Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Bell & Bear, Olney
Emberton
Postal town: Olney
MK46 5DH
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Bell & Bear
Called in this pub while visiting Buckinghamshire's 2019 Good Beer Guide pubs around the Milton Keynes area, and found this to be a friendly community local. Beer on from Hornes and Oakham breweries and we had the Hornes Dark Fox which was OK. They like to exchange local grown veg for beer and the restaurant is popular needing advance booking.
On 18th November 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Bell & Bear
A traditional, village boozer that has thankfully not gone down the gastropub route. The right hand bar is very much geared up for drinking, and whilst there is a cosy looking restaurant area on the left with a few beams on the ceiling and a couple of big stone fire places, this seems to fit in with the pub and doesn’t dominate.
The bar area is a long narrow room, with the wood panelled bar counter on the left. Flooring is rough wood, and there is limited seating with a solitary table in the window alcove underneath the TV and a few bar stools elsewhere. The wall on the left is liberally plastered with beer mats, presumably from brews that they have served up in the past. On the right is a narrow ledge, just right for resting your pint on, and a few random prints up above, along with a selection of awards that the pub has won. There were also a couple of pots of marmalade and chutney for sale. At the rear is a small sports area with a couple more tables and a table skittles game.
This is very much a friendly community local, and apparently you can even bring along your own home grown veg in exchange for beer and food! I was making a point of visiting the pub for two reasons, but unfortunately it failed on both counts. Firstly I wanted to try a local cider, Hard Core from Virtual Orchard in Wolverton which has recently won a Camra gold award, and I understand that this is the only regular stockist. Unfortunately though, it had run out and there wouldn’t be any more until they produced another batch next year! My second quest was simply something to eat, but I failed here too as the chef was off due to having a tooth out!
Nonetheless, this is clearly a great village local and I would happily return. The landlady and the locals all seemed friendly and it had a great atmosphere. Beers on tap are all from micro or obscure breweries (their words, not mine) and on this occasion were Mordue Five Bridges plus HMS Neptune and November, both from Buntingford. The solitary cider was Kingston Press.
On 23rd November 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]