly staff, good food reasonably priced Lovely views from the seats in the front garden and a lovely old pub

Great pub, they catered for 13 people and the service and food was fab. Highly recommend the steak and ale pie 🥧 😋

What a great place. The landlord and chef were excellent and the food was really good. Highly recommended this place

Fantastic food and very welcoming

Didn't have a meal but will definitely come back for one. What a gem of a pub in a gorgeous location. Very clean and dog friendly. What's not to like we sat outside next to the lavender tubs watching the bees. Marvelous Addition So we called back and tried the food and it didn't disappoint. It's one of those proper pubs you could quite happily stop for the day and have a session. 👍

Lovely pub in a beautiful area, quiet and stunning views from the pub looking out to Matlock Bath, spring time the blossom covers the whole area in pink

Friendly staff, lovely sharer platter. The baked Camembert was delicious. Worth the trek in the rain to get too. Will visit again in the future.

Not worth the trip. Didn't have details of our booking and landlord suggested we should try a different pub as we didn't have a booking at the White Lion. After our friends produced evidence of the booking and re- checking, he discovered we had incorrectly been recorded as a 'no show' for an earlier day. Very limited menu. No deserts available and my favourite ale ran out after one pint.

Happened to come across this gem of a place. Gorgeous surroundings. Love the decor inside. Really friendly place. Delicious food. Spotless too. Looking forward to returning.

Excellent pub, great range of ales. Mine hosts Chris and Spencer make you feel very welcome.

Great place really friendly land loard. And good views from the beer garden.

Good honest pub grub. Steak n kidney pie, chips and mushy peas served hot.

Lots of character. Just what we like. Just had a drink, has a nice friendly atmosphere.

Lovely pub with a very welcoming landlord. Great selection of beers & quite a simple menu with the food being absolutely delicious. Great little pit stop after a long walk!

Good beer, great food, friendly and welcoming staff - a great pub.

i was amazed by the white lion, absolutely perfect place to visit! me and my wife visited here recently and was delighted! the staff were all friendly and welcoming, we were seated with pace and we’re given menus, every option on there was perfect however it was quite pricey (the only downside) i had a steak and ale pie (one of my top pies) and it definitely did not disappoint! my wife had a steak, this was also quite expensive however it definitely was worth every penny, it was cooked to perfection (as asked) and was delivered to our table within a perfect 15 minutes (allowing us to indulge in our beverages) afterwards we weren’t able to manage another bite, however we were very enticed to try one of these desserts. i had a apple pie and my wife has a treacle sponge. these were both up to par and polished off very quickly! thank you!!

Marvellous pub. Proper pub, proper people, proper food and a proper pint! Haven't enjoyed a pub like that for some time... Will certainly be darkening their doorstep again.

Great pub friendly landlord pie was amazing. There leaving in may for a new challenge and I hope someone takes it on and keeps it the same. Will definitely visit again. Fantastic pub well worth a visit

Great atmosphere and good food.

What a lovely pub! The food was very good, we enjoyed both meals……as well as the visits between meals. Chris and Spence, the owners, couldn’t have been any more welcoming, neither could the regulars, although that may well have been partly due to our dog Poppy who got a lot of attention :-). We intend to come back and this will be our first port of call, hopefully sooner rather than later! Thank you all, Steve, Michelle & Poppy.

Booked tonight a table for two.what a quaint pub.log burner which made it cosy.locals very friendly. My wife had 8ozs rump and trimmings. Cooked perfect.i had scampi which was lovely. Plus2and half pints of pedigree ale.luvly.will call again.

Thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the service was great ... very friendly people.

Staying close by had 2 meals and drinks in this most enjoyable pub, food very good, local people where very friendly, the landlords made us very welcome, recommend and will be back in our next visit to Matlock.

Absolutely loved this pub! Lovely service & such a beautifully quaint village! The burger was exceptional!

Nice atmosphere and friendly reception and added bonus was a dog biscuit for our canine friend!

Nice atmosphere and friendly reception plus bonus of a dog biscuit for our canine friend!

It's worth coming here to meet Mick Protherow, swears a bit, but real bloke telling how it is.

A lovely pub with lovely views down into Matlock Bath! Only came up for a drink outside but we'll be back soon.

Absolutely ridiculous and disgraceful. Tried to book table as am disabled. Asked to confirm time & postcode & booking taken away. Explained circumstances re disability, but still no! Awful!

