The Shipwright Arms, Helford Village

The location of the Shipwright's is probably what draws most people to the door, straight on the Helford with the boats bobbing away outside. Sadly though you get the feeling that they're resting a bit on the location rather than trying to make the pub match up to it.

We called in on a typically busy bank holiday Monday in May; lots of tourists, walkers and people who'd come to shore from their sailing boats were sitting both inside the pub and on the terraces outside. Service was polite and efficient, but the food was really expensive for what it is.

They offer about 7 types of baguettes, a couple of ploughmans and four or five salads plus chips for lunch, which isn't that extensive. We paid �8 for a ham baguette which was exactly that. A piece of baguette loaf cut in half with butter and normal thick cut ham with a little pile of cress, a slice of cucumber and some lettuce on the side. A bowl of chips (it comes in a tupperware plastic bowl too which really adds to the sense that you're being ripped off!) is also �8. Someone's commented about this being 'London prices' but as people who lived for 5 years in London and now live about 15 mins from this pub in Cornwall we think that not only do you get a bit more than that for your money in London itself, but also there are numerous great pubs in this part of Cornwall who charge less and serve better food.

Aside from the food the pub is veering towards the run down side of old rather than staying on the quaint side of it. The thatch needs redoing, which is fair enough as they'd probably put prices up even higher to afford that, but the terraces where you sit outside are pretty trashy with weeds sprouting up all over the shop and the toilets are awful. The ladies has 3 loos - one was marked out of order on the door, the next stank and was packed full of suitcases - very, very odd and you wondered what the heck they were doing there, and the only 'operational' loo was blocked. We left with an overwhelming feeling that this is an amazing spot and the owners are either milking it for everything it's worth without investing anything back into the pub or they've had enough and given up.

3 May 2010 21:33