Cross Keys, Milton Keynes

This is how pubs used to be. Great selection of 20, yes 20 real ales and ciders, albeit that on our visit they were in the midst of a beer festival. Otherwise it's Charles Wells beers, which are fine. The pub appears to hold regular beer festivals once a quarter, next one around the Summer solstice.

In the days of frozen, prepared and homogenised chain-pub "food" it was refreshing to see a good selection of pub grub favourites, home cooked by a very friendly chef who came out to check if we wanted cheese and/or salad in the burger, and whether we wanted extra gravy for the (delicious) steak pie. Nice touch, sadly missing from the overwhelming majority of pubs these days. Food prices were modest too, burger costing under �6 and pie under �7. Decent pub grub all in all, definitely something of a rarity in a town dominated by dull chain pubs /restaurants

Beer was kept well and I loved the fact that you can take away in a free of charge container.

The pub itself is easy to reach off the main Childs Way road into central Milton Keynes. Credit to the landlord/landlady for posting signs along the main roads advertising the beer festival. Plenty of evidence of attempts to make the pub a proper community hub too, which isn't the easiest thing to do in Milton Keynes.

In summary, a fine traditional pub and I will certainly be back!

26 Mar 2011 13:22

The Flying Fox, Milton Keynes

I agree totally with what jandix below said.

Beer was pretty good, food was abysmal.

A shining example of the muck that all too often passes for "decent pub grub" in the UK. It's seemingly popular, which unfortunately goes to show that far too many people are happy to spend their hard earned money on microwaved crap.
Stay for a pint and go elsewhere for your dinner.

25 May 2010 17:56

The Prince Of Wales, Cheam

Unassuming from the outside but on my visit a busy bar with further seating and a restaurant section in the extension. Decent, honest, homemade food, reasonably priced. Bar staff were very friendly. Decent real ales- had a couple of cracking pints of Doom Bar. Clearly hard working owners doing their bit to serve the local community and raise the bar ('scuse the pun) a bit at the same time. Worthy of support!

4 May 2010 21:05