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Dave Himelfield

Inside Emmerdale's original Woolpack - the 'time warp' pub that people travel thousands of miles to visit

Unlike the Rovers Return and the Queen Vic, The Woolpack was in part, a genuine pub.

While the former in Coronation Street and the latter in Eastenders were studio mock-ups, The Falcon Inn served as the original Woolpack for external shots.

In fact, the first speaking part in the first episode of Emmerdale Farm, as it was then called, took place outside The Falcon.

Read the latest news on Emmerdale here

The Falcon, in the Yorkshire Dales village of Arncliffe, was used for external shots of the Woolpack from the first episode, broadcast on October 16, 1972, until 1976 when The Commercial, Esholt, near Bradford, took over. The Commercial has since been renamed The Woolpack.

In 1997, filming moved to a specially built lifesize replica of Esholt on the private Harewood Estate, near Leeds, so more episodes per week could be filmed.

Now we've got the potted history out of the way let's talk about what The Falcon is like today.

Inside The Falcon Inn. The interior was not used for inside scenes which were shot at Yorkshire TV studios, in Leeds (Charlie Wilkinson/The Falcon Inn)

The Falcon is very much alive, even if you have to be 60-plus to remember when it played The Woolpack.

Some of The Falcon's older regulars remember those days, bar manager Charlie Wilkinson says.

"Some of them were extras," says Charlie who grew up in neighbouring Kettlewell.

Memories of The Falcon's role in the Yorkshire TV soap, which introduced Britons from outside Yorkshire to the Dales, may be distant, but Emmerdale fans still pay it a visit.

And since the listed pub appears on series two of the new All Creatures Great and Small, the TV drama fans have returned once Covid restrictions were relaxed.

That isn't to say The Falcon, relies on custom from telly tourists. Its location in the heart of Dales means it will always be a place for hungry and thirsty walkers.

"I've served customers from Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong," Charlie, 40, says.

And the freehouse, owned by the Miller family since 1874, still functions as a traditional village pub.

Charlie, who has worked at The Falcon for seven years, says: "It's both. It's very much a part of the community.

"It's the last amenity in the village apart from the hall and the church. It is the hub of the community."

A selection of local sheep grace the wallpaper in the dining room (Charlie Wilkinson/The Falcon Inn)

Aptly, Frazer Hines, who played Joe Sugden from episode one until 1994, is reputed to be a customer of The Falcon.

Emmerdale has changed dramatically from its sleepy daytime TV days in the 1970s to the primetime high drama of today with murders, suicide and explosions.

The Falcon, which is believed to date back to the 18th century, has not.

The interior is decorated with copper kettles, horse brasses, stuffed animals, old pictures and ceramic beer jugs.

Speaking of beer jugs, The Falcon still serves its beer (real ale, of course) the old fashioned way. The ale is poured straight from the cask into a jug before the jug is decanted into a pint pot.

The bar where beer is still served the traditional way from cask to jug to glass (Charlie Wilkinson/The Falcon Inn)

There's no pool table, jukebox and certainly no quiz machine.

It does have two log fires and a dining room with a large graphic of local sheep on one of its walls, six guestrooms and a self-contained guest cottage.

Food, cooked by the landlord, is no-nonsense traditional with a few international numbers.

"It's a little bit like a time warp," says Charlie.

But if it ain't broke...

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