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The Old Swan, Milton Keynes
Bletchley
Postal town: Milton Keynes
MK3 6EZ
Pub Type
Greene KingReviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Old Swan
A traditional pub just off the Buckingham Road in a residential part of Bletchley, it consists of a large bar area, smaller lounge and a patio at the rear. There was a good crowd of locals in on a recent mid-week visit with the majority just there for a drink, despite the pub being part of Greene King’s “Meet and Eat” brand. It looks as though any refurbishment was some time ago, and although it’s certainly not tatty there were a few areas where it could have done with some tidying up. The gent’s loos in particular had a basin which looked as though it was hanging off the wall and an inoperable hot tap.
The main bar area is a good size, extending from the front to back of the pub past the bar counter and opening up at the rear. Paintwork was the usual gastro-pub shades of brown and cream, although this is not a gastro-pub by any means. Flooring was mostly carpet with a few tiles around the wood panelled bar and there were a couple of pillars of exposed brickwork. Sport is obviously a bit of a feature here with three plasmas and a small projector screen dotted around, although somehow these did not seem too intrusive, perhaps because the volume was off, although I’m sure that’s not the case if there is a major match on. A fixture list was also displayed prominently. There is also a pool table and darts board at the rear. The front room is more lounge like, with a number of old black and white photographs on the wall including several quite large ones of the station at Fenny Stratford.
The menu looked to be a standard mass produced affair and offered an extensive selection of “pub grub” dishes such as sausage & mash, all day breakfast, hunter’s chicken, fish & chips, beef & ale pie, etc., as well as a number of steaks, sizzlers and burgers. Main courses were mostly somewhere in the £5 - £8 price range. My Chicken Tikka Masala was an “improved recipe” apparently and it was a generous portion and tasty enough, although it had that sloppy consistency that is normally indicative of something out of the microwave. For £6.09 though it was decent enough, although the optional naan bread for another pound seemed expensive when many other pubs include this.
Beers on tap were a little disappointing being entirely from the Greene King stable with their IPA, Abbott Ale, Olde Trip and Old Speckled Hen. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. Overall I say this was a solid enough local’s pub, but it’s not really worth making a special journey for.
On 10th December 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roy Collins left this review about The Old Swan
Small comfortable TV free bar area at the front with a much larger extended area at rear with tellys showing football. Has a range of Greene King ales and I had a golden one which was well kept and priced at £2.95. It is classed as a "meet & eat " pub so it does a lot of meals.Had steak and chips which was very nice.
On 12th May 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 124 recommendations about 121 pubs]