Eight Belles, Milton Keynes

A good sized pub on the main road through Bletchley, this has recently re-opened I believe and looks as though it has also undergone something of a refurbishment. It’s all one open-plan room and is roughly an L-shape, with a couple of small areas tagged on elsewhere. Décor wise it’s fairly unremarkable with a mixture of cream and pale green paintwork on the walls and the flooring being predominantly wood strip, although with carpet and slate tiles elsewhere. A blackboard advertised a number of forthcoming bands that were playing. The front part of the pub seems to be more of a bar area and this had a plasma at each end as well as a darts board and a couple of fruit machines. This was very male dominated on a recent visit, although this may perhaps have been due to the forthcoming football match that was being screened. A fire-place was at one end and housed an open log burner, although it’s a shame that this was not in use on a cold February evening. The lounge bar at the side was roughly similar in appearance but with more tables and chairs and no TV screens. A few old black and white photographs were dotted around, and a snug area off to one side had a 1940’s theme with orange seating, walls covered in old newspaper reproductions and a vintage radio in a nod to the nearby Bletchley Park. The menu offered a decent selection of “pub grub” dishes including ham, egg & chips, sausage & mash, fish & chips and a few burgers. There were also a couple of retro dishes including a Codebreaker’s Chicken (which appeared identical to the Hunter’s Chicken you get elsewhere) and a 1940’s corned beef hash which sounded quite tempting. Most of these were priced around the £8 - £10 mark. I opted for the BBQ Pulled Pork Burger served with spiced peppers, onions, and salsa verde on a warm ciabatta roll, thick cut chips and coleslaw. The coleslaw was conspicuous only by it’s absence, but to be fair I did have 10% off when ordering as something was apparently not working and would not be fixed until Friday, although I did not catch what. The coleslaw machine perhaps? The pork was really very tasty indeed, and a generous amount of it was oozing out of the burger. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beers on tap were Bombardier Burning Gold, London Pride and Doom Bar. The solitary cider was Thatcher’s Gold which makes a pleasant change from the usual dross you get around these parts. All in all, with it’s decent food and genuinely friendly staff I quite liked this pub, although it may not have quite the authentic “pubby” feel of some places.

Official site of Eight Bells - www.eightbellesbletchley.co.uk

Official site of Eight Bells - www.eightbellesbletchley.co.uk