My family and I visited this charming looking venue for a meal, earlier today. The charm sadly ends there. The food was poor in quality and the service was equally as bad. My husband had the fish and it was barely edible. My chicken wasn't much better. We also witnessed the manager being extremely rude to another family, so just left without confronting him, because we were out to enjoy the area. It spoilt an otherwise pleasant day.

Called into this lovely welcoming pub whilst out on a walk on the hottest day of the year. A very welcome sight.

Really nice and cozy pub dating back to the 1600 something. Authentic interior and friendly staff. You should choose the pie and NOT the burger.

Lovely location. Great landlord. Helpful staff. Fabulous pub food.

Stopped here whilst passing by. Very friendly landlord and excellent scampi & chips. Great service and pleasant tables out the front. We will be back!

I was a little uncertain what to expect from this pub due to some of the reviews that were less than favourable. My Wife and I read most of them and were chuckling to ouselves at some of the responses by the owners. Clearly these guys have a sense of humour or at least we hoped so. We arrived and chose our drinks and then our meal from the menu available. The pub makes no pretences about having a massive menu but it was to our tastes and perfectly suitable. My Wife picked the Thai fish cakes and I had the surf and turf. What can I say.......it was perfect! I asked for a medium rare steak and that was what I got. I kind of hoped I had something to complain about so I could write a damning review and then sit back to await the retort. Alas I have no complaints, I found all the staff friendly, welcoming and amusing. On top of that the food was excellent. Well done all!! We will go again.

Tonight we went to the recommended and had some amazing steak so so tasty. A lovely experience so relaxed, the decor is really nice. Excellent Sue and Neil

Nice place, sadly one of the staff didn't seem very happy to be there. For me a positive smile greeting makes me feel welcome. Or is that just me?

We were passing on the way to somewhere else and were tempted by the well presented exterior and pleasing interior decor Warm friendly welcome from bar staff, dogs welcome The beers were good However, sadly food failed to meet expectation Firstly, they don't serve Sunday roast lunch :o( I ordered the sea bass special, it was perfectly cooked, however, it was so small, it would have fit in the palm of my hand. :o( The salad accompaniment was minimal too. At £14.95 I felt ripped off My friend chose one of the pies. The filling looked mushy and he said it wasn't particularly enjoyable. He left most of his chips and mushy peas as he didn't like those either We were both still hungry but refused pudding to avoid further culinary and monetary disappointment Perhaps the usual chef was on holiday but we can't understand the previous rave reviews and wouldn't return.

Nice food good beer friendly staff and dog friendly too

Make sure you don't stop here. portion size and food was disgusting. What a rip off.

We left feeling very disappointed and will never return. The owner was incredibly rude and made everything seem an inconvenience to him. Felt unwelcomed...

Friendly and cosy pub with dining facilities, will be calling back to try the menu soon

We went for my birthday lunch and the food wasn’t great it looked and tasted like it had been sat on the side for a while . I’m wondering if it’s because we had a starter !! The sauces came in little paper pots which wasn’t great especially with the price of meals these days . I expected better Won’t be returning:( Like most British people we don’t like to make a fuss and shouldn’t have too . Having to wait longer for the food to be re cooked wasn’t an option !!!!!

We visited the wonderful White Lion on Saturday 11th June for the retirement do of the legendary master Mr.C. Six of us in full scale Scottish fancy dress including a plush dog on a lead! This was our first visit and would have led many to refuse entry to the spectacular sight that greeted them. The response was in stark contrast to this. Rather than turning us away the owners and locals embraced the festivities and welcomed us as if we were family, they were so accommodating! The drinks flowed, the food was reasonably priced and tasty, with plenty of variety on the menu, the service was impeccable and the owners were an absolute joy. The locals and staff were exceptionally friendly, hospitable and treated us like celebrities! It is in a lovely setting with beautiful views only a short walk away, what a fantastic local pub! Thank you for helping our evening and retirement do be so memorable. We look forward to visiting again and upping the ante with the costumes (don't worry, no snooker balls though)!

Great location and friendly staff

Standard Pub , only went in for drinks. Mind your head low beams.

Cosy local , great beer, friendly staff

Went for a Sunday meal here, the food was great. Staff very helpful and a good family atmosphere. It was clean and tidy and even your dog can go in with you. 10/10 for me

Great pint. Excellent service. Good views We did not ear but Sunday menus of pies and burgers.

Great pub located on the main road. The lunch was fantastic. I had a black pudding scotch egg starter followed by blade of beef, all beautifully prepared and presented. Very attentive staff and a good range of beers.

