please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Visited on a sunny, but not too warm, June Friday evening. The setting beside the Green is marvellous. Three excellent real ales on. We only sampled the Surrey Hills Dew Drop which was beautifully kept, but they were also serving Sharp's Doombar and Fuller's London Pride. Inevitably this is more of a diner's venue rather than a beer drinker's, and we opted to eat outside though the temperature was beginning to drop. Not helped by the fact that after swiftly serving the starters, they promptly forgot our main meal! Eventually the meal arrived with profuse apologies. We were offered a free drink in compensation! The food is good, though a little expensive. We stuck to the only real pub food on the menu, as opposed to more pretentious dishes - beefburger and fish and chips, both of which were very enjoyable. Kids abound in the evening, but there is the large Green for them to occupy themselves on.
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Looked a nice place and has Aspall's cider, but I didn't get to try it as after standing several minutes at the bar without being served, I wandered out again.
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Nice pub, good range of beers and some proper lagers - Kozel and Pilsner Urquell. Very food orientated but no real suprise and nearly every pub in the area is but potentially very expensive. Nice location, very nice in the summer with tables overlooking the green. I would say when I visited the tables laid out for food were mainly occupied by family groups with children but it was quite early, about 7pm and were all well behaved.
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Much improved since the new lot turned up. Good range of wines, reasonable range of beers and lager, the beer can be of a variable standard though, and they seem to have no problem with hoards of screaming kids running about inside the place last time I was there, so we moved on.
Friendly staff, especially if you like to be told 'Enjoy!!!' every time you buy anything at all. (And yes, they do say it with three exclamation marks.) On the positive side, although I've been told to have a nice weekend and to enjoy the rest of the evening, I haven't been told to 'have a nice day' yet, or asked if I want fries with my Shere Drop.
And 'Shall I take these empty glasses for you?' ... What do you mean 'for me'? It's not *my* job!
I hope it doesn't continue down this route or it will end up as a creche that sells alcohol with a 'side order' of U.S. insincerity.
But if the 6-year-olds aren't in and you grit your teeth as you get handed your drink, it's still a very pleasant place.
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Visited the new Cricketers the other day, and what a pleasant surprise it was! The place has definitely improved since the last time I was there. Originally only intended to go in for a drink, but whilst I sat there the food passing by looked so tasty and smelt so good I ended up caving in and getting a meal! I opted for the Spaghetti Bolognese, and practically licked the plate clean! It was affordable but completely worth every penny. I�ve always been a fan of the atmosphere in the Cricketers, and since its facelift things seem to have gotten better and better.
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I thought I�d take the time to write a review for this place, because it�s not every day that you come across something so special. The Cricketers is a welcoming and homely place to visit. I spent the majority of my time admiring all the nooks and crannies; it reminded me a lot of my childhood home. As a fan of tradition, it doesn�t get any more traditional and timeless as this. The Cricketers pie of the day is absolutely mouth-watering. And to enjoy such classic, British food in a place that is filled with life and history is a real treat.
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Tried this pub last Friday night with another couple � beautiful inside, full of character, very traditional. Whole experience was pleasurable from ample space in large car park, staff cheerful and friendly, food was great, I had the tuna steak which was good quality, we were so relaxed we stayed until they closed at 1am! Was great not to have to move on to another venue for drinks, was surprised they opened so late on Friday and Saturday but definitely works for us and we will definitely come back!
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I don�t normally write reviews but wanted to commend Max and his team at the Cricketers as having known the pub for so many years, it is so good to see it not only looking so fine but operating well again too J Was there for Sunday roast and what a roast it was, the place was packed (such a sunny day) but was impressed that the despite this the service was fast and staff couldn�t have been more helpful and friendly. So pleased to have a local where my kids can play in the playground and I can enjoy some wine and watch from a far! It�s such a gem this put and great to have it back on my radar again, certainly recommend, particularly if you have kids!
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I�m from Kingston and haven�t been to the Cricketers in ages but was curious as I heard about the refit and wanted to try somewhere new / bit different as my sister was visiting � had such a lovely day! Was there on Friday for lunch, sat outside and felt a million miles away from hectic day to day life � the service was very efficient which was great as we had to leave early afternoon and the 12oz steak was divine, so tender and certainly filling! My sister tried the homemade pie which was delicious too. I have to say the place looked beautiful, was there a year ago and the toilets were horrible and the place seemed pretty unloved, but it�s been done with such taste and still retains the traditional look and feel, but more comfortable seating outside� definitely going back to try more dishes and to chill out!
