My Yorkshire: Anthony Brooke, managing director of Brooke Thornham
Anthony Brooke is the founder and director of specialist legal recruitment business Brooke Thornham Consulting. The team specialises in the recruitment of solicitors from newly qualified through to partner level, with a focus on the commercial market.
Where do you live/where are you from?
Chapel Allerton in Leeds.
What is your favourite place to visit in Yorkshire and why?
Bolton Abbey, especially in the autumn. We used to go as a family so there are a lot of memories there, yet it’s still as naturally beautiful as it always has been, and I like that familiarity.
What is still on your “to do” list in the region?
Lunch at the Black Swan at Oldstead. (I didn’t go before it became so famous and now I’m not sure I’d ever get in!)
What is the most memorable meal you’ve ever had in Yorkshire?
I had a great meal on a Sunday afternoon at ‘Home’ in Leeds – as an experience it stood out as the most original Sunday lunch I’ve ever had.
What is your most Yorkshire trait?
Honesty, which over the years I’ve tried to combine with tact.
Favourite piece of trivia about the region?
A teacher once told me that to inflict maximum damage on the north of England with a nuclear bomb it’d be dropped on Gildersome roundabout. I don’t know if it’s true, but it still makes me think.
What is your favourite cultural icon to come out of Yorkshire?
Yorkshire pudding – not pretentious or expensive or consciously promoted yet still globally recognised.
Worst experience or thing about Yorkshire?
Too often the media and film industry focus on less affluent areas and the region’s industrial heritage which I think is massively damaging to the efforts that go into promoting Yorkshire. Stereotyping of the region is a bad thing, whether it’s for comedy or drama I just would rather see less of it.
What is one thing you’d steal from Lancashire (or other UK regions) if you could?
I’d nick the coast from Cornwall – for me it’s the best in the UK and it’s just too far from Yorkshire to enjoy it often enough.
What is the most overrated thing about Yorkshire?
“Yorkshire’s Airport” (aka Leeds Bradford) – it really is an inferior facility for such a sizeable region.
