please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Watch this space - it's scheduled to re-open as a pub, after extensive building work. Should be interesting and I hope it lives up to all the activity that's been going on.
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Very sad really, this pub had great potential. When Evans first bought the pub he installed a chef and manager who were previously working for Heston Blumenthal in Bray. They lasted a couple of months building the customer base, improving turnover week on week. The food was very high quality classic and historic British, with the emphasis on best quality ingredients. After a couple of months the couple left due to "artistic differences" that Evans had with them and then he went down the tacky gastro pub fusion food route, ultimately leading to its demise. The couple went on to work in Cricklade, Wiltshire, and achieved multiple awards in 2011 (including Catering Magazine Best British Food Pub and Best Local Food Pub awards). The Lickfold could have had it all!!!
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Ued to be owned by Laurie Tyler and was a good night out in the 80's. Sad it's gone, but not surprised. Maybe the last owner isn't as clever as he thinks he is.
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Original asking price was �950,000 which is now reduced to �850.000.
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Has a "For Sale" sign outside now.
andy8 - 31 Dec 2010 16:02 |
I agree with allatsea that this was a very successful pub in the past. Family owned and run with good beer and good food with most generous portions (not the new gastro meals where they decorate your plate with the gravy etc etc).
I remember back in the 90's it was a real locals pub, with a bar stool in the corner that was "reserved" for one of their oldest locals.
Could be successful again if the right people run it.
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Mr Evans tried that on at The White Horse Hascombe as well, but it didn`t work.
anonymous - 2 Nov 2010 09:28 |
I don't know where you get your information from "exguvnor", but you're wrong about the building. It was Grade II listed in 1959:
The Lickfold Inn
Publc house, very much restored C16 timber-framed building with red brick infilling, mostly herring-bone pattern and some close-studding at south end of ground floor. Gable at south end. Tiled roof. Casement windows. Two storeys and attic. Four windows. Two gabled dormers.
You say "last two owners have failed to make it pay" but I remember it being very successful before Evans bought it. I was under the impression that they had wanted to renew their lease but Evans had paid more - in effect forcing them out.
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Closed 25.08.10 as widely reported in the press ("DJ Chris sells ailing boozer" - The Sun. Allegedly earmarked for housing - will get it too, no local trade, last two owners have failed to make it pay. For those of you who are interested, it used to be a Watney's house in the '60s/ '70s called the Three Horseshoes and the building isn't old at all - it's a replica with a few old beams still in place.
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It's really a restaurant with a small bar. Great old building with a real sense of history as a pub. I have eaten here several times and food is consistently good-excellent. Expensive for a pub but not so bad for a restaurant in south-east. Sunday lunches are superlative, don't order a starter. Book if you want to eat, it is not a big place. Allegedly owned by Chris Evans. Take GPS as it is in the middle of nowhere.
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