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I have lived in Cobham for many years and am delighted that my wonderful local The Cricketers has been refurbished so tastefully and yet the traditional rustic charm of the place still remains, this attention had been needed for some time. I was there for lunch the other day and the place looked fabulous and the new Manager Max couldn't have been more welcoming. The service was better than I've ever known it and the food absolutely delicious. We had a sharing cheese and charcuterie board to start followed by the seared tuna steak and homemade pie, all excellent quality with efficient service. Definitely some fabulous changes here and looking forward to coming back soon.
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I don't normally write reviews, but I registered just so that I could spill the beans on this sorry establishement. Perfect setting for families on a sunny Sunday, you'd have thought...if it weren't for the sheer contempt with which customers are treated. The owners know that location and charm is everything to the Surrey set, and that they have a captive audience, so they can get away with mediocre beer, overpriced food, tiny portions and a surly attitude. We had to ask for the manager three times before he came out and finally refunded us for a meal that was barely more than a fishfinger and a handful of chips for �12.50 (no apology, mind). Many other dishes on the menu had run out by one o'clock, while the raw ingredients were clearly still available for bigger-margin meals. And aren't you sick of hearing the old "understaffed" excuse, when high demand on a sunny Summer's day is the most predictable thing in the world? Don't let them get away with it. There are other more respectful and perfectly lovely pubs in Surrey, who's outdoor terraces aren't carpeted in astroturf, by the way...
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A lovely traditional pub with low ceilings, oak beams and a real fire. The setting is very nice too, in a quiet corner of Cobham. Recently changed hands, but thankfully the traditional feel has been kept fully intact.
On the Sunday I visited there were three good real ales on. The service was a little slow but the staff were polite if not overly efficient � my order of three drinks had to be repeated three times to the barman, who appeared to be of the �one drink at a time� variety.
The food was the main disappointment. The quality was OK but nothing remarkable, the portions small and at around �14 severely over-priced. There are countless other pubs serving far better Sunday lunches at lower prices.
Lovely pub for a drink, but I�d recommend eating elsewhere first.
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1st time visit with friends for Sun lunch. Beer fine. Great location and character. Food service very slow though. 7 meals ordered arrived between 60 to 90 mins later following several reminders. Quality OK but let down by the wait. May be better in a quieter period!
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A pub located in a quiet part of Cobham. It is very quaint with oak beams, low ceilings and little cubby holes everywhere. The bar is more or less in the middle with a food serving area at the end on the left. It was doing a roaring trade in food when I was there (Good Friday) but it looked your typical pub fare i.e. door step sandwiches and burgers. Beer was good, Fullers London Pride, Greene King IPA and Speckled Hen but was rather expensive. It has a garden area located by a large village green. It would make a pleasant summer evening pub.
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Pretty good food and rich in flavour. Likes of Pride, IPA and Surrey Hills on tap. Extensive lager range.
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decent pub situated near lovely playing field. 3 or 4 real ales on in general including surrey hills and london pride and green king ipa. pretty good meals but expensive to eat here on regular basis. nice old interior, definitely worth a visit.
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Food is not as good as it was in previous visits, overpriced Sunday roasts and roast potatoes are not even roasted! Rating the pub on the beer and not food
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Improved from previous visits. Plenty of choice on the new food menu with good sized portions. Gets busy on a sunny afternoon and well worth a visit if not for the food for the beer as theres Greedy King Ipa, London Pride And Surrey Hills.
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A quaint looking pub both inside and out and a good setting by the green, but the staff are not particularly friendly and couldn't muster a smile between them. Food is okay, but nothing special and clientele a bit 'i'm better than you' designer sunglasses types!
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Rubbish portion size for a so called started but which was tiny! for an expensive price too - bad coffees.
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Food, drink and ambiance excellent, lovely little pub...the only critisism is the price, I would always look to another pub to avoid feeling robbed...sorry...if the prices were sorted out it would be great.
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Food looked good. Beer pricey at �3.40 for the Shere Drop. One bag of crisps and a bag of nuts ...... �2 !!!
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Came in tonight for a meal. Sea bass was excellent and well presented. GK IPA & Hen, Pride and Shere Drop which was very good.
Pub is underrated as foodie pubs tend to be because someone will always end up with a bad meal. Pleasant place to pass an hour or two.
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Recent visit, food is good here, empty on an October day, plenty of real ales.
