Bring back Guinness! Nobody wants a “cheaper” alternative with a copycat name.
Anil Jagota
Nice restaurant and drinking hole great atmosphere.
SeriousTraveller01
How disappointing; we were a group of eleven and had as requested pre-ordered online via an excellent App. On arrival the staff started to take orders “again”, why on earth? The starters took a long time to arrive and I was sent to the kitchen to find out why – they arrived 5 minutes later. My starter was very poor; I’d chosen the ‘beef venison and beef shin terrine’, it wasn’t enjoyable, dry, stringy and see the photo of the bread that came with it – five ends of baguettes without butter – I took them back to the kitchen and two warm fresh rolls arrived, they were perfect but why weren’t they delivered initially? Sadly my main of ‘Garlic and herb pork belly bonbon’ was no better – 4 of our group ordered this and no one enjoyed it, the guest next to me left half of hers. It was dry, rather like eating a Scotch egg made of stuffing and without an egg. What we wanted was pork belly not a concoction that was so unappetising. I went to the bar and got the water jug refilled. The waitresses were pleasant but not good enough – I paid the “discretionary 12.5% service charge but should not have done - I chose not to cause a 'problem' as guests were already standing up and all they wanted to do was leave.
Jeff T
Came here with a group of 11 people. Very poor meal, overcooked mussels staff polite but ineffective when poor food was pointed out. I suggest you avoid !
Ben Voss
Had an early dinner there. Ordered bread board to start. Advertised with whipped garlic butter but just normal butter and no variety in bread all just sliced baguette. Had a nice crunch though and olive oil was a high quality. Main I had the bacon loins. Delicious marinade but the bacon itself was so salty it was borderline inedible. Only good sauce and very well cooked chips saved this plate. Would expect better for the price. Service was good although was never checked to see how food was
Jason Booker
Busy Pub, doing food which was popular. Prices were standard.
Paula Drew
great place, room was ideal for us big and spacious, bathroom fantastic with a free standing bath , comfortable stay , good price bar next door with a great menu , staff very friendly and
Kelly Smith
First and last visit to this pub unfortunately. In a nutshell everything that could go wrong did go wrong. From waiting 30 mins for a drinks order, 45 for food orders and over an hour for starters, serving raw pasta, completely missing out the main course at one point, to name afew things. The pub was clearly busy for Christmas but it was one thing after another. The bar area drinkers also spilled out into where we were sitting eating and were standing around our table being very loud. The staff were very apologetic but we were constantly told that a bigger table was taking precedent over us which shouldn't really be stated. The turkey dinner was the only thing about this visit which was good.
I’m writing this review about the accommodation, not the pub.Before I arrived I rang to ask about nearby parking. Just told to park on the street outside. There was no space but the signs said max 2 hours stay… so not great advice!Check in was poor. Two staff didn’t know how to deal with check in. Just told me I’ll have to wait. No apologies… just a really awkward situation where they just moved on to serve others at the bar! Eventually a manager came along. She didn’t actually engage with me… just showed one of the staff what to do. It was only when they asked for full payment (which had already been made via the booking website) that the manager had to actually speak to me.Eventually shown to the room. As we climbed the stairs there were a load of bin bags full of Xmas decorations which I was told to ignore…!Got to room. Very loud from road outside. Cold as heating not on at the time. No iron/ironing board. Very basic.Bed comfortable enough. Shower ok.For £100 a night, this feels like very poor value. I stayed the night before in a pub for £75 that felt like a 5-star hotel so it can be done.I did pop into the pub during the evening to grab a drink. I stood at the bar for a few minutes (nobody else there waiting) but nobody acknowledged or served me, so I left again and therefore can’t comment on the pub really.
anitabV7549YX
What on earth has happened to this place.!!! Empty of customers. Lots of drinks not available. Bright uninvting lighting. Fire not going. Felt like a school canteen. Only management permitted to take cash from customers which is inconvenient. A machine sitting on the bar inviting you to tap to tip... rude! Just lost all its appeal.
