BITE user comments - pheon
Comments by pheon
It has very mixed reviews and i do not normally go to any pub owned by Greene King because in my view they tend to ruin good pubs they take over,
Attended for lunch on a very hot mid week day.
Good pint of IPA at 2.99 was excellent and a medium rare rump steak sandwich to go with it arrived in 10 minutes or so.
Garden packed. So on one visit only, very impressed. Way better than the nearby competitor. There is more car parking by the tennis courts opposite.
Garden is very large and feeding all those they can get in will obviously be a problem from time to time.
11 Jun 2015 16:56
Visited looking for good food with a decent pint.
Beer in good condition but haddock and chips spoiled by worst attempt at Blumenthals "triple cooked chips" I have ever had. Far from fluffy they were desperately over cooked, some burnt. A mild complaint (when asked) I was told that was "the style".
Sorry pal. It is not.
A big fail.
18 Mar 2015 21:37
The Castle Of Comfort, East Harptree
Re-opened May 2013.
New management
Very good reports locally of both food and beer.
More to come
9 May 2013 01:16
The Old Mendip Inn, Gurney Slade
Feb 2013
This pub re-opened about a year ago after a major re-furb.
Primarily an eating pub now, run by the Rossi Brothers who run Ruggatinos at the Ancient Gatehouse in Wells.
It is done out smartly in the modern way, oak floors, leather chairs.
Word must have gone around, it has suddenly become popular, especially on Sundays.
Although it can only work as an eating place, (there are no chimney pots around it), it has two real ales on (One the ubiquitous Butcombe) and the day's papers on a table. There is a large dining room and a less formal bar area where some were eating.
First time visit, Sunday lunch was very pleasant indeed, (rare) beef or pork & some other dishes available , very attrractively presented with sharp, attentive, quick, but not pushy service from friendly Romanian staff .
Our roast were excellent as were the sweets
Altogether better presented than typical "pub grub" but not pretentious overpriced "gastro pub" nonsense.
Two drinks, two roasts, two sweets, two coffees, just less than £40
I am rating at 8 just as an eating place.
3 Feb 2013 17:14
Jan 2013
Excellent Sunday lunch, Roast Beef, five fresh vegetables, ample portions, good roast potatoes. two drinks, two courses two coffees - £31 the lot, for two of us.
As unpretentious Pub grub goes, in this area, probably unbeatable.
Guest beer £2-80p, Butcombe £3-10p
2 Feb 2013 18:21
!st February 2013
Windows & Doors boarded up and place closed.
This was inevitable the way it has been run.
Understood to be privately owned so closure not the fault of a PubCo.
2 Feb 2013 18:14
New Years Eve 2012-absolutely heaving.
Five real ales on and Wilkins cider
Cheese and Onion rolls to celebrate midnight, great atmosphere, just buzzing.
Just perfect. You will never find a better basic pub with good beer and simple food.
3 Jan 2013 16:56
The Castle Of Comfort, East Harptree
3rd Jan 2012
Sign on front says this pub is to close 14th Jan 2012. Understood locally that Landlord is leaving to take another pub at Wookey.
Sign says pub is to be refurbished and will re-open, later in the spring, under new management.
3 Jan 2013 16:43
This pub is a classic. Picture perfect.
Great location and always good beer. Of course charges are high but it is always busy and a very pleasant place to stop.
Excellent outside seating area.
For the stranger to Lakeland, one of the must visit pubs.
14 Jan 2012 16:02
Three Shires Inn, Little Langdale
Agreed. This is a sound Lakeland Pub with good beer and adequate food offering in a beautiful spot away from the tourist traps.
Pleasant to sit outside, even under the extended roof when raining.
Take a walk from here to "Slaters Bridge"-about 15 minutes. Worth seeing.
Landlords keen that walkers cars do not fill the car park though and other parking is limited
14 Jan 2012 15:58
Tweedies Bar at Dale Lodge Hotel, Grasmere
An unlikely place to have a great range of beers in good condition.
The tasting "bat", three differrent beers is an interesting idea.
Big wood burning stove so cosy on a cold or damp day.
