Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

Now taken on by the small, family-run pubco Oak Taverns, this has had their customary 'lick of paint' makeover and is brighter albeit in a more muted sense, with a mushroom and dark blue scheme. The carpet has gone, as has the pool table out back and a range of comfortable seating options lie in wait, with a focus (as all Oak Taverns pubs do) on the ale: three of the four pumps clipped on my weeknight visit offering XT 4, Oxford Trinity, and what turned out to be a superb Loose Cannon A Hard Dray's Night – a malty, chocolatey dark ale, fresh on, but light and moreish (NBSS 4; £4.80/pint). Oak Taverns pubs pride themselves on the quality of their beers and this was no exception. Three boxed ciders also available, plus a generous beer garden out back which I hadn't spotted back in 2016.

1st June 2016
Hidden away in back streets off the A44, The Red Lion is a Greene King house which has recently (May 2016) changed hands. The main entrance faces the road and takes you into an open plan room with the bar facing the entrance. The floor is mostly carpeted and there are two bay windows either side of the entrance door offering ample seating. The room snakes around to the right of the bar where what looks like an extension houses a pool table. A white dado rail separates a dark red and white colour scheme and runs throughout what was the 'original' building. The ale options were limited to Doom Bar and Wychwood's Hobgoblin (GK IPA was thankfully off); half of the Hobgoblin tasted rather insipid. Might be worth a revisit in 3-6 months they've had a chance to bed themselves in. Rating upped from a '3' to a '7' accordingly.

The Fairway Inn is very much a food led pub with pizza oven on the end of the bar before an ice cream cabinet. This is a Holts pub so their keg was available alongside Bitter from both hand pumps. There was a bit of crap background music playing but little else was happening during my recent Monday evening visit. This was my last pub of a crawl around the area so it was nice to have a bit of quiet time to take stock before trudging to the local Chinese opposite the Premier Inn a short walk away.

Most of the points are covered in Barry’s review, below. It’s a GK pub with their uninspired slop menu and limited beer choice. It has a dart board and pool table,, plus a very loud set of TV screens showing, on this visit, golf. There were several gaming machines and a jukebox, the latter being drowned out by the banal golf commentary and the equally banal wittering of the darts players. There was also a projector and screen at one end, though this wasn’t in use. The ales on were GK IPA and Abbott; the former tasted like stale lemonade so the better bet was the 4 boxes of Lilley’s cider which were a saving grace. The keg options were Fosters, San Miguel and Moretti. Not a great pub but it serves a purpose and at least it’s open.

With the Sound Bar having moved around the corner this, has now opened as Speakeasy. It's an eclectic mix of music, clientele and atmosphere with both cards and dominoes being played by a much younger group than you may expect. Three handpumps with two beers available during our stay, both from Lamb brewery which is new to me. Both the beers I had were in good nick, served by a friendly barmaid. It shuts at 10:30 in midweek, but as we'd been out most of the afternoon, this wasn't a problem.

No longer "Ye Olde" Dog & Partridge, it seems. The building looks traditional, but the interior has been re-imagined, to put it kindly. Chef & Brewer are seemingly aiming for the top end of the dining pub market, which I often find a bit intimidating, but my notes made at the time say that I was made welcome. There are multiple rooms on several different levels, with most tables set for dining, but I was able to find somewhere to sit with my beer. The cask beers were all from Greene King and friends, with Abbot and IPA, plus St Austell Tribute and (as it was December) Rocking Rudolf. My half of Tribute was in "top condition", my notes tell me, though priced at £4.60/pint in 2021 it certainly should have been.

Date of visit: 9th December 2021