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Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon), Milton Keynes
Bletchley
Postal town: Milton Keynes
MK2 2ED
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon)
Named after the alibi used by the code breakers, this branch of Wetherspoon's sits on a busy main road and unusually has its own small car park to the front. It is fairly modern inside and stretches back a fair way. Despite the spacious interior, toilets can be found upstairs.
The usual Wetherspoon's ales were on - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. The two guest beers were Morland Old Speckled Hen & Oakham JHB - not the most inspiring of choices. They did, however, have a real cider - Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon.
Pictures and news stories on the walls tell the story of the code breakers. We ordered a snack which came quickly and filled a gap.
On 25th January 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2454 recommendations about 2453 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon)
Probably the best-looking building in the modern town's undistinguished shopping centre, so that's hardly fulsome praise... but 'spoons have done a good job in remodelling and extending this into a surprisingly large pub. Extends a long way back, but there is still room on the site for front, side and rear patio areas. Dull selection of six mainstream real ales from a total of ten handpumps, of which Exmoor Gold (£2.10) was the least common. On the plus side, it has some interesting information boards about the history of Bletchley Park and the people who worked there during the Second World War
On 18th August 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon)
Formerly the Bletchley Arms,now extended by 'spoons but the new name reference to nearby Bletchley Park is the best part.Initially a low ceiling,it's not vast but very popular,while beyond the bar it opens out into a more normal interior.
What got my goat was that the two ranks of 6 handpumps were serving the exact same ales with Doom Bar,GK IPA,Abbott and Ruddles Best all doubled up as were the guests Green Jack Lurcher Stout and Oakham JHB.I was then informed that there was a 1 hour wait for food and it became obvious that the wheels had fallen off here ,and it wasn't worth hanging about.
The locals were a rough looking bunch and the manager must have underestimated how popular the pub was going to be on New Years Day.
Not one of Tim's best.
On 1st January 2020
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2728 recommendations about 2728 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon)
This is currently the newest JDW having opened on the 5th December 2017.
The report that the old Bletchley Arms had been demolished would seem to have been false as the front part of this new JDW is quite clearly the old pub. It has retained a small car park but at 10:00 on a Saturday morning it was full.
There is a patio area at the front and side as well as a fair sized paved and astroturf garden at the back that includes some wooden shelters. As noted below it's essentially open plan and the eating area at the rear looks like a new extension. Being a new JDW fixtures and fittings are better than average. There is some brick making memorabilia about and I noticed one tall table had some old telephone dials built into it. Another low table was divided into squares and was being used briefly for a game of chess. For some reason all guest ales were a "Manager's Special" at £1.69 rather than £2.29 so I stayed for a few.
The twelve hand pumps had one available soon, the JDW Trio Of Doom doubled up, Spitfire, Brains SA, Caledonian Bitter Winter, Horne's Black Antler and Loddon Ferryman's Gold. I went for the Black Antler and Ferryman's Gold which were both on the warm side but OK apart from that. Later I noticed that they had the local Concrete Cow MK IPA. As this was a new brewery for me and I'd only spent just over a fiver I went for that one regardless of price. It was £3.29, something of a hop bomb and even started to clear as it warmed up.
The old Bletchley Arms appears to have been a post war pub so isn't that interesting a building but Wetherspoon seem to have done as good a job here as can be expected and it was a well run and decent Spoons. The food prices are average to slightly higher than normal and it was doing a good trade with a mix of people. It would have got an extra point if the cask ales were cooler and there was a better less mainstream choice.
I would definitely come here again if I had any reason to return to the Milton Keynes area.
On 8th January 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Komakino . left this review about Captain Ridley's Shooting Party (JD Wetherspoon)
In Bletchley rather than Central MK itself, this has one of the more unusual UK pub names, but apparently relates to the covert name that MI6 spooks checked into nearby Bletchley Park in order to assess its feasibility for its forthcoming code-breaking operations, and there's plenty of paraphernalia regarding the latter dotted around inside. A small car park is out front and the room is semi-rectangular, extending from the bare-boarded front way out to a carpeted, conservatory-style back. The bar is centre-right, with a further, smaller conservatory bit facing. Beer-wise, Sharp's Doom Bar (x2), GK Abbot Ale (x2), Ruddles Best (x2), Wychwood Hobgoblin, Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold, Ringwood XXXX Porter, Naylor's Santa's Darkside, Stonehenge Rudolph and Kelham Island Pale Rider over two banks of six pumps. I was frustrated that the Kelham Island was "available soon" as I've heard good things on the forum pages here, but the XXXX Porter made up for it and at a wallet-soothing £1.15 for a half. Busy on my early afternoon visit and not much evidence of the daytime brigade which was a plus, however there did seem to be more 'play-it-safe' than 'adventure' on the ale front.
On 23rd December 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1075 recommendations about 1075 pubs]