The Rose & Crown, Northampton

Official site of The Rose & Crown - roseandcrownhartwell.co.uk

Official site of The Rose & Crown - roseandcrownhartwell.co.uk

An attractive and traditional whitewashed stone pub on the main road through the village, it’s appearance is only let down only by the illuminated Carling sign underneath the pub sign which is hardly likely to do much in the way of drawing punters in I wouldn’t have thought. There are a couple of picnic benches on the hard standing out at the front whilst the pub itself is divided in to one long room across the front, and a smaller room to the rear. From what I could see, the room at the rear was much smaller and housed a pool table, although I did not investigate this. The main bar at the front has the quintessential country pub feel with plenty of black wooden beams on the low ceiling, numerous horse brasses dotted around and a stone pillar in the centre. The flooring was a red patterned carpet, walls were white painted wallpaper and there were various old black and white photos and generic country drawings dotted around. To the right was a large brick fire-place with a wood burning stove and a selection of cups and shields on the mantelpiece above. There were a few high chairs at the bar and elsewhere the seating was a mixture of chairs and small stools. All in all, this had many of the ingredients of a great country pub. For me the thing that let it down slightly were some of the clientele. Clearly it was made up predominantly of locals from the village (in itself no bad thing of course), but that in turn meant that they felt rather at home and were somewhat free with their use of language. One middle aged couple at the bar in particular used the f-word rather too much for my liking and much of their conversation seemed to be of a sexual nature. The barman clearly knew them and was happy to join in with their banter. Beers on tap were Greene King IPA and Purity’s Mad Goose whilst a third pump was in the process of being changed. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. Food is not offered.