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Has that old fashioned pub style inside, unlike many new style of Gastro pubs. They do plenty of food here, so in that regard it is a bit like a restaurant too. Heavy on the pricing, but nice on a sunny day nontheless.
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coming here for years, more of a restaurant that a pub,
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A pretty low-beamed sort of pub on Downside Common. Hogsback TEA and a couple of Greene King ales on as well as Courage Best. Pleasant to sit outside on a Saturday afternoon.
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A pub that's popular with young families as it's very child friendly, but for me it was let down by very average quality food (the quantities were not generous either) that was also expensive. On the plus side, the range of beers is reasonable, and the staff friendly.
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What a lovely pub...! 9/10
Lovely location, right on the edge of the cricket green (outskirts of Cobham), plenty of tables outside on a sunny day to enjoy the wasps and the green outlook. I love this place. It was scorching today.
If you are over 5ft 10ins tall, watch your head inside, there are plenty of low beams to ruin your evening and spill your drink..!
There's a new cricket bat proudly displayed above the bar signed by Kevin Peterson. Perhaps he shouldn't have left it there as he only scored 4 runs against South Africa in the Test match today..!!
I did not test the food, but the Courage Best was ok. I will come back one Sunday soon to try their lunch.
Reviewers have only rated this pub currently as 4.6 out of ten. I shall 'up' my rating to 9/10 to bring the score up a bit to a more realistic rating. TJ
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Nice scenic spot for a country pub. On the whole good service, good food, they put a lot of effort into the quality of the food with fairly bulky meals. It is pricey being the drawback. The main barlady was on top of things - a couple of the australian barmaids i think they were, did seem to be a bit lost and not quite doing a great job.
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Very good pub - attractive and good beer. A complete travesty that the current rating is only 4.3!!
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can't understand why the rating is so low. Location is excellent. Beer's fine too & food again quite good.
Just gets too crowded in good weather
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Why is this place rated so low? A lovely pub in excellent surroundings and the food was allright as well!
TheGP - 27 Aug 2007 18:59 |
Pub has not really changed in 2 years. Menu is pretty much the same
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My local, but it's not really a local's pub. It used to be good, but it isn't now. Passably 'characterful', with nice outdoor seating on the edge of the common when the sun is shining, and usually a decent log fire on the go in the winter months. But painfully, awfully, rip-off expensive. I'd never buy more than a bag of crisps to eat here, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify popping in for a pint, so high are the ever-escalating beer prices. The food is no more than average, but the prices are silly. The Cricketers is a visitor-trap, designed to lighten the wallets of those who know no better and are too rich to care. Another pub spoiled by gastro-pretentiousness.
And if you're determined to be trapped, and you're heading in by car, please note the speed limit along Downside Road - you are allowed to do 40...
anonymous - 2 Jun 2007 14:48 |
Used to be one of our favourite pubs, but not for quite a while now. However, despite this we have been back several times to see if it has improved, won't bother again, Our last visit: service indifferent, food average and tables and bars sticky and grubby. What a shame, such a nice pub garden on a sunny day and is cosy by the fire on a cold evening.
Bosie - 16 Jun 2006 06:41 |
I think some of the previous contributors are being a little unkind.
Pubs aren't going to stay the same forever. I visited The Cricketers for the first time recently and thought it was a wonderful quaint little pub. Yes, it wasn't cheap but, in my experience, you generally get what you pay for. Maybe a little twee, but it's clearly a pub that is very well looked after.
It was dark when I was there, but hopefully the green outside does play host to cricket matches, as the pub's name would suggest. If so, then I couldn't think of anywhere better to spend a lazy summer afternoon.
A great antidote to the onward march of the pub-chain.
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no atmosphere and very stingy managemnet.
don't bother my friends!
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If you dont eat meat there isnt a great deal on the menu. A nice place for a drink. Inside is gloomy but very nice outside when the weather is good
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Always wanted to eat there as heard the pub had a good reputation - usually fully booked. Finally succeeded in booking a table for my wife's birthday. Very disappointing - beer prices at least 20% above those at Hampton Court. Dinner was poor, service was wanting (wonders whether there is staff problem?). Broadly it was not value for money i.e. �13 for 3 very small lamb chops. However, stock broker belt and thus demand is less likely to focus on quality and more on spending the bonus.
