ReviewThe main attraction in Castle Rising is of course the 12th Century castle and a stop at the nearby Black Horse makes a decent enough contribution to the visit without leaving you with any great desire to return.
The side entrance from the spacious car park leads to a lobby and has some old fashioned coloured glass in the doors spelling out the pub's name. The interior is quite pubby despite the place being listed as a dining pub on other websites. To the right of the lobby is a mock Tudor extension that serves as the restaurant and is far enough away from the main pub not to interfere with the pub atmosphere. On the other side of the lobby is the main bar, presumably 2 bars originally but now knocked through to a single walkaround bar, albeit the lounge / public bar is still distinguishable either side of the front entrance. The carpeted lounge bar area has an interesting fireplace cum display section bearing several trophys whilst the public bar area has a more basic approach with bare floors, beams and dart board. Lots of old pictures adorn the walls and safe piped music doesn't interfere with the relatively sedate atmosphere.
The 5 Ales available aren't particularly exciting for the area: Green King IPA, Abbott, Marsdens Pedigree, Adnams and Woodforde Wherry. If you don't mind having Greene King IPA, you can experiment with the north/south pouring contraption that came in a couple of years ago with a blaze of publicity but is rarely seen.
Overall, the Black Horse is an above average country pub and a safe bet for a pleasant drink or meal if passing by but not really a place that you will deem necessary to go well out of the way for.