Pricey but then it is a hotel and open most of the time.
Pleasant garden and some parking (which can be difficult in Grasmere).
Worth supporting
14 Jan 2012 15:51
Jan 2012
New couple in charge who have come from Chesterfield.
Doom Bar and Butcombe on. Both fine.
"Pub Grub" but pleasant enough and not expensive, smallish portions. Menu extensive.
Lunching with a group who like their beer and food. They elected to return next month which says it all.
Bad time to take a pub over so this couple deserve a visit and some support. They are making an effort.
14 Jan 2012 15:39
Something is going wrong at this pub recently, has the Chef left?
I have eaten there many times, it was always ordinary, adequate pub food, nothing special but given the area, fair value.
A recent visit in a group produced extraordinary delays from the kitchen and pork & apple dish which the recipient pronounced inedible. It looked disgusting
It looked as if made from the left overs of a pork roast
The Doombar is always OK, something to be grateful for if a tad unimaginative.
Stick to the basics if you do visit here.steak & ale pie and ham an eggs are hard to get wrong.
1 Jan 2012 20:24
Do not drink there regularly and never eat there (though hear good reports) because the beer is so inconsistent.
Recent tastings of Butcombe Bitter have been disgusting, on two seperate occassions. Was that line cleaning fluid I could taste in there?
They really ought to get this right.
Abbott has reportedly been OK.
If they do not sell enough beer to maintain quality, they need to reduce the number of real ales on. This is basic innkeeping. as is pulling plenty of clean water through before putting on a new barrel of real ale.
Pity, still a lovely place.
29 Oct 2011 21:31
Tidy little pub in pretty village, one of Butcombe's smallest establishments.
Unlike another Butcombe pub (Queen Victoria Priddy) this one is sparkling clean and a very pleasant place to be. Butcombe Bitter and Gold both fine and a group of us ate lunch.
Food very pretty on the plate and nice enough, pub grub but prettified on square plates with astonishingly tiny helpings.
Portion control is one thing, this is a tad over the top. I have given more liver and bacon to the dog.
I left hungry.
Vegetables in short supply, extra came but most people had finished. Service otherwise pleasant enough.
Food portions apart, I would be very happy if this were my local.
The small portions might suit some people. One can see the ploy, small main dishes allows an "upsell" on the sweets. Our group did not bother. We will not hurry back to eat. How do they find lambs with such small shanks?
29 Sep 2011 18:06
This pub is going from strength to strength, certainly giving the nearby White Hart Bouth, some serious compettition. Food is good solid pub grub, I had the best plaice I have ever had here and sveral good meals
Beer range always interesting and MARKEDLY cheaper than the White Hart.
12 Sep 2011 21:54
Attractive enough vilage pub, I understand that landlords keep changing (it is owned by Greene King so unsurprising-rent probably too high).
Beer was Ok if unmemorable and not over expensive at �2-90.
Busy with eaters on a Saturday night, landlady very welcoming to single diner.
Food though (a throw back Chicken kiev which reminded me of the 70s) was very average. Chips poor, over cooked and tired, tasted as though they had been through too many fries. Piles (too much) of salad. Piling on the salad is not a substitute for getting core quality right.
Worth trying again though.
7 Aug 2011 16:53
I visit this area occasionally, I have twice eaten at The Tilbury, it is not really a pub, just an eating establishment. One meal several months ago was good if not exceptional, pleasant enough.
I ate there recently in a group (I was not paying). I was given the worst rump steak I have ever been given in 50 years or so of pub dining. Not one lump of meat which is what I expected but two overcooked & scrappy pieces. "Medium rare"!.
The chef should have been ashamed to put it out.
I did not complain at the time so as not to spoil the occassion for my hosts.
I conclude the Tilbury team are getting complacent or management has lost it's grip.
7 Aug 2011 16:39
The Blacksmiths Arms, Broughton Mills
I have to agree with last reviewer. Group of us visited specifically to see the interior and only had time for one pint. Not a big range of beer but well kept and not over priced. Interior is worth seeing and worth preserving.
