Barge and Bottle, Sleaford

A mixed experience! The food was actually rather nice (we had the fish and chips). The pub is well presented, there is a lovely restaurant section and the bar is comfortable. The staff were friendly enough. However, the beer was absolutely awful. My pint (black sheep) was sour and barely drinkable and my friend's pint (EPA) was similar. It had gone off completely. The barman attempted to change the barrel and both him and a colleague showed a complete lack of knowledge and respect for ale. They hadn't a clue what they were doing and after much head scratching, pouring pints where the head was bigger than the beer, and some procrastination eventually gave up. My friend was offered another pint. He chose Hobgoblin, but sent it straight back as that too had gone sour. He gave up on ales as he clearly was not going to get a good pint, tried a pint of (dare I say it) Carlsberg which tasted metallic and flat.

They had a range of about 8 ales, and were completely unable to deliver a half drinkable pint between them. The Cask Marque they displayed on some taps must have been stolen from elsewhere. Unbelievably awful.

29 Oct 2010 03:38