The Cock Inn, Bishop's Stortford

Official site of The Cock Inn - www.thecockinn-hatfieldbroadoak.co.uk

Fortunately I was neither served flat beer nor short changed, so I have a lot more to say about The Cock Inn in the pleasant Essex village of Hatfield Broad Oak. This brick fronted 16th century Grade II listed former coaching inn dominates this older and historic end of the village and functions as a proper village local in contrast to the Dukes Head in the more modern end of the village that functions as a restaurant. You enter either through the front entrance or the side entrance through the archway that leads to the car park and secluded walled outside patio area. Although the wooden beamed interior with half-timbered walls has been over painted in a modern style using a purple colour scheme that matches the exterior colouring it’s fairly sympathetic to the original Coaching Inn features. The main bar area with its small corner serving area is wood floored with purple coloured table seating and is fairly light and airy due to the dual aspect windows and then there is a smaller second bar area beyond which has a dartboard and TV along with the pub toilets. And then there is a separate room space off to the left as you enter through the front door which was laid for dining on my visit. And in this respect the food menu was more the sensibly priced standard pub fare menu using local produce than the gastro fare to be had down the road. On the beer front the small serving area supports four ale pumps with Adnams Southwold Bitter, Wells Eagle IPA and Woodforde's Wherry as permanent beers and for our visit Doombar was an uninspiring guest beer. Fortunately our pints of Wherry were up to scratch. There are some bench tables with umbrellas to the front of the pub and these catch the late afternoon sun, making them an excellent spot for an alfresco pint after doing one of the many pleasant countryside walks or a visit to the nearby Hatfield Forest Nature reserve.

Official site of The Cock Inn - www.thecockinn-hatfieldbroadoak.co.uk

Flat beer and short change.Nothing more to be said about this place.