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Detail Pages
Black Swan, Woking
Ockham
Postal town: Woking
KT11 1NG
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Black Swan
This is a large gastro pub in a small village conveniently positioned just off the M25/A3 intersection and a short drive from RHS Wisley. Film buffs might better know the pub as ‘The Slaughtered Lamb’, as it was used for interior shots of the rural boozer in the movie ‘An American Werewolf in London’, although the interior is unrecognisable from the old-fashioned inn shown in the movie, having been opened out and smartened up in a bid to appeal to Surrey commuter-belt types. Pentagrams were also conspicuous by their absence. Nowadays, you enter through one of two sets of front doors to some large, open-plan seating areas. The left side is perhaps set up a little more formally with tables and chairs in rows down either side, supplemented by a few benches. Meanwhile, the right-hand side feels a bit more homely, or at least as much as that is possible in a pub like this. Comfier furnishings with a few bits of partitioning make this spot perhaps the best bet for those not wanting to eat and there is also easy access from here to the bar which runs down the back wall, with a long counter and modern bar back, both rather devoid of character. Décor throughout involves lots of white walls, smart floorboards (which have replaced the characterful cobbles that once used to skirt the bar area), bland paintings and a few decorative ornaments but not all that much that you would deem inherently ‘pubby’. Perhaps the pub’s best asset these days is its huge garden with ample parking, tonnes of picnic benches and smart garden furniture dotted between well maintained hedges, table tennis tables, bar and BBQ area and outdoor DJ booth. There were also signs for a ‘Bubble Garden’, which appeared to be a grassy space filled with a set of small domes, ideal for socially distanced private dining.
There were three ales on at the bar – Taylor Landlord, Greene King IPA and Surrey Hills Shere Drop, the latter in good shape. We stopped in here for some food with friends and found the food was good quality but overpriced and the waitress forgot about our desserts order which meant we were sat around for ages waiting for food that the kitchen didn’t know we wanted!
This place seems to be very popular, at least judging by our Saturday early evening visit, and I would say if you’re looking for somewhere to break a journey with some good, if rather pricey, food in a nice garden setting, you could do a lot worse. As a pub in its own right, it doesn’t quite work despite the decent beer quality, although I suspect this isn’t a problem for most of the pub’s current patrons.
On 25th September 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Colin Walker left this review about Black Swan
The Black Swan interior before its refurbishment achieved its fame in the film 'An American Werewolf in London'. In the film the exterior was actually a cottage located in small village of Crickadarn. In the film the pub was called The Slaughtered Lamb.
On 15th December 2019
- rating: 10
[User has posted 709 recommendations about 704 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
dave stray left this review about Black Swan
The last few visits in 2011 have been a little disappointed and the last visit in Decemeber 2011 leaved a fair bit to be desired. The service was amazing slow and the staff in general seemed uninterested and not that friendly. The beer was however a bright spart of the pub with Hogs Back beers being especially good. Lacks a warmth however which it used to have. 45-50 minutes for a main course seems excessive.
On 6th December 2011
- rating: 3
[User has posted 265 recommendations about 183 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
dave stray left this review about Black Swan
Good pub with a gastro theme but highly expensive. Light coloured decor.
On 1st September 2010
- rating: 5
[User has posted 265 recommendations about 183 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Black Swan
The old 'Mucky Duck' has changed beyond all recognition to anyone who used to know it. Now a 'Geronimo Inn', totally refurbished inside and out and mainly given over to posh food with prices to match. Somewhere to take the boss rather than go boozing with your mates, but still some good and well-kept beers and an excellent range of bottled stuff including rare ciders.
On 17th September 2008
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3352 recommendations about 3289 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Nick Davies left this review about Black Swan
Unfortunately I never knew the previous incarnation but it's obvious upon crossing the threshold that an atrocity of monstrous proportions has occurred. If you can blank that from your mind and repress the urge to turn tail and look for somewhere resembling a pub you will discover a reasonable selection of beers including some Belgian bottles and currently a wide range of ciders. Both Doom Bar and Shere Drop in fine fettle this afternoon.
Once you've got what you want your chances of finding a seat inside are pretty thin as it's nearly all laid up for eating so best to go outside to use some of the daftest garden furniture I've ever come across.
It was surprisingly empty for a Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon. I suspect that the gastropub joke is wearing a bit thin these days, even in fabulously wealthy recession-immune areas like this, and that the pubcos will have to dream up some other dastardly scheme to torment us with.
On 24th August 2008
- rating: 3
[User has posted 567 recommendations about 559 pubs]