Harvester The Fountain, Loughton, Milton Keynes

Official site of Harvester The Fountain - www.harvester.co.uk

Official site of Harvester The Fountain - www.harvester.co.uk

The central part of this much extended building looks like an old farmhouse, and the appearance of the frontage is enhanced by a compact and partially sheltered beer garden (with a much larger seating area to the rear). Inside, it has been completely refurbished and thus has lost much - although not quite all - of its character in the process. Usual modern furniture and decor. No real ale, and even the keg Bombardier was off, so had to resort to a Tetleys Smooth (£2.70).

No doubt at one time this was a quaint old country inn, and whilst it still retains some of those characteristics such as whitewashed stone walls and a thatched roof, it is now part of the Harvester chain and has the rather bland corporate identity that you would expect. It’s a large pub divided in to several different areas. There’s nothing really wrong with the interior, it’s pleasant enough in a mass produced, identikit sort of way and there are a few retained features such as some black ceiling beams and exposed stone walling. Other than that it’s very much the usual patterned carpet along with some slate floor tiling, wood tables, a few leather sofa’s, etc. There are a couple of old fireplaces around though, including an extremely big one just inside the entrance door. The restaurant area was off to the right, with the pub rooms to the left, including a snug area by one of the fireplaces. There looked to be a good sized beer garden out the back. I wished to eat in the bar, but unfortunately the menu here is very much diminished from that which is available in the restaurant for some reason. It consisted of a few basic pub grub dishes such as burger, fish & chips and a pasta for around the £6 mark. Why you can’t choose from the restaurant menu and eat in the bar I’m not sure. Bar staff were pleasant enough in a rather impersonal sort of way (I ordered a drink and asked for a receipt. A few minutes later, whilst I was still the same barmaid’s next customer as it was quiet, I ordered some food. I would have expected that she would have given me a receipt, or at least asked if I wanted one, but I had to ask at which point she looked somewhat surprised. Maybe I’m just being pedantic). No real ales on tap unfortunately, just keg Bombardier. Equally unfortunately, the solitary cider was Strongbow. There was a tap for Bulmers, but this appeared to have run out.