The Labour in Vain

Great pub in a great village location now under some lovely management

Visited in October for a Sunday Roast, everything was fresh and home made. Great lunch.

We booked a Sunday lunch 30/10/22 - Wanted to give the place a try as under new ownership and we had (now past tense) booked Christmas Dinner, so it was a "pilot trial"
We booked for 1 o'clock and arrived at 12.55 - Ordered drinks and two starters, mains and deserts (All orders were required straight away) The tomato soup arrived for one and was fine, the breaded mushrooms arrived with a BBQ sauce - Not the garlic mayo - So that was sorted out. The mushrooms were burnt and should not have been served. The main did not arrive until 2.05pm and when it did - My God! The potatoes are processed as are the veg and the meat. There was bone in the Gammon, The beef was inedible and the frozen veg and clearly frozen supposed roast potatoes were foul. Whilst the owner denies all of this, his staff tell a different story. It's such a shame as we really wanted this village pub to succeed. They should charge more and produce real home cooked food. On the up side the girl running the bar, serving meals, laying tables, taking phone calls etc., was lovely, inspite of being rushed off her feet.
We should have paid for the drinks and walked as my husband had suggested, I really wanted to give them a chance. Really disapointed and ruined our Sunday lunch treat - £62 quid later hubby is having soup and toast at home!
Prior to posting this we did make a phone call to the tenant aka chef, who just denied, then appologised - We were hoping to explain what was wrong and have a constructive discussion. Sad.! I hope he has a re-think and ups the price and standard alongside as we really don't need to lose any more local pubs, people are not going to accept that kind of food - One trip and never again stuff!
00.08 31.10.2022
Update - Our child has just projectile vommited the Gammon he ate, thrown away cover, quilt, and mattress protector and I have had diarrhoea too. Reporting this tomorrow. Suspect there will be a massive clean up between EHO coming in and their reaction.

A bit dated, but the barmaid was friendly, and the Madri was good and reasonably priced. TV on aswell. Worth a visit.

They do nothing that will benefit themselves nor the village! Not even reactive to poor results. It's due to close again I'm sure. Sorry. But, you will only get out what you put in.

We called in the pub after we had been walking in the area on a cold snowy day. We hadn’t booked a table but we were after food. The barmaid gave us a lovely welcome, explained what food was on offer - granted this was a limited choice, but it was a Sunday lunchtime and directed us to a lovely table next to a roaring fire. The food was super, all fresh veg and home cooked, the yorkies were to die for. The barmaid was very attentive and nothing was too much trouble. We will definitely return when we are walking in the area again.

They are trying and we have tried and tried to support it but unfortunately it's not yet a great experience. The last visit involved an awful pint of hobgoblin that tasted like washing up liquid and two drunk blokes arguing loudly over what's an appropriate pint. Previous visits have seen poor tasting pints and no wine available.

I really hope it can be turned around but for now there are better options locally.

Quiet local.
Good pint of John Smith's on hand pump.
No smooth flow, widget, cold. Just a good real pint of John Smith's.