The next up in Blog Preston’s reviews of the vegan choices in our city’s restaurants is nearby Penwortham’s 1260 Craft and Crust.

Situated in Liverpool Road, the bar/restaurant sells exactly what you’d expect from the name; craft beers and pizza. Don’t automatically assume that the ‘1260’ refers to the year that Kublai Khan became ruler of the ancient Mongol Empire and there’s a horse meat tribute pizza on the menu. It’s just the date that the name ‘Penwortham’ was first recorded. lf you’ve got a craving for horse meat pop across the road to the local supermarket and try your luck with one of their lasagnes.

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I took my father Dry Tony and my mother Yvonne with me as they both enjoy real ale and a good pizza.

DT ordered a pint of Kirkstall Brewery’s Three Swords for £4.10, which he said was well-kept and priced appropriately for a restaurant. More expensive than a certain city centre chain pub where for that price you can get a pint, a plate of chips and a knuckle sandwich.

Yvonne had a pint of Hogan’s Libertine raspberry cider at £4.70, and I chose a half pint of mulled cider for £3.70. All the drinks got a thumbs up.

Dry Tony ordered a pepperoni pizza whilst Yvonne and I decided to share one vegetarian goat cheese and red onion chutney pizza and one vegan pizza wrap served with a side salad. We also ordered a Karen’s Crave Marinades dip for our crusts because anyone positively representing the good Karens of the world deserves support.

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Dry Tony’s pizza was a fair size, with a decent amount of topping and a sturdy crust around the side. He’s not a fan of plain bread so left some of the crust, but I’d have eaten it because Italian bread is the food of the gods, and the pizza base was a perfect example of it.

A carnivorous Yvonne went at the vegan wrap like it literally contained a char-grilled, free-range vegan, and I started on the vegetarian goat’s cheese pizza. It was also topped with a handful of rocket, and the base didn’t come with tomato, just garlic butter. It was smaller than the pepperoni pizza with a fair bit more plain crust, but every topping was delicious.

The goat’s cheese and the blobs of onion chutney were spaced out a little too far to get the combination of tastes together. Alone the cheese was a little too sour and the marmalade was a little too sweet, but I asked for some balsamic vinegar to dot on the rocket which balanced the tastes up.

All the ingredients were noticeably of top quality and I’d definitely order that pizza again, but next time I’ll mix the cheese and onion jam together whilst the cheese is still hot enough to spread as long as nobody attractive and/or Italian is watching me smash it into what looks like a plate of liver and mash.

The wrap contained rocket, garlic vegan butter and vegan cheese, and was a huge hit with Yvonne who’d cut it ‘in half’ when I was occupied with taking photos, and got most of it down her before I noticed that she’d been playing fast and loose with her fractions.

Despite being such a big fan of meat, she enjoyed it so much that she announced: “I could actually eat a whole one of those!” I replied: “What, again?” But she pretended she hadn’t heard me and started in on her half of the goat’s cheese pizza, which she also raved about.

Yvonne also ignored me when I asked if she wanted a straw when she was hammering Karen’s Crave dip. I knew she would because my sister and I both frequently pull her up on her outrageous scoopage of communal dips but she never stops. I suppose we should just be grateful that she doesn’t stick her fist in it and lick it off the way Winnie-the-Pooh eats honey. The dip was a curried mayonnaise, which was also excellent, although it didn’t go as well with the goat’s cheese as with the vegan wrap.

There was no dessert menu, so we asked for the bill, which came to £39.50 in total. The meat, vegetarian and vegan pizzas from 1260 Craft and Crust were all excellent, as was the beer, service and atmosphere, which makes it the perfect restaurant to visit in a group with mixed dietary requirements without forcing the vegans to pay £10 for a plateful of garnish.

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Has Yvonne ever eaten your share of a communal dip? Grass her up in the comments.