My Yorkshire – Jon Curtis, Ironmonger Curtis

Jon Curtis is a founding partner of Sheffield’s specialist commercial law firm Ironmonger Curtis.

Where do you live/where are you from?

I live in Sheffield, but was born in Leicester, so to my mind, I’ve got the best of both worlds – a great football team in Leicester, and good everything else from Yorkshire. (although to be fair Sheffield United are doing quite well at the moment)

What is your favourite place to visit in Yorkshire and why?

There’s a walk I love which takes in lots of my favourite places. It starts in the wonderful Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield, continues through Whirlow and the Limb Valley to the Norfolk Arms pub at Ringinglow for breakfast. Afterwards you can head over Burbage Moor to Hathersage and then catch the train back home if you are too tired to walk.

What is still on your “to do” list in the region?

I’d like to walk Wainwright’s coast to coast route which winds it way through both the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors. It takes about two weeks so I’ll probably need to persuade the family to come (not likely) or wait until the kids have left home.

What is the most memorable meal you’ve ever had in Yorkshire?

I recently went to Joro, a restaurant in Kelham Island, formerly Sheffield’s cutlery-making heartland. We ate a 10-course tasting menu of locally sourced and foraged food and every dish was an experience. The service was great and all in all, it was a memorable night out. I’d love to go back (I’ll have to save my pennies though).

What is your most Yorkshire trait?

Even though I’ve been in Sheffield for over 20 years, I can’t really stake a claim to an acquired Yorkshire trait. I do love Yorkshire pudding, though; does that count?

Favourite piece of trivia about the region.

In the year of 827, In Dore, just up the road from where I live, King Egbert of Wessex met the defeated King Eanred of Northumbria to agree his rule over the whole of Anglo-Saxon Britain.

What is your favourite cultural icon to come out of Yorkshire?

Michael Palin comes from Sheffield so I suppose it has got to be a dead parrot.

First experience of Yorkshire (for non-Yorkshire folk)

Just after I moved to Sheffield a friend and I went for a pint or two at a lovely local pub in Walkley. At well after 11 pm, I spied a local returning from the bar with a load of fresh beers. I asked him (excitedly) if the bar was still serving out of hours to which he replied, suspiciously: “Why, is thou a copper?”

Worst experience or thing about Yorkshire?

Traffic delays on the M1.

What is one thing you’d steal from Lancashire (or other UK regions) if you could?

I’d steal London’s public funding, Devon’s beaches, Manchester’s football and Snowdonia’s mountains. You’d really have heaven then.

What is the most overrated thing about Yorkshire?

Nothing. Like Mary Poppins, it is practically perfect in every way.