Val O
Disappointing experience. Best summarised in copy email below I sent to the Manager, who has not responded so far: I wanted to give you feedback on my latest experience at your Pub / Restaurant. We had a group of 6 adults and 3 children on Saturday 25/11/23 under order no 682321, with an invoice total of £290.70. We have used the Old Cock Inn on a number of occasions for family gatherings, Christenings etc and generally had a good experience, but unfortunately our visit on Saturday was a very different experience. We asked when we arrived about timings etc and were advised the kitchen did have a busy day but they had now caught up and there would be no delays. I would mention the following feedback in particular: - The staff dealing with our orders etc were clearly inexperienced or just having a very bad day, as service overall was very patchy, slow and haphazard. - We had to chase both drinks and food orders several times and while you appeared to have plenty of staff on duty, they seemed to spend more time chatting to each other than looking after your customers. - Someone really has to grasp the importance of delivering kids meals more efficiently, which is key to any family enjoying their visit. The kids menu is simple and this should not be an issue. - When you pay £17.50 for a Camembert starter to share or indeed the Mussels for example, it looks pretty miserly to only provide 2/3 small slices of bread and when we asked politely for additional bread we were told that would have to be charged as an extra. We did order the extra portion of sourdough and despite asking twice, it still did not arrive, but you did not forget to add it to the bill. - The feedback on your Beef Pies was very average, lacked flavour and filled with very stringy poor quality meat. Disappointing. I am a firm believer in tipping appropriately, but with hindsight, I must say the service charge added of £32.30 was not merited. I would be interested to hear any comments you may wish to make, but hope the next time we visit will be more enjoyable.
LondonFlashpackers10
Bring back Joel and his team! Hospitality should be done for you not to you. We came for Christmas dinner and yes it’s not fun to be in hospitality on Christmas Day but if you’re not going to make an effort then don’t open. It was not the same as prior years by a long way. The food was disappointing - I had precisely one roast potato and no Yorkshire pudding. Distinct lack of turkey and was definitely not full. The service was non existent and it was functional. Management - you need to sort yourselves out asap or you won’t have a business.
Laura Cooke
Absolute shambles of a meal! At times we felt like we were eating in Fawlty Towers!We booked a table at the beginning of November for three people for our annual Christmas meal after hearing great things about the pub. When we arrived, we were sat in a walkway to the toilets and outside/smoking area so every minute the door opened with a gust of freezing cold air and with people brushing past us constantly. We asked 4 different members of staff if we could move tables and were told the other available tables were for people who had booked in advance, as if we hadn’t booked 6 weeks before ourselves.Eventually we were moved to a different table by what we assumed is the manager.It took 30 minutes to order our drinks and another 15 to order our food. After 10 minutes the manager returned to our table and told us a big table had just ordered the last of the baked Brie and could we choose something else which was confusing to us as we had ordered 10 minutes before so why were they only just putting our order through?!He agreed to let us order a starter from the main menu as the other options on the Christmas menu were not suitable for my friend with an allergy.When our starters arrived my friends tortellini was raw and not fully cooked so she sent it back, 15 minutes later after we had finished our starters, she received another smaller portion of again undercooked tortellini but at this point she was so hungry she ate it. The manager then informed us he would remove the starter from the bill, which he did not.After clearing the table the waitress brought over dessert spoons, much to our confusion as we hadn’t had our mains yet, when we questioned her about it she asked had we not ordered desserts and we replied well we hadn’t had our mains yet. There was a lot of confusion at the kitchen pass area whilst the staff tried to work out what was happening. We then had to wait even longer for our main courses whilst the staff pandered to the large table, once again ignoring the other tables in the restaurant, even after we had repeatedly asked to order more drinks.Eventually we received our main courses, the turkey and stuffing were nice but the vegetables were somehow burnt and undercooked at the same time.The dessert took 30 minutes to arrive, we joked it was because we had already had them according to the staff.After we asked for the bill the deposit we had paid had not been removed, the starter we were told would be removed had not but they had removed the 3 cheapest drinks as a gesture of goodwill.All in all it was an atrocious evening and we will not be returning, the staff were more interested in the needs of a table of 12 than other paying guests and we were made to feel like we were an inconvenience all evening. All I can say is avoid this pub like the plague!
