The Talbot, Loughton, Milton Keynes

The Talbot is an Ember Inns pub in the Loughton area to the west of Milton Keynes. Although, it's not too far (about a 20 minute walk) from Milton Keynes Central station. We arrived by car. The pub has a car park, but in common with other pubs from this chain, you have to register your vehicle at the bar on a tablet, or face a hefty fine. Inside there is a lengthy bar ahead of you as you arrive, with plenty of seating areas off to the left, the right and adjacent to the bar. However, the ale choice was fairly limited here. Black Sheep Twilighter appeared to be on. Although the pumpclip was resting against a handpull, as opposed to being clipped. The guest beer was Best Bitter also from Black Sheep. What I would have given for something as unusual as what Gill Smith found in 2018! It's probably the reason why the pub has dropped out of the Good Beer Guide over the last couple of years. Poor as Ember Inns go, but probably ok for cheap food.

Called in here while visiting Buckinghamshire's 2019 Good Beer Guide pubs. There was an impressive selection of ales across 12 handpumps in here and we selected Rudgate Hp for Heroes and By The Horns Hopadelic, both of which was fine.

Talbot Inn official page - www.greatbritishcarvery.co.uk

Talbot Inn official page - www.greatbritishcarvery.co.uk

This looks to be a traditional old country pub from the outside, but has clearly been extended and renovated and doesn’t have quite the cosy charm that you might expect. That said, it’s a decent enough place if slightly lacking in any character. It’s a large pub divided in to several areas. The restaurant section is off to the right (or the front, depending on how you look at it) and I didn’t investigate this. The central area which is where the bar counter is located is a L-shape room with dark stained wooden boards on the floor. The bar counter itself is fairly small, and the fact that there were three punters sat up there on stools made it difficult to get there to be served. At the back of this room is an area with dark wood panelling on the walls covered in black and white photos, reminiscent of a old hotel drawing room. Off to the right is a more open plan area, with tartan carpet on the floors as well as tartan wallpaper on the back wall. There is a large fire place stacked full with logs that I suspect will never be burnt, and above this a plasma that was showing Sky Sports. Fortunately the sound was down, and instead there was background music to listen to. Whilst not obviously being a pub that focuses on sport, there was nonetheless a fixtures list on each table, and this indicated that a couple of football matches would be shown on most days. There was a certain amount of exposed brick work in evidence, and the seating was a mixture of tables and chairs, leather sofas and arm chairs. Going on the sign outside, the pub bills itself as a “Restaurant, Pub and Carvery” and consequently the food offering included a large carvery counter. The rest of the menu was traditional pub fayre with most of the mains being around the £8 mark, and my Chicken Tikka Masala seemed a decent enough dish, although perhaps a little over-priced for the quality and quantity provided. Barmaid seemed friendly enough. The only beers on tap were Old Speckled Hen and London Pride. There was a third pump on the bar but this appeared to be unused. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately.