The Hay Waggon Inn, Hartfield - pub details
Address: High Street, Hartfield, East Sussex, TN7 4AB [map] [gmap]
Tel: 0871 951 1000 (ref 29550) - calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras
Ashurst (3 miles), Cowden (4.1 miles), Eridge (4.4 miles)
Pub suggested by sackvillemum on 25 Jun 2006
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> Current user rating: 7.2/10 (rated by 16 users)
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other pubs nearby:
Anchor Inn, Hartfield (0.1 miles), Gallipot Inn, Hartfield (0.6 miles), Dorset Arms, Withyham (1.1 miles), Half Moon Inn, Crowborough (1.9 miles)
user reviews of the Hay Waggon Inn, Hartfield
please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
5 most recent reviews of 15 shown - see all reviews
| Not a bad pub and convenient for the local walks. However, we found the food to be average and overpriced, although the weekday deal seemed good value at £9.95, if you want 2 courses. The beer was also a bit steep at £3.50 for an indifferent pint of Harveys. The Larkins at £3.40 wasn't too good either. Will try the Anchor nearby the next time we're in the area, although I am not very hopeful that it will be any better. Overall disappointing. Sussexcrawler - 14 Oct 2011 16:30 |
| Fair enough place, seems friendly with good beer (Larkins and Harveys) though a little on the pricy side. Floyd - 25 Jul 2011 16:06 |
| This is the third time that I've eaten at this pub, before I have been part of large group and hadn't really noticed the cost as we shared the bill and drinks were included etc. I went again this weekend,we were tired and I didn't fancy cooking when I got home to London so we stopped off at the Hay Wagon. First of all let me say that its a pretty pub in a traditional horse brassy, copper bed panny way and the chap behind the bar was friendly. I ordered our food and drinks and waited in the pretty garden for it to arrive. It wasn't until the food arrived that I realised that I had been rooked. I have been a chef for nearly 35 years, I operate a business in central London and work hard to ensure that my customers get value for money and that I m ake a reasonable profit. I spend a lot of my spare time reading cookery books looking for inspiration to keep my clientele interested and my menus fresh and exciting. I keep on top of my suppliers to ensure that I get good deals and fresh, interesting produce. The Hay Wagon is a classic example of lazy exploitative catering. Being a chef I can look at a plate of food and tell, almost to the penny how much that it would cost to produce. The owners of the Hay Wagon price their meals on ignorance of the customer and scarcity (there isn't anywhere else decent to eat near by). Let me run this by you, £7.25 for a cheese and tomato baguette with a handful of frozen chips and a little garnish. Lets give them the benefit and say that that the 40 grams of cheese that they used was of reasonable quality say £6.00 a kilo, thats 24p, half a tomato 20p, a small frozen baguette 30p, 200 grams of frozen chips, 30p and the garnish 15p this comes to £1.19. I was taught to price fairly by multiplying by 4, this covers the cost of the ingredients and production and should give you a profit. I would have priced this at £4.75. If you have to charge more than this you are doing something wrong. You can usually forgive overpricing if the food is good but the food at the Hay Wagon suffers from an indifferent unskilled hand. My roast beef with all the trimmings (£12.50) was disappointing, the beef was actually pretty good, two good thick tender slices but slathered in a floury gravy and served with soggy roast potatoes and withered veg. Its not hard to produce a good roastie or crisp, fresh tasting veggies but it seemed that they just couldn't be bothered trying to get it right. My wife had a burger and fries at around eleven quid. Now a good burger is hard to come by but I recently ate a fantastic cheeseburger with all the trimmings in a central London eaterie for £8.50, it was gorgeous, succulent beef and homemade bun and handcut chips. Some say the best burger in London is to be found at the excellent Joe Allen in Covent Garden they do it do it for £8.50 chips are extra but even so, how a pub like the Hay Wagon can warrant such a hefty charge for their meagre offering is beyond me. This corner of leafy Sussex suffers from a lack of decent places to eat. We ate at the Hatch Inn at Colemans Hatch recently and got stung there as well. 22 quid for steak and chips, no attempt at a garnish. My local pub does an excellent 10oz sirloin with chunky chips and homemade slaw for £13.50. If I tried to operate my business the way these exploitative set ups do, I would be out on the street in no time. On a positive note I had a very lovely meal at the Hare and Hounds in Lingfield, a 20 minute drive from Hartfield. The service was clumsy but cheerful and the food was cooked with care and skill and was very reasonably priced. sionapdale - 27 Jun 2011 21:18 |
| A wonderful welcome, good atmosphere and helpful service was greatfully accepted after a miserable visit to the anchor inn the week previous. The food was without fault, with a vote of approval on the chicken fajitas (from my hard to please wife). we asked to sit in the restaurant to celebrate our 1st anniversary, but were asked to take a seat in the bar as the restaurant was fully booked, but could still enjoy the a la carte menu. we went for a bottle of wine to drink, but must return to try the interesting sounding beer - TEA. all of the staff seemed to be in control of this busy little pub, and particularly enjoyed the light humour and bar room banter of the man at the end of the bar, and the chirpy barman. i think the prices were slightly higher than average, but well and truely worth every penny. all in all i would recommend this place and look forward to our return. WELL DONE HAYWAGON regular_dinermatt - 27 Sep 2010 03:33 |
| four of us visited the haywagon for a late sunday lunch . we were pleased to see a full menu for bar food as the restaurant is closed in the afternoon. the food was very good as was the beer . good size portions and great service too . we will visit again when in the area . 9ooner - 26 Sep 2010 23:12 |
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