ReviewI believe this is yet again under new management. This cannot bode well for the future of the pub, it's obviously not making any money if landlords last no more than a few months. This is a shame as it's a tidy, up together pub in a prime location.
Not much has changed though, even the pictures on the wall are the same. They have been advertising that there is now a pool table, although I could not see any evidence of it when I visited. I queried this, and was told it's in a barn out the back, and they could “unlock it if I wanted”.
Food is now very traditional pub grub – haddock & chips, scampi & chips, pie of the day, lasagne, etc. and is advertised as “home cooked” whatever that means. Nothing even as adventurous as a curry or a chilli, and no specials board either. The menu does not list any desserts, but says to ask for today's selection. One punter did this and got an extremely bemused expression from the barmaid, although to be fair she did then real some off. Nothing wrong with a basic pub grub menu of course, as long as it's decent food. Unfortunately on this occasion it was a bit disappointing – my beer battered haddock and chips was just about ok, but certainly not worth the £7.50 or so I paid. The fish itself was very small, being almost as much batter as fish.
On the plus side though, it's still got a pleasant ambience, and all the staff seemed friendly and helpful. It was quite quiet on a Friday night though, with only a dozen or so people being in there at 8:30pm, and it's a big old pub. If that's what it's like at a prime time like that, I can't see the new owners lasting too long, which will be a shame. It did liven up (rather too much) later on, with a horde of rather noisy teenagers, but then it was the last day of term so this may not be typical.
Beers on this occasion were Doom Bar, Butcombe and Courage Best. The cider was Thatcher's Gold.
