Ye Old Red Lion, Warrington

May 2016 - Party of 13. Pre-booked and also left our order earlier in the day. I think this establishment is under new management/owners recently and it is our first visit here in a great number of years but they do welcome walkers, allowing them to use the car park extension and cater for the unpredictability of walk time. So although booked in at five, we were all complete by half four and they were able to prepare our order. The interior of the pub is very bright and quite open plan with a massive conservatory at the back which adds a great deal of daylight into the place. The menu has also just been upgraded but we found most of the major pub grub food varieties at prices that were reasonable. not the cheapest in the area but also most definitely not the most expensive. The over-riding impression that we all left with was the enormity of the plate portions. They were massive and the food was well cooked, tasty and well presented. Very few had room for deserts and even they were very reasonably priced for the size of portion that came out. Service was extremely professional and very accommodating. They also had another large party in at the same time as us but it didn't seem to phase the staff and we were very well looked after. As you can see from the score most of the party were highly impressed.

Like the nearby Black Swan, this is a large roadside village inn that has had most of the internal walls removed at some time, leaving a large open plan space although the public bar entrance is still identifiable. Unfortunately, this pub is not the vibrant destination pub that its near neighbour has become. The two hand pumps at the far end of the long bar have reversed pump clips because "there's not enough demand". I talked to a local drinker in the Black Swan who told me they used to have a nice pint of Theakstons Bitter here, but when they changed to the smooth version he changed to the other pub. So there's no demand for real ale here any more... As well as the smooth bitter there's Theakstons Smooth Dark MILD, and John Smiths Ultra Cold Smooth Crap and the usual keg lagers and ciders. I had the MILD, which was tolerable. The lease is available on this pub, and there's the potential here to challenge the excellent Black Swan for the title of best pub in the village. Any takers?