Cross Keys, Milton Keynes

Attractive old pub, once on a country lane no doubt, and despite being well within the Milton Keynes conurbation it still has a semi-traditional rural feel. Very much food led these days of course, even in the bar area separated from the restaurant by the central servery. Patio beer garden to the rear . Three cask ales on handpump: the Brewpoint Anchorman IPA and Pilothouse porter (£4.90) as well as the more routine Doom Bar.

Thatched village pub which has now been swalloped up by Milton Keynes. Most of Milton Keynes' pubs appear to be branches of chains, but this one appears to be more of a free house, formerly a Charles Wells pub. It appears popular with locals. It was quite busy on our Sunday evening visit. We sat in the rather noisy and boisterous bar area. There is also a separate restaurant. Whatpub promised a selection of Brewpoint beers, but the real ale range was limited to 4 national beers - Fuller's London Pride, St Austell Proper Job, Timothy Taylor Landlord & Black Sheep Best Bitter. There were a couple of unclipped handpulls on the corner of the bar, which presumably normally carry Brewpoint beers.

Called in while visiting Buckinghamshire's 2019 Good Beer Guide pubs in the Milton Keynes area. The pub is owned by Charles Wells brewery, and is a period thatched roof pub that was refurbished earlier this year. 6 ales available but they were all mainstream beers rather than locale, and we chose Wadworth 6x which was ok.

Official site of the Cross Keys, contains menus and event details - www.crosskeysmiltonkeynes.co.uk

Official site of the Cross Keys, contains menus and event details - www.crosskeysmiltonkeynes.co.uk

An attractive old thatched pub that no doubt at one time was in a pleasant village near the canal, but now unfortunately is surrounded by the concrete jungle. Inside it would appear that it’s recently been refurbished, and whilst this was pleasant enough, it has perhaps lost some of the character that it may have had previously. It’s quite a contemporary design, and certainly seemed a little out of kilter with the exterior. It’s divided in to two rooms, with the “village bar” on the right and a lounge to the left. On a recent midweek evening visit, there was nobody in the lounge, but a few punters in the bar. This has a fairly small wooden bar counter in the corner, and this was quite tricky to get to due to a few locals (and their dog) propping it up, and none of them showed any propensity to move so that I could actually get there to order a pint. Bar staff seemed friendly enough once I had managed to get there. The floor is red tiling, and the walls mostly pale green plasterwork with exposed stone along the front and a few beams on the ceiling. There is a fire place to one side, but all this had in it was a basket of logs and some fairy lights. A bit of a missed opportunity on a snowy January evening. As previously mentioned this looks as though it may have been recently done up, and the furniture in particular looked very new. The lounge to the left was perhaps more geared up for dining, and featured a wood laminate floor and some wood panelling on the walls. The “bistro” menu offered a reasonable selection of pub grub dishes such as Fish & Chips, Burger, Beef Pie, Sausage of the day, etc., although with most of the main courses around the £10 mark, it is perhaps priced slightly above your usual bar food. My Thai Green Curry was decent enough, if slightly on the spicy side, and consisted of an unspecified fish rather than the more usual chicken, along with (as the menu was keen to point out), lemon rice and a braised spring onion. Beer choice seems somewhat diminished since the previous reviews. As far as I could see there were only three pumps on the bar and these were all from the Young’s stable with their Bitter, Eagle IPA and Bombardier. The solitary cider was Symonds Founders Reserve.