please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Alas, another great ruination of a beautiful pub. I have been using this pub since the late 1970's it was beautiful. Proper public bar, saloon bar, cocktail lounge and restaurant. It was a Fuller's gem and served a great pint of ESB. Many a pint drunk here over the years and some interesting?? 3 mile walks home afterwards. Under the leadership of Bob abd Julie B it was simply the best. They left the pub in 1985; then Fuller's started the trend downwards here with some very bad choices of management. When the pub began to fail they introduced their Country Fayre dining, gone forever was the silver service at very reasonable prices. Then a sale to Bass as a Vintage Inn and now M&B. Need I say more and no Phil isn't there anymore he went before the last refurb. This is very much a restaurant with a bar, if you want classical English pub this is not it. My rating would be zero for atmosphere and 8 for the beers which are well kept and well priced. The TEA is particularly good. The food is overpriced and pretentious, another zero there then.
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Why M&B think that The Wotton Hatch is a suitable venue for their ‘Fine Dining’ concept totally escapes me. The customers at this pub are predominately walkers, older folk and families looking for traditional pub fare which in the past this pub provided. What a disappointment to find this had all changed on my recent visit. We were greeted with a ‘shabby chic’ refit and not allowed to sit where we requested. We then had to wait three quarters of an hour for our overpriced food as ‘the kitchen was busy’ despite the pub being more than half empty. ‘Haven’t you got any pies!’ exclaimed the man on the next table, desperately searching the pretentious menu for anything remotely resembling a pub meal. Any attempt at up market ambiance is ruined by the fact that anyone in the garden has to walk through the restaurant section to get to the bar.
Come on M&B, you must be losing money, have a rethink and get this pub back to what it should be. I’m sure I’m one among many who won’t be back until you do.
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This is as far away from being a trad.English pub as you can get well done M&Butler another nail in the coffin of pub`s i hope this makes you proud.The place inside is alright as a restaurant but a pub it aint the prices reflect this as well £10 for a burger be blowed.The staff are a mixed bunch some friendly most not.I would sujest keep on driving find some where else to eat and drink.
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The latest refurb seems to be taking if further from a relaxed country pub. Inside it's gone modern with most laid out as a restaurant with bookable table (Ok for a restaurant, but this is a pub!).
The beers seem better than before - with T.E.A. available, which was nice. But the previously home-mixed fresh fruit juices seem to have been replaced by standard bottled overpriced J2Os etc. When we went for lunch there were no sandwiches, the food had rocketed in price - now a bowl of "Belgian Frites" costs £3 and seems to be a small bowl of bog standard frozen chips with a dollop of mayonnaise!
Bar service off hand and bar staff as scarce as before so it can take ages to get a drink at the bar. We deliberately asked for one snack early (before the crowds and as one person needed to head off soon) and they were about 10 minutes late. As I believe the food is mostly premade and delivered from a central factory, there really was no excuse for this.
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I'm suprised to hear it's being refurbed again. Perhaps they'll reinstate the public bar that was forced out when Bass bought the pub from Fullers?
Is Phil still in charge of the pub - does anyone know?
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This pub is now closed and is being refurnished as an "up market eating place"
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Very pleasant looking pub situated on the A25 in Surrey, right next to the entrance to Wotton House. I attended the Volvo Freedom day at Wotton House with a friend of mine and we decided to walk up to the pub for Sunday lunch.
The pub has a comfortable interior very much in the style of the restaurant-chain (e.g. Harvesters) establishments. There is plenty of seating together with a large beer garden to the side to cater for the pub's popularity as a meal-time venue. Given the glorious weather we sat in the garden which by 30 minutes after opening time was full, although the tables are spaced far enough apart for you to not feel crowded. I opted for Turkey 'Sunday Roast' and my friend had (Sea) Bass with mashed potato and wild rocket. Service was very quick with the food appearing about 5 minutes after ordering. While the portions were huge, my turkey was rather dry and over-cooked, and the brocolli was turning to mush. The rest of it was fine and my friend had no complaints about her meal. I even had to offload some of my roast potatoes on to her as my plateful was so big!
What let the pub down for me was the beer. I had one of the most incipid pints of Bass I have ever tasted. It had a sweetly metallic flavour and was much too warm. However if you just want lager or a soft drink and a reasonably good meal, and maybe have a family in tow then The Wotton Hatch will probably tick all the boxes. For me I'd be more inclided to drive the extra few miles to the excellent Plough Inn pub/brewery at Coldharbour.
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JonRS2 i take it your the new manager then!!!!!!!
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I have been to this pub quite a bit in the last few months and have held 2 car meetings there aswell and personally I found the food there was really good and so did the other members of the group. I found the Landlord very hospitable and the prices are not that bad compared to my local pubs and if you want cheap food you get what you pay for. And then again for the food we all had there there was plently of value for your money.
Keep up the good work.
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Pub is ok, nice inside. Shame they had hardly ANY vegetarian options, about 2 out of the whole list! was not too impressed by this
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Why are you all complaining? It's a Vintage bloody Inn. What on earth do you expect?
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We'd called at the Abinger Arms about 3pm on a warm October Saturday only to be told that they'd stopped serving food, "Try the Wotton Hatch" they said.