Not bad at all
Great place and Fantastic
Bring back Guinness! Nobody wants a “cheaper” alternative with a copycat name.
Nice restaurant and drinking hole great atmosphere.
How disappointing; we were a group of eleven and had as requested pre-ordered online via an excellent App. On arrival the staff started to take orders “again”, why on earth? The starters took a long time to arrive and I was sent to the kitchen to find out why – they arrived 5 minutes later. My starter was very poor; I’d chosen the ‘beef venison and beef shin terrine’, it wasn’t enjoyable, dry, stringy and see the photo of the bread that came with it – five ends of baguettes without butter – I took them back to the kitchen and two warm fresh rolls arrived, they were perfect but why weren’t they delivered initially? Sadly my main of ‘Garlic and herb pork belly bonbon’ was no better – 4 of our group ordered this and no one enjoyed it, the guest next to me left half of hers. It was dry, rather like eating a Scotch egg made of stuffing and without an egg. What we wanted was pork belly not a concoction that was so unappetising. I went to the bar and got the water jug refilled. The waitresses were pleasant but not good enough – I paid the “discretionary 12.5% service charge but should not have done - I chose not to cause a 'problem' as guests were already standing up and all they wanted to do was leave.
Came here with a group of 11 people. Very poor meal, overcooked mussels staff polite but ineffective when poor food was pointed out. I suggest you avoid !
Had an early dinner there. Ordered bread board to start. Advertised with whipped garlic butter but just normal butter and no variety in bread all just sliced baguette. Had a nice crunch though and olive oil was a high quality. Main I had the bacon loins. Delicious marinade but the bacon itself was so salty it was borderline inedible. Only good sauce and very well cooked chips saved this plate. Would expect better for the price. Service was good although was never checked to see how food was
Busy Pub, doing food which was popular. Prices were standard.
great place, room was ideal for us big and spacious, bathroom fantastic with a free standing bath , comfortable stay , good price bar next door with a great menu , staff very friendly and
First and last visit to this pub unfortunately. In a nutshell everything that could go wrong did go wrong. From waiting 30 mins for a drinks order, 45 for food orders and over an hour for starters, serving raw pasta, completely missing out the main course at one point, to name afew things. The pub was clearly busy for Christmas but it was one thing after another. The bar area drinkers also spilled out into where we were sitting eating and were standing around our table being very loud. The staff were very apologetic but we were constantly told that a bigger table was taking precedent over us which shouldn't really be stated. The turkey dinner was the only thing about this visit which was good.
Restaurantji Recommends
I’m writing this review about the accommodation, not the pub.Before I arrived I rang to ask about nearby parking. Just told to park on the street outside. There was no space but the signs said max 2 hours stay… so not great advice!Check in was poor. Two staff didn’t know how to deal with check in. Just told me I’ll have to wait. No apologies… just a really awkward situation where they just moved on to serve others at the bar! Eventually a manager came along. She didn’t actually engage with me… just showed one of the staff what to do. It was only when they asked for full payment (which had already been made via the booking website) that the manager had to actually speak to me.Eventually shown to the room. As we climbed the stairs there were a load of bin bags full of Xmas decorations which I was told to ignore…!Got to room. Very loud from road outside. Cold as heating not on at the time. No iron/ironing board. Very basic.Bed comfortable enough. Shower ok.For £100 a night, this feels like very poor value. I stayed the night before in a pub for £75 that felt like a 5-star hotel so it can be done.I did pop into the pub during the evening to grab a drink. I stood at the bar for a few minutes (nobody else there waiting) but nobody acknowledged or served me, so I left again and therefore can’t comment on the pub really.
What on earth has happened to this place.!!! Empty of customers. Lots of drinks not available. Bright uninvting lighting. Fire not going. Felt like a school canteen. Only management permitted to take cash from customers which is inconvenient. A machine sitting on the bar inviting you to tap to tip... rude! Just lost all its appeal.
