The Peartree Bridge Inn, Milton Keynes

Stonehouse pizza and carvery pub / restaurant beside the Grand Union Canal, which may be a draw in the summer but you could barely see the water on my November evening visit. Anyway, it's a sizeable place with an irregular layout, but parts are furnished and decorated in a very dull semi-modern style. The three handpumps (with reversed Doom Bar clips) are disused, so made do with a Guinness (£4.80) which I haven't had for quite a while.

Official site of The Peartree Bridge Inn - www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk

Official site of The Peartree Bridge Inn - www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk

A cavernous pub alongside the canal, this is a modern brick built affair on the edge of a housing estate, and unfortunately lacks the rustic charm of some of it’s more rural neighbours. It is split in to two distinct halves inside joined by a meandering corridor. One half is very much a restaurant and featured a large carvery counter and some type of help yourself ice cream machine. The drinker’s half is a L-shape room at the other end of the pub. One leg of the “L” has a pool table, darts board and a plasma mounted up in the corner. The other leg is just tables and chairs. Decor wise, it’s the usual bland, corporate style with paintwork being a mixture of maroon and green, lots of carved wood including a wood panelled bar and wood panelling on the ceiling up above , along with various nautical artefacts such as a ship’s wheel, oars and pictures identifying several species of fish. It’s a shame that the canal side location wasn’t factored in to the design a bit more. The pub runs lengthways along the edge of, and quite close to the canal, so although there are views from some of the tables inside the pub, there is no room for any outside seating. There are some benches adjacent to it, but instead of a nice beer garden it’s just a tarmac’d area with a view of the car park. Food seems to be very much of the cheap and cheerful, mass produced variety and the focus was very much on the all day £3.99 carvery which seemed very popular, although I believe other options were available. A poster near the door advertised puddings from £1.99 which rather suggests that they’re not freshly prepared by a top chef. The solitary barman was doing his best, but it was apparently his first day at the pub and as he had to cope with punters both ordering drinks and food, there was inevitably something of a wait. The solitary beer on tap was London Pride (unless you count keg John Smiths) although there was also a pump for Young’s Bitter but this appeared to have run out. Ciders fared little better with just Strongbow and Bulmer’s Original.