Local gem! Great outdoor area but cosy inside too with log burners and a really classic old pub feel. The Landlord is lovely and the pies are so delicious! We’ll definitely be back.

Had a great visit today in the middle of a 15km walk. Nice beers! And we had a big plate of fried cheeeeeese. Nice jazz music playing. Had a pie menu too if that’s your thing. Really nice guys running the place too. Will be back there in future visits to the Matlock area. Theres a direct walk down to Matlock bath from this pub too. Worth it.

Booked a table for dinner on a Wednesday - on arrival found it was ‘Pie Night’ - certainly not disappointed as good selection of very tasty pies awaited us! My wife and I received a warm welcome from the friendly and helpful owners. This is a lovely venue in a scenic location looking out high over Matlock Bath and the Heights of Abraham. The locals made us feel very welcome too. All in all a great pub that’s well worth a visit!!!

Fajny klimat, smaczne jedzenie. Przyjazna obsługa i przyzwoite ceny.

Fabulous food. Very friendly staff. Good service. Really welcoming atmosphere in the pub. We will be back.

Amazing pub, great food, extremely friendly staff.

Barman is possibly the most miserable publican I've had the misfortune to meet... Nice pub though.. As for your reply... A smile goes a long way, as do please and thankyou. Also a happy disposition helps in the hospitality trade...

Very good pub for Sunday lunch. Friendly welcome, good range of food on offer. Real ales available too,

A warm welcome and well kept beer. Make this a stop off if you're remotely near.

Very expensive compared to other local pub.

Friendly local pub in a lovely little village with great view of the tor. Welcome break at the end of a hilly walk.

Nice proper boozer. Check food serving times, we missed out but we'll try it next time we're there.

Very friendly atmosphere, lovely food, and great staff !!

Fantastic pub views meal stagg could not ask for anything else worth the visit

Was there for my godfather's birthday party; great pub with lovely food and drink and a warm welcome

We came to Matlock Bath for a long weekend. Stunning views and drives We had on warm and sunny day. This place was near our B&B . Walk was tough as hilly but worth it. The welcome and Owners wonderful. The place so warm and cosy. Food served just as good. Enjoyed the ambience in the early evening.

Great little pub, good hosts, amazing views over Matlock

Very good food, excellent beers. Friendly staff. Good size car park

Great food lovely atmosphere great view and great pint!!Will definitely be returning

Klimatyczny bar z miłą obsługą, miły wystrój i dobre jedzenie

We had a lovely family trip for pie night, the food was incredible as always. We had a fish starter and cheese starter between 4 of us which was very nice and filling! Then three steak pies and a chicken pie which was incredible!! Always made to feel welcome by the lovely staff, they can't do enough for us :)

Found this lovely country pub just outside Matlock, on Google maps and wasn't disappointed. A quick lunch and a pint of beer. Lunch menu simple, delicious seafood platter with a side order of chips. Fantastic welcome, explained the lunch menu and placed an order. Perfect afternoon lunch.

Just popped in for a pint, lovely pub and landlord.

Perfect, great meal, view, sunny evening, welcoming👍👍🍺🍺

Nice people, good food. Can't wait to see Sunday dinners again

I live locally and visited today for the first time following my parents recommendation having visited for the first time themselves recently with friends all of which enjoyed their visit. We sat outside to enjoy the beautiful surrounding views and had a round of drinks...

Brilliant staff, excellent food. They even made my salad with no tomatoes as I asked for no tomatoes in my main meal.

Great meal but the host stole the show with his charming hospitality

Great pub, nice views over the town

Having really looked forward to attending we left feeling very disappointed. The manager Spencer was incredibly rude and made everything seem an inconvenience to him. Having spoken with locals it appears we aren’t the only ones with this feeling. It has to be said there was a lovely lady who also served us!

Lovely relaxing garden for a drink in the sun

Menu had no prices! Food was overpriced for quality of food. The only reason we went was the rating.. I just don’t understand who would rate it so high.

Having visited this pub for lunch I would have to advise anyone not to bother, particularly if they are feeling hungry. We ordered a fish platter to share for around £13, the menu stated this was served with salad and fries. You would assume that...

It's been a while since we were at The White Lion but I still love it! The staff are friendly and welcoming, the Cider is good aswell.

Found this on a walk today with my family and had a fantastic meal outdoors. Very friendly and fast service. Looking forward to coming back!