Disappointing experience. Best summarised in copy email below I sent to the Manager, who has not responded so far: I wanted to give you feedback on my latest experience at your Pub / Restaurant. We had a group of 6 adults and 3 children on Saturday 25/11/23 under order no 682321, with an invoice total of £290.70. We have used the Old Cock Inn on a number of occasions for family gatherings, Christenings etc and generally had a good experience, but unfortunately our visit on Saturday was a very different experience. We asked when we arrived about timings etc and were advised the kitchen did have a busy day but they had now caught up and there would be no delays. I would mention the following feedback in particular: - The staff dealing with our orders etc were clearly inexperienced or just having a very bad day, as service overall was very patchy, slow and haphazard. - We had to chase both drinks and food orders several times and while you appeared to have plenty of staff on duty, they seemed to spend more time chatting to each other than looking after your customers. - Someone really has to grasp the importance of delivering kids meals more efficiently, which is key to any family enjoying their visit. The kids menu is simple and this should not be an issue. - When you pay £17.50 for a Camembert starter to share or indeed the Mussels for example, it looks pretty miserly to only provide 2/3 small slices of bread and when we asked politely for additional bread we were told that would have to be charged as an extra. We did order the extra portion of sourdough and despite asking twice, it still did not arrive, but you did not forget to add it to the bill. - The feedback on your Beef Pies was very average, lacked flavour and filled with very stringy poor quality meat. Disappointing. I am a firm believer in tipping appropriately, but with hindsight, I must say the service charge added of £32.30 was not merited. I would be interested to hear any comments you may wish to make, but hope the next time we visit will be more enjoyable.
Bring back Joel and his team! Hospitality should be done for you not to you. We came for Christmas dinner and yes it’s not fun to be in hospitality on Christmas Day but if you’re not going to make an effort then don’t open. It was not the same as prior years by a long way. The food was disappointing - I had precisely one roast potato and no Yorkshire pudding. Distinct lack of turkey and was definitely not full. The service was non existent and it was functional. Management - you need to sort yourselves out asap or you won’t have a business.
Absolute shambles of a meal! At times we felt like we were eating in Fawlty Towers!We booked a table at the beginning of November for three people for our annual Christmas meal after hearing great things about the pub. When we arrived, we were sat in a walkway to the toilets and outside/smoking area so every minute the door opened with a gust of freezing cold air and with people brushing past us constantly. We asked 4 different members of staff if we could move tables and were told the other available tables were for people who had booked in advance, as if we hadn’t booked 6 weeks before ourselves.Eventually we were moved to a different table by what we assumed is the manager.It took 30 minutes to order our drinks and another 15 to order our food. After 10 minutes the manager returned to our table and told us a big table had just ordered the last of the baked Brie and could we choose something else which was confusing to us as we had ordered 10 minutes before so why were they only just putting our order through?!He agreed to let us order a starter from the main menu as the other options on the Christmas menu were not suitable for my friend with an allergy.When our starters arrived my friends tortellini was raw and not fully cooked so she sent it back, 15 minutes later after we had finished our starters, she received another smaller portion of again undercooked tortellini but at this point she was so hungry she ate it. The manager then informed us he would remove the starter from the bill, which he did not.After clearing the table the waitress brought over dessert spoons, much to our confusion as we hadn’t had our mains yet, when we questioned her about it she asked had we not ordered desserts and we replied well we hadn’t had our mains yet. There was a lot of confusion at the kitchen pass area whilst the staff tried to work out what was happening. We then had to wait even longer for our main courses whilst the staff pandered to the large table, once again ignoring the other tables in the restaurant, even after we had repeatedly asked to order more drinks.Eventually we received our main courses, the turkey and stuffing were nice but the vegetables were somehow burnt and undercooked at the same time.The dessert took 30 minutes to arrive, we joked it was because we had already had them according to the staff.After we asked for the bill the deposit we had paid had not been removed, the starter we were told would be removed had not but they had removed the 3 cheapest drinks as a gesture of goodwill.All in all it was an atrocious evening and we will not be returning, the staff were more interested in the needs of a table of 12 than other paying guests and we were made to feel like we were an inconvenience all evening. All I can say is avoid this pub like the plague!