Recently I found myself addressing a conference near Daventry. The delegates were new product folk from 150 of Britain's premier food manufacturers, all of whom wanted to know what was going to be the "next big thing". They were keen to pin down trends, to mine some insights, to gain an edge. I think they were a little bit miffed when I explained that even I couldn't predict the future.

The "speakers dinner" was held the night before at the Butcher's Arms in Priors Hardwick. What a jaw dropping place. Set in a beautiful old inn, it is a large restaurant with a lot of polished copper, brass and flagstones, but no decent beer. There is a dessert trolley. There are platoons of black tied waiters and sommeliers and the wine is decanted. The tone of the place is late 1960's - but this is no stylish, arch, retro establishment; here they are entirely at ease with the way things were and see no reason to change.

The menu is interminable - 24 starters, 10 fish, 18 meat, 4 veggie options. And the dishes? What a blast from the past. Avocado with prawns; garlic mushrooms; Parma ham and melon; grilled goats' cheese; fillet steak smitaine; steak Diane; tournedos Rossini; fresh poached halibut Veronique. The restaurant has links with Portugal (our oldest ally) and lurking on the wine list are some splendid Portuguese wines including a very decent Quinta dos Quatro Ventos 2000 Caves Alianca, Douro - at £24 this was a real bargain.

The cooking was fine. I had some very good home made fishcakes and the tournedos Rossini - a decent piece of steak which came accurately cooked but with a heavy and undistinguished brown sauce baked onto the large oval plate. The steak Diane is cooked on a lamp in the centre of the dining room with plenty of flames and plenty of theatre.

The service was text book formal from a bygone age. But taking all of the above on board, the prices at the Butchers Arms still have the capacity to make strong men weep and wallets cringe - starters run up to £14.95, fish dishes go up to £26, and the mains peak at £24. This sort of pricing level for old-fashioned cooking and over-fussy service makes the £42.50 set lunch at Le Gavroche (which includes half a bottle of wine) seem stellar value. 

So, a large restaurant that is seriously old-fashioned, out-dated, over-formal and  blisteringly expensive….you would have thought that the business would be struggling. Quite the reverse. Even midweek the restaurant is full and hums with lots of happy diners, the good folk of Warwickshire must be very wealthy indeed.

The Butcher's Arms, Priors Hardwick, Southam, Warwickshire CV47 7SN (01327  260504) Charles Campion