The Buck, Middlesbrough

Fairly well to do looking place as you enter the village from the south. Still table service only, much slower than bar service but it’s their pub/ restaurant, the service is more restaurant than pub anyway. Two pulls although just the one in operation with a far from home and rather average Salopian. A fairly mundane bunch of popular kegs is also available, bet their wine list is better thought out. Counter in one corner of a square room with a raised area to one side and a nearly separate room to the other. Tasteful matching furniture and mostly carpeted throughout. Looks very popular with oldies and dining families.

Facebook page of The Buck - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Buck - www.facebook.com

We’d driven past this pub, located on one of the main roads out of Great Ayton, on the fringes of the village, several times during the course of our stay and I finally decided to pop in for a look on our penultimate night. It’s a good-sized pub with a car park to one side flanked by picnic benches along the pub’s external wall. You enter to a semi-divided seating area with a large open-plan carpeted area to the left. Several tables and chairs fill this space under red and cream coloured walls and some nice dark wood ceiling beams. A pleasant stone fireplace to one side had an unused TV screen above it and the walls were decorated with various paintings, including a nice one depicting the pub. Meanwhile, to the right there is a second carpeted area, partly hidden behind a partitioning wall with a large open pane-less window looking through to it from the main room. Comfy banquette seating skirts the perimeter of this room and there is a nice shelving unit to the rear with a built-in clock at the top, holding old books, cases and clocks. The servery is to the rear of the main room and has a tongue and groove panelled counter front and darker wood bar back with some attractive vintage lamps hung above the bar counter. A door to the left takes you through to another side room, this time slightly raised and set-up more for diners, with rows of table and chairs down either side and another cutaway window allowing you to see back into the main room. Décor includes old lanterns, plain mirrors and some more paintings. A corridor to the right of the bar runs towards the rear but I didn’t explore. Pop tunes played in the background throughout my stay but the pub was practically empty on a Friday evening, with the only other customers being a family that were just leaving as I arrived, and two women catching up over a bottle of wine near the bar. Two handpulls were spotted on the bar, but one of these was unclipped, leaving the lone option of Ossett Blonde, which I ended up trying. Sadly, the beer was on its last legs and a little too warm, although it had been a very hot day to be fair. The barmaid was very cheery but it was a bit sad to see the pub so quiet when others in the village were doing a great trade. This place seemed like a decent enough pub that probably needs a bit of investment to liven it up and bring things up to the standard of its competition. Some of the elements are already in place – the side rooms were quite pleasantly decorated, but a smarter main bar, better ale selection and perhaps an improved outdoor seating area, would all improve this place and give it a fighting chance.

Two hand pulls at the bar, as of yesterday evening one was unclipped leaving Purity Mad Goose on the other. This set me back £2.10 for a half. Service was friendly. A nice cosy feeling pub, there was a separate raised area to the side with tables laid out for dining. I noticed the presence of a wood burner, which was in use and blasting out a bit of warmth. My minor criticism is the presence of many indiscreet CCTV cameras, which I felt was a bit offputting.