Waterloo Arms, Pikes Hill, Lyndhurst

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Blackthorn _ left this review about Waterloo Arms

This is a great looking thatched pub just a couple of minutes walk from the centre of the village, but slightly off the beaten track. It's well worth taking the trouble to track it down. The rustic country pub look continues inside with an pleasant bar at the front of the pub with part exposed brick and part wood panelled walls, a large fire place and plenty of farm implements around the place. There's a couple of leather sofa's as well as wooden tables and it's a great place to while away an hour or two.

The actual bar is quite small and I had to wait quite some time as they only had one person serving on a busy Sunday lunch time. Any more than two behind the bar would be impractical, but that would have been an improvement when there are several people waiting to be served. Locals and landlord all seemed friendly enough though.

There's a good sized beer garden out the back with a good selection of tables and benches, many of them covered with gazebos and umbrellas. Unfortunately there were rather too many wasps buzzing around to make it a relaxing place to supp your pint. Clearly this is an ongoing problem as there was a wasp trap hanging in the trees, but evidently it wasn't getting enough of the blighters. There are also a couple of benches out the front of the pub. There's a separate restaurant area at the back, which didn't have quite the same cosy appeal as the front bar. The shiny white tablecloths in particular I thought looked rather odd.

There was an extensive menu that looked appealing, but was ultimately rather disappointing and expensive. I always think Ham, Egg & Chips is a good benchmark of a pub's prices, and at £10.45 this one is certainly at the top of the scale. Mrs. Blackthorn's lasagne initially appeared reasonable value at around £8.50, but it needed plenty of seasoning added and could have done with being a bit hotter. My “Jamaican” chicken curry was an interesting dish with coconut, cashew nuts and dried apricots added, but was not such a generous portion and had far more rice than chicken. That was well over-priced at £12.50 I thought. Obviously they get plenty of tourists in though and don't have to worry too much. We returned Sunday evening and overheard the landlord telling one of the locals they had served 235 meals that day.

Beers on offer were Ringwood Best and Forty-niner plus Doom Bar. Good choice of ciders with Aspall's Suffolk, Thatcher's Gold and Thatcher's Traditional.

So, in summary, if you want a pint in a very traditional, attractive country pub with a pleasant garden, check this out. I wouldn't necessarily recommend making a special journey for the food though.

On 11^th August 2010 - rating: 7
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