The Old Plough Inn, Daventry

A short walk from the Grand Union canal, the Old Plough is under new ownership and has been given a bit of a makeover since the previous reviews. The right hand bar now serves as a comfortable lounge bar and the left hand room is now mainly for dining. Lots of dark wood and exposed stone walls and a large fireplace in each section. There are three handpumps in the right hand bar and then four in the left hand dining section and Doombar and Hobgobblin are the regular ales on both sets. And then for our visit Dow Bridge Acris and Victorious from the Wood Farm Brewing Company were on the others and the latter two were tried and found to be well kept. A fairly standard reasonably price pub grub menu is available, but cannot comment on that as we were only here for the beer. Wouldn’t hesitate to utilise again if we found ourselves doing this part of the Grand Union canal again.

The Plough is a lovely stone building where the interior of a seperate lounge and bar remains unchanged since Noah was a lad and really does need some tlc. It's comfortable enough but feels very tired and worn, almost to the point of stickiness. The menu offers a decent selection of standard pub fare along with a fresh, home cooked section from which the lamb stew was good. There's also the option of smaller portions from this section which may suit a lunchtime well. Beer selection was extremely bland for a free house with Hobgoblin, Doom Bar and London Pride on. The Doom Bar was very well kept but there really was nothing of any real interest to excite. A reliable, if dull, refueling station.

A short uphill walk on the footpath from Bridge 1 on the Grand Union Canal (Butcher's Bridge) leads to this traditional stone built pub.There are two distinct bars,with the public bar to the right of the building with basic furniture and a TV.The lounge is unchanged since the early 80's with several leather clad banquettes ,exposed brickwork and dark wood pannelling.There is a wood burner and the walls are decorated by a lot of brass artifacts,it all feels a little dated but the lounge is more popular with boaters while the public bar is used more by the village. This is a free house ,but the three handpumps were dispensing only nationally available brand on my trip.However my Doom Bar was in as good a condition as is possible with this beer. There is a good selection of food options ,from a typical pub grub menu and I enjoyed my meal. Higher marks would have been awarded for a more adventurous ale selection,this is a solid if unspectacular pub in a popular and famous canal village.

Old Plough We returned to this pub having enjoyed our stay last year. It was quite quiet for a Thursday night, and they weren’t as busy with locals or boaters. There was London Pride, Adnams Broadside, Black Sheep Bitter and Hobson’s Mild 3.2%. Bar staff were friendly and gave good service. I have to say I was disappointed with my steak, it needed some tenderising and the haddock mornay had been overcooked, but the steak and ale pie was thoroughly enjoyed by its critic. It was later observed that food although homemade & prepared had been stored in a freezer and then zapped in the microwave, then cooked. Although this is still what I call a proper pub with worn pub furniture, it was noticeable how tired everything looked, it is in need of refreshing and the toilets could do with a makeover. I’d still go again, as they serve a great pint but wouldn’t be in such a hurry this time. 24th September 2010

The Old Plough A proper pub! Full of character and a warren of rooms including the Tiller Bar and lounge, great ambience and atmosphere. Good home cooked pub food, reasonable priced. Great service from all the bar and waiting staff. It was busy in terms of locals and those of us who were canal boaters. They had 4 real ales that evening Admirals, ‘Explorer’, Adams ‘Broadside’, Tetley ‘Mild’ and Black Sheep Bitter. But they had another 8 barrels settling for their beer festival that weekend including Barge Bitter, Glotts Hop, and Mad Goose, Holts, Bitter, Owld Growler, Old Gaffer and 3 ciders. Of all the pubs that we had visited in our canal boat that week, this was the only one to be celebrating Guinness 250th birthday. For canal boaters this is about a 20 minute trek from Braunston Junction, the towpath isn’t the best it could be, you cross the canal at bridge 91 and have to cross a busy road and then a climb up to the Church and High Street, but it’s a worth it! 24/09/09