Richard who served us has been there for eight years he said.
Menu looked very interesting and he plainly gets plenty of custom from local foodies.
We will go again. Please keep patronising to preserve something rather unique. What with this place and the Manor in Broughton, this area is pub heaven.
27 Jun 2011 22:19
The Manor Arms, Broughton in Furness
I visited again recently on holiday. IT NEVER disapoints, Landlord even brought round plates of warm garlic bread and pizza to keep us going while we drank his excellent and well priced beers. Yates was �2-20.
I just love this place.. Perfect for a pint after a days walking
27 Jun 2011 22:13
The Queen Victoria Inn, Priddy
The couple who had run it for a while and made a better job than anyone for a while have fallen out with Butcombe and gone.
I am reminded of Oscar Wilde, to lose one landlord quickly is unfortunate, to lose several seems like carelessness. Butcombe really must get a grip here, it is a good pub that could be great.
Still not as clean as it should be.
Rumours that an experienced Burcombe landlord-"Mark" who used to run the Swan at Roberrow is to take over in a week or so. Let us hope he really cleans it up and gives some consistency.
Under temporrary management last three weeks beer has been ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.
27 Jun 2011 22:00
Butcombe owned pub, better run than some of theirs (they have had some shockers) probably because the team that run and serve, seem to have been here longer than some Butcome Pubs.
Dropped in without warning for lunch, in a group of seven.
Butcomber Bitter was a perfect 10 and the quality and value for money of the food was excellent. Just pub fair but well done. At the price impossible to fault.
Nice old building. Large car park other side of road.
There were plenty of diners on a weekday lunchtime. Tells its own story.
If only all Butcombe pubs were so consistently good. The absolute KEY is good staff, kept happy by reasonable management.
29 May 2011 21:56
Beer prices have been reduced from the ludicrous �3-50 to �3-00 for ALL beers (according to the chalked wall notice. An astonishing volte face.
Recent viist there werre three ales on Greene King Abbott and IPA (Greene King own the building) and the local Butcombe Bitter.
Butcombe Bitter last night was decidedly "tired" and unpleasant.
I conclude they have too many beers on for the current size of the wet trade.
The pricing policy is odd, Abbott is much stronger than IPA and Butcombe, normally that would be reflected in the price.
Surroundings remain very pleasant for what is a food led pub.
22 Apr 2011 15:03
The Ring O Bells, Hinton Blewett
April 17th 2011
Sunday Lunch. Pints of perfect Butcombe Bitter �2-90. Roast Beef lunches a very reasonable �9-95 each. Roast Pork lunches �8-95. Plenty of veg included, carrots nicely al dente. Well presented and both with good meat. Childrens lunches (beef) �6-75. Childrens ice creams �2-50. Other sweets �4-75.
All very nicely presented in the new dining room. This is very hard to fault. Good price, good quality, well presented, nice suroundings-friendly staff. An unpretentious excellent value proposition. Can it be bettered locally? Doubtful.
Why pay more?
Keep this up.
18 Apr 2011 17:43
The Waldegrave Arms, East Harptree
April 2011 (Post budget)
Butcombe Bitter still 2-85 (though landlady Sharon said it may need to go up 5p).
Two bad pints of Bombardier �2-90 changed immediately without question. We later found out it had been in the lines all day. Swopped to Butcombe which was fine.
Eaten here several times, better than usual pub food. Never had a dissapointing meal.
Good value for money.
Nice example of small country pub with garden for families. Dining room pleasant enough and food good enough, for a celebration
meal.
Reccommended.
13 Apr 2011 21:02
April 2011 (Post Budget)
Beer prices are still good value, Roger put them up reluctantly. �2-85 for Butcombe, others can vary down to �2-70.
Butcombe Beer cheaper here than in the nearby Queen Victoria which is owned by Butcombe.
Someone should tell Butcombe Brewery their 19 pubs will never match Weatherspoons 600 plus if they overcharge.
Thankfully Rodger at the Hunters Lodge does not overcharge.