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Don't be too hard on it, it could be a lot worse. It could be a lot cheaper as well but we are in one of the most prosperous corners of Europe, so I guess the punters don't mind paying over a tenner for fish and chips or twelve quid for a roast dinner. Or a hundred quid for dinner for two on St Valentine's Day. No chance of a simple sandwich. Location superb, bar areas cosy enough, and the beer range has improved, Hogs Back and Gales (catch it while you can) at the moment. If it abandoned its gastropub pretensions it would be a cracker. Stop by if you're passing but don't make a trip of it.
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Agree wtih most reviews that Cricketer has gone downhill a good bit.
Used to be able to go and yes it would be crowded, but they'd have a special Ale or two and the food was freshly prepared and service was pretty quick. Heard they have had some staff changes, etc. and it shows, queues are long, food quality down and its a shame because they have a great location for families on the common.
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WARNING - DO NOT VISIT THIS PUB!!!! The food was expensive, uncooked, cold and extremely slow. The service was impersonal and slow. The only thing going for this place is it's location, but that still does not save it!
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A very nice looking pub. Agreed that it gets very busy on any nice day. Beer selection is a bit limited/mundane for my liking: Youngs Ordinary, Wadworth 6X, London Pride (the latter 2 you'll find in just about any pub serving real ale south of Manchester), the odd guest ale would not go amiss. Of course there's the usual selection of Guinness and Stella etc. for non ale drinkers.
I haven't eaten here for a while (over 6 months), but my experiences are: food on the pricier side of affordable but generally well prepared and tasty. Very nice desserts (and large helpings!). Tables hard to come by if you arrive late-ish.
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The Cricketers represents everyone's idea of a picturesque country pub set on a pleasant green with swings and an excellent children's climbing area. However, if you are unlucky to go when the pub is busy (any sunny weekend for example) you will find tables hard to come by, a massive queue to order your breathtakingly overpriced food and a long wait to get a drink from the understaffed bar.
MarkC - 27 Jun 2005 11:38 |
Popped in on a Saturday lunch time. Didn't order any food as the queue was too long. Had to wait about 8 minutes to get served as there was only two barmaids serving / collecting empties/ setting up tabs / taking drinks to tables etc. Had my pint of London Pride served in what I would call a flower vase. The lit log fire gave a nice cosy atmosphere. This is a good pub but lacks on a lot different aspects.
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The staff are hopelessly slow. Food is average. Alot of Cobhamites think this gaffe is the best thing since sliced bread!!!! Its only saving grace is having the Common next to it.
Loz - 7 Oct 2004 14:01 |
Have lunch here on every business trip to the greater London area. A breath of fresh air compared to the humdrum of New York.
Gerald J. Green - 9 Sep 2004 00:08 |
Would be nice to be able to comment - shut at 5PM on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Nick - 16 Aug 2004 11:35 |
The pub is lovely but don't think much of the service. It was packed as was a very hot Sunday afternoon but waiting 15 mins to be served a flat pint of strongbow didn't impress me nor did the food! Ordering it was stressful enough,first you had to queue at the order point (15/20 mins)then as no table no's you had to try to explain were you were sitting.Our boil-in-the-bag beef sunday roasts arrived at the table complete with a sad excuse for a yorkshire pudding and a couple of potatoes...I had to go back up to the counter to ask for our portion of veg which comes in a bowl separatley, but hadn't arrived. They did homemade pies & fish which looked nice but this experience has put me off giving it another try (for a while anyway!)
Kirsty - 9 Aug 2004 11:28 |
i went to this pub with the assumption that it had an impressive food reputation. If this is the case i struggle to see how it acquired this rep, poor selection, vastly overpriced, and as slow as.... well, something very slow. Bag of arse. and they have removed Bud on tap, idiots.
Scotty boy - 17 May 2004 13:35 |
This must be theloveliest pub in the cobham area, excellent pub food and a great atmosphere, lovely log fire!
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This pub has a lovely location overlooking Downside Common. It is very much in the old thatched cottage mould of pubs; low ceilings and an open fire. The bar menu is good (I have not tried the restaurant). There are real ales available but no guest beers. On last visit Youngs Ordinary, 6X and Old Speckled Hen were served.
Andy - 12 Jan 2004 16:11 |
This is a great local pub for the weekends if you don't mind cyclists!! Good playground for children close by. Beer and food very good.
Rosemarie - 2 Jul 2003 12:18 |
Great beer and food in a great location on the green. Arrive early to get a table on Sundays as is very popular
anonymous - 10 May 2003 16:54 |
