The Red Lion, Buckingham

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Blackthorn _ left this review about The Red Lion

An attractive, thatched country pub in a pleasant spot with a small beer garden at the back, this is a bit of a mixture of a local’s boozer and a gastro-pub, but it seems to pull off the combination well enough. It looks as though it may have recently been refurbished in a more contemporary style, but still manages to retain many of it’s original features. The couple running it were pleasant and helpful and it was good to see plenty of people enjoying a pint on a recent mid-week evening. Having said that, the language from some of the locals was a little colourful which seemed somewhat at odds with the upmarket foodie image the pub is presumably trying to cultivate.

It’s divided in to two rooms, one of which is clearly more intended for dining with all the tables being laid up for food. There is wood flooring throughout and a low ceiling, which makes for a convivial and intimate setting. The bar to the right has wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and cream plasterwork above. There is a fire-place at each end and whilst the smaller of the two was completely stacked full of logs and looked to be more decorative than functional, the large one at the opposite end looks as though it may well be used on occasions although on a recent spring time visit all it had in it was three candles. The dining room to the left had a similar décor other than the wood panelling being painted a pale green colour and plenty more beams on the ceiling as well as a couple of old wooden support posts and another decorative fire-place, this one stacked full of wine bottles.

The food menu offers a decent selection of both your regular “pub grub” dishes as well as a few more adventurous options and there is also a small specials board. The prices however were somewhat higher than your usual pub offerings, with just one of the main courses (Ham, Egg & Chips) coming in at under a tenner. The Fish & Chips was an ambitious £13.95, although most were closer to the £12 mark. I had Salmon & Prawn fishcakes with a chilli sauce and Asian salad and I found this to be a generously proportioned and tasty dish. At £11.95 I was quite happy with it and would certainly return and try something else. Other diners appeared to be making similarly appreciative comments.

Beers on tap were all from the Fuller’s stable with their London Pride, HSB, Chiswick Bitter and Brewers Bragg. The solitary cider was Aspall’s Suffolk, and this seemed a little expensive at £3.95.

On 15^th May 2013 - rating: 8
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