The Kings Arms Horsforth: Matt Healy's Michelin-recommended restaurant Forde takes over kitchen at Leeds pub

Forde in Horsforth is now serving high-quality pub grub from The Old King’s Arms. Chef patron Matt Healy has designed a winter tapas and mains menu for the boozer, which includes Forde’s award-winning Sunday roasts.

The two businesses, which sit a few doors down from each other on Town Street, have developed a friendly relationship since Forde opened at the end of 2021.

A tipsy conversation between the pub’s managers and Matt sparked the start of an idea – and the collaboration is already receiving rave reviews.

Matt and his team took over the kitchen in December and launched their new menu on Thursday (January 11). There’s a range of Yorkshire tapas, including mozzarella and basil pesto arancini, smoked salmon pastrami, buttermilk fried chicken and steamed mussels.

Main dishes include fish and chips, the King’s Arms burger, curried lentil cottage pie and braised Yorkshire feather blade with caramelised onion puree, parmesan and truffle chips. 

Matt told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “There was a gap in the market for really good pub grub from a higher-end, Michelin rated restaurant.

"The idea was that nothing would be more expensive for £20. We do our award-winning Sunday roast at King’s and the tagline is that it’s as posh as next door, but you can watch the footy!"

The Old King’s Arms previously rented out its kitchen to a rotating line-up of street food vendors, most recently Slap and Pickle.

The new collaboration is the latest change for the Greene King pub – it recently launched a partnership with Kirkstall Brewery, allowing it to sell a wider variety of beers at the pub.

Lyndsey Acaster-Clarke, who manages The Old King’s Arms with her partner Aidan, said: “We’re really taking the pub in a new direction. We’ve got the customers coming in, the clientele that we knew were here in Horsforth.

"It made sense to change the food into something a little more upmarket and a little more varied.

"Matt is brilliant, and with Forde being next door we had a great relationship with him anyway. It started as a bit of a drunken conversation over a cocktail or two, and we decided to make it happen!

“We had nothing but great feedback over Christmas. The Sunday roasts were fully booked for every week in December."

Matt added: "We’ve been in there for about five weeks and I’ve got a really good team there.

"It’s a really good pub. Since Lyndsey and Aiden have come in, they’ve built up a really good base of loyal customers from a good demographic."