Used to motor out to said pub years ago, it used to serve pretty good food and was, sort of, comfortably shambolic with a good buzz about the place. How times have changed! Considering the location and the weather we should have been fighting for the seats but the place was practically empty. Now, for better or worse, I enjoy a cigarette after eating and although there was a machine selling fags and no signs forbiding smoking there wasn't an ashtray to be seen so I asked the only member of staff in the pub whether there was a section for smokers? "No smoking in the pub" came the surly reply. "Fine" says I, "we'll eat outside"
"No you won't!" comes the reply, "we don't serve food outside"
I won't be returning to the Wotton Hatch even after I've kicked the smoking habit!
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Used to go there on a very regular basis, but no more. The food is rubbish and typical of some Vintage Inns. The Oystercatcher near Climping, West Sussex is not bad, and the Sunday Roast is excellent value. The service can be painfully slow (at the Wotton Hatch)and served on occasions by some dippy little bint that practices "Enjoy your Meals' in front of the mirror every day. They sem to haunt the places I go to. Young blond with a Pony Tail...thousands of them, maybe clones? However, they are always polite, never rude and they are only doing their job,
The food is well below par, and the salad is weeds from the garden and no doubt Diuretic. The cost of the drinks, like most pubs is way over the top, but you know the price before you buy, so it's up to you.
Good location, nice place but looks are only skin deep.
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Ihave to agree with the review of may last year,must be the same bloke serving or they train them like this always busy doing nothing, no hello kiss my arse when you arrive puts you off from the start.
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One day I'll figure out why people even bother stopping. You know exactly what you are going to get from a Vintage Inn, and they helpfully put a big sign outside to warn you off.
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Used to come regularly but quality tailed off a couple of years ago. Thought we'd give it another try. Shouldn't have bothered, its even worse! A big cold pub, virtually empty on a chilly night. Sat near radiator for warmth but it was turned off. Beer ok, service pleasant but food appallingly bad. Pie burnt outside, dried up inside, vegetables stone cold and semi cooked. Waitress took plate and was heard to exclaim to her colleague "he (chef)shouldn't be allowed near the kitchen". Waitress returned and apologised and there followed this surreal conversation:
waitress - "would you like to try our deserts?"
me - "no thanks"
waitress - "oh,its ok, they're bought in. The chef won't have touched them"!!
At least they had the grace not to charge us.
Deeply depressing experience - avoid.
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Mixed reactions to this place. Positives:-
- restaurant does great food and no complaints there
- location, despite being next to A25, very pleasant, and the garden has views over the Surrey Hills
Negative:-
- don't know why but the barman in the pub part always seems so sullen and offhand
Overall I'd recommend it - sit outside under the parasols on a summer's day and it's great
anonymous - 12 Jul 2005 21:33 |
Appalling. Sadly a typical Surrey pub. Only interested in shifting shedlaods of indifferent mass produced food and ripping people off. I have never forgiven them for closing the nice little public bar at the eastern end of the building several years ago. It was a small amnd pleasnt little adult drinking environment where one could escape from the loud families with their irritating kids.
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If you want rudeness and short measures, this is the place to go. Although I live within quarter of a mile of this pub, I rarely go there, preferring to go to other pubs in the area. This is because three years ago, I was addressed so rudely as I stepped over the pub's threshold that I left without buying a drink. Yesterday evening, I made the mistake of popping in for a swift pint and was served by a humourless and surly individual who glared at me when I made an inoffensive remark, and I'm sure knows how to pour a pint of Guinness but poured it straight out without waiting, point blank refused to top it up when it has settled, even though it was obviously short by the time it had done so. Nobody needs to receive this kind of treatment because there a plenty of good pubs in not far away, in the Westcott, Abingers Hammer, Abinger Common, Gomshall, and Friday Street. Go to one of those instead. Unless, of course, you fancy having a stand-up row as part of your evening's entertainment programme.
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Good pub to go to if your into Lotus & Caterham 7's they meet up there every 3rd Thursday evening, quite a spectacle in the summer months. Beers not bad either.
neilt - 28 Jan 2005 14:05 |
Indeed a Vintage Inn. Some people are easily pleased.
anonymous - 10 Jan 2005 14:49 |
Tasty, reasonably priced food although menu doesn't change as it is part of a chain. Good for young children (highchairs available). Good setting, views from garden, although by busy A25, and conservatory inside. Relaxing atmosphere inside. Good stopping off place on walks.
Steve - 18 Oct 2004 10:19 |
Really nice pub, good food served promptly and with a smile.
Alec. 29 July 2004
alec yirrell - 29 Jul 2004 20:23 |
Food service was slow and hamburger very dry - all the food seemed to be mass produced from frozen - would NOT go back again
Henry - 28 Jul 2004 21:37 |
This is one of the 'spoon' pubs - is it the Vintage Inn chain? - and all are the same wherever you go. Food is OK and reasonably priced. In general the atmosphere is relaxing and staff friendly. Biggest gripe is the "fresh seasonal vegetables of the day". These are always the same and always terrible - mangy baton carrots, soft tiny bits of brocolli or cauli. These may well come out of a packet as they are the same at everyone of the chain I have been to, so now I try to have something without the horrible veg!
Andy - 12 Jun 2004 14:18 |
Yep, definetly a restaurant/pub and I'd agree the food is excellent and bar not overly expensive.
monty - 5 Mar 2004 13:11 |
I'd call this a restaurant/pub but great food and the bar's fine.
Vindaloo - 28 Aug 2003 15:39 |
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