13 Apr 2011 20:49
April 2011
This pub has just re-opened after several months closed while Greene King tried (once again) to find another tenant . This pub changes tenants regularly. Everyone gets the formula wrong. It is a big place, too far up market and there will not be enough punters. The local food and value for money competion in the shape of the Pony & Trap (1 Michelin Star) and the pub mentioned below is just too good
The interior is even smarter than it used to be, the garden immacculate. The staff clean, smart and obliging. The building, how everyone imagines an up market country pub.
It should be perfect.........
The new chef allegedly from Babbington House the "luvvie" lair near Frome, ought to mean the food is excellent but first reports are decidedly mixed. At the high prices charged it ought to be perfect indeed it has to be.
It may not yet have hit the spot.
The beer (Butcombe at �3-50) 50p more than other places locally and fully 65p more than the LOCAL food place it will have to beat (The Waldegrave Arms at East Harptree) does not bode well, nor does a large glass of coke, (mostly ice), at �3-00.
More observations to come......
13 Apr 2011 20:36
A regular haunt when I visit Hawkeshead.
Reliable beer and a very pleasant place to watch the world go buy.
"I wandered lonely as a cloud, then thought, sod it, I'll have a pint instead"
5 Mar 2011 21:40
The King George IV Inn, Eskdale
2010
Re-opened under new management, Beer Ok.
More reports needed.
5 Mar 2011 21:37
The Black Bull Hotel, Coniston
It would be a very good idea for punters not to vsit this pub until the prices are more normal.
It is the Brewery Tap for Coniston Bluebird which is an excellent session beer. Sadly they grossly overcharge for their own product which is better kept and better priced at (say) The Manor Arms Broughton or The White Hart Bouth.
Tragic and silly.
5 Mar 2011 21:27
Decidedly average is all one can say. Fantastic view from rear garden in summer so by all means stop on a hot day.
Attractive building and position just does not live up to the picture it presents.
Queen Adelaide now much better than this, with better beer and more friendly landlord
5 Mar 2011 21:11
Feb 2011
This pub has had a gentle refurb (not overdone) and is again under Mike Lawless who used to run it (and sold it) around ten years ago.
Been there several times since it re-opened. Only one beer on (Butcome last time) as landlord says he wants to keep it moving, will put more on in the summer.
Fairly lengthy pub grub menu with clearly home cooked steak pie.
Reasonable prices and good value. Sunday lunch also good value.
Deserves support. Better than the near competitor The Castle of Comfort.
5 Mar 2011 21:05
Agreed. Now a sort of cross between a bistro and a pub. Tastefully done with good cross section of ages of clientele.
Food is not expensive, nicely presbened and better than just "pub grub".
Beer (feb 2011) is slightly more expensive than elsehwhere locally but never had a bad pint there. Good winesnot too expensive.Even a pleasant place to drop in for a coffee.
One drawback to the design is that when the young people get in it can get very noisy because of the lack of sound absorbing surfaces.
But, in what might have seemed a risky investment climate, the new owners of what was a dead & closed pub, have pulled it off.
5 Mar 2011 20:55
The Pony and Trap, Knowle Hill
Jan 2011
This pub has just secured a Michelin star, It is not prohibitively expensive and has been advertising fish & chip lunches at �9-95 !
Very attractive place to sit out at the back in the summer. Worth a visit.
5 Mar 2011 20:48
The Queen Victoria Inn, Priddy
Feb 2011
What a change! New couple imported by Butcombe Brewery to manage have got a grip on cleanliness, even the seat cushions! Why has this taken so long?
Beer consistently excellent now. Butcome Bitter is �2-80, (standard it seems across the estate). Always a nice fire burning.
At last a decent second beer on instead of the rubbish, Fullers London Pride.. This is popular in other Butcombe pubs. If we are going to have a guest beer can it please be one like this that people will want to drink? Are you listening Butcombe?
Food not tested yet but a passing steak looked excellent
20 Feb 2011 09:28
The Manor Arms, Broughton in Furness
Simply one of the very best boozers in Britain.
Great range of beers at great prices. There is even a tasting order though my preference would be to reverse the list and go from sweet to dry.
