Duke Of Wellington, Chelmsford

This is still a Greene King house, so there's no surprises regarding ales on, with Old Speckled Hen, GK IPA, and Duke of Wellington Ale all available. The latter is obviously a rebadged GK beer - it had that distinctive GK taste to, but was fairly cheap at £3.14 a pint, even for a 3.9% ale. I was in there for a family celebratory meal on Saturday afternoon, and it was apparent that, at least at that time of day, the main business of the pub was selling food. It was reasonably priced as I recall, and included standard pub grub favourites such as fish 'n' chips, sausage 'n' mash, and steak and ale pie. It's obviously a standard country pub, with the trademark low ceilings, plus there were reclaimed posts and beams all over the place, most serving no useful structural purpose as far as I could see. There were several nooks and crannies occupied by more diners on Saturday, and there is a conservatory area at the back clearly built to accommodate more diners, which was reserved for the large group of which I was a member. There some fruit machines to one side next to the tall tables/tall stools, but the vast majority of the pub seemed fairly relaxing, and furnished with normal tables and chairs. There's a fairly large garden at the back, including what I guess might be termed cabanas (one of my companions called them smoking huts, which is probably a more accurate description) as well as a bit of bench seating out at the front. There's a large car park to the left of the pub. This pub is nice enough, although not being a great fan of Greene King ales I would regard the ale selection as unexciting at best. I'm sure you're not going to travel out to Hatfield Peveril just to visit this pub, but if you do find yourself there looking for a bite to eat you could certainly do worse than the Duke of Wellington.

Official site of the Duke Of Wellington - www.dukeofwellington-pub-chelmsford.co.uk

Official site of the Duke Of Wellington - www.dukeofwellington-pub-chelmsford.co.uk