For what it is and represents, a real ale lovers gem. 10/10
19 Jan 2011 13:45
As others have said, this is a great traditional pub, can get quite busy when nearby campsite in full swing. Beer is consistently great, range of around 6, Black Sheep nearly always on. Consiton Bluebird cheaper than the Brewery Tap (not difficult). Not the cheapest prices for beer or food but absolutely reliable.
Childrens' playground across the road makes happy parents.
If more pubs were like this, more would stay open. A classic 9/10.
19 Jan 2011 13:42
The Ring O Bells, Hinton Blewett
This is a classic, hard to find, small country pub. The beer is always excellent, they understand a critical audience. A lot of real ale drinkers come here. It has a great atmopsphere and yes, most people here do know each other but do not let that put you off. The food is good basic pub offering with, if anything, portions too large. Gated garden is child friendly with boules court.
Pub is NOT as good as when Jon Jensen ran it, the range of beers then was exceptional. Butcombe policy since they took over has sadly been to restrict guest ales although London Pride is always on and because a lot of regulars drink it, is likely to be in good condition. Other guest ales recently (save Tribute & Bass) have been poor. Very difficult to see why anyone would try to sell them here to this critical audience.
Sadly Cheddar Valley cider which used to be very popular, seems to have gone, no doubt because Butcome are keen to sell their own "Ashton Press". Sadly some pub owners never learn and Butcombe Brewery seems to be among them. The bigger it gets the more it acts like a typical pubco.
Butcombe Bitter, time of writing �2-70
30 Nov 2010 17:34
The Castle Of Comfort, East Harptree
This has been a succesful food stop for several years. Good meat used with simple accompaniments. Beer is generally good but there has been the odd bad pint and ignorant response from young female staff so some caution required. Range of beers probably too large, try to have one others are drinking.
30 Nov 2010 17:15
This pub has a great position, on the Green. It also has an astonishing range of ciders if that is your thing. It is surely a business in pain, almost certainly because it is so astonishingly expensive. Pint of "Gem" recently was �3-20. (Was in good condition though). Far more than London prices. Ciders (including Wilkins) were �3-30 on a recent visit yet rough ciders are typically �2-20 and even �2-10 locally.
Landlord quite stroppy when his pricing policy was challenged. Only two customers that evening, which tells its own story.
Not recommended at all. Try the Castle of Comfort or the Hunters Lodge.
30 Nov 2010 17:11
The Queen Victoria Inn, Priddy
This is a Butcombe Brewery owned pub with a character interior and (naturally) good beer. The interior is truly filthy, frankly a disgrace to Butcombe and they need to do something about it. Check out those removable (but absolutely filthy) seat cushions, the dirty windows. This is not character, this is wilful mismanagement and neglect. The beer is good! The open fires and interior COULD be great. A real tragedy. I have never been brave enough to eat here.
30 Nov 2010 17:03
This pub is an absolute classic. A true gem. Roger & Jackie who run it are both great characters. Both 70 plus. They claim (and this is beliveable) that they run the pub as hobby. Those who think Roger is brusque or rude have underestimated him. He is a shrewd judge of character. If he is rude to you, you probably deserve it. He has a dry wit. Appreciate it.
The pub is unchanged for a generation or two, if you do not like what it offers, do not go there. This pub is full on dark winter nights when all around other pubs are nearly empty.
Beer is ALWAYS perfect, direct from the barrel, food is simple and wholesome and cheap. (A bowl of chilli with a hunk of bread recommended) and whenever you fancy some food you can have it, the kitchen never closes while the pub is open. What service!.
The fire burns all winter, dogs are welcome, farmers straight from lambing and in their overalls and boots are welcome. Walkers are welcome, come as you are.
Mobile phones ringing are NOT welcome. Roger has a board with several nailed to it which he shows to anyone whose phone rings.
30 Nov 2010 16:55
The Chequers Inn, Woolmer Green
Mainly a good value eatery but there is a drinking crowd. Food is good value but beer a trifle expensive.
Beer is always well kept with interesting guests.
11 Jun 2015 17:08