Plough, Greethamback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Plough was my final stop of the day in Rutland. It is a village local situated on a bank with a car park and a garden at the rear. Another strange feature at the back of the garden and at the top of the bank was a gift shop. Most people were enjoying a drink outside at the rear. But I opted to sit inside. Grainstore Red Kite, Shepherd Neame Spitfire, Timothy Taylor Golden Best & Greene King IPA were the 4 real ales I could see. But there was also a blackboard showing Beanie's Plough Cask Ale which may have been a house beer on in the second room. Cider was Weston's Old Rose. But they also had their Mulled Cider advertised. But it's not quite the weather for that.
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The Plough is a traditional pub in an attractive village which is only a mile and a half or so from the A1. There are several pubs in the village, but I selected this one because of its fairly good BITE rating and also because it is a recent Rutland CAMRA Pub of the Year.
It was good to see a selection of four fairly low gravity real ales on offer. London Pride, Timothy Taylor Golden Best and two from the local Grainstore Brewery, Rutland Panther and Rutland Bitter. The latter is a former original Ruddles brew which, thanks to its protected geographical status, Greene King were fortunately not allowed to produce after they took over and closed Ruddles' Langham brewery and started brewing ersatz Ruddles ales at Bury St Edmunds. It has however been revived by the former Ruddles' head brewer, who now runs the Grainstore Brewery.
I cannot fault my pint of Rutland Bitter – when I EVENTUALLY got it. The problem was, thanks to the barmaid, who was a very pleasant lady and who was also the waitress, has to be the most inefficient bar person EVER. I will not go into the details, but from ordering my pint at 12.45pm, and being told that the barrel needed changing, after several reminders, I eventually got it 25 minutes LATER at 1.10pm. Admittedly, another woman, (who I assume was the landlady) must take some of the blame for initially changing the wrong barrel, but overall, this is NO WAY to run a pub.
In spite of the excellent beer and the Plough's other good points, I am giving it a zero rating because of the abysmal service.
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Nice village pub, very busy, but great staff did well to provide a table for four
without a reservation. Unfortunately food not great, still we didn't go hungry.
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A very nice pub. Good range of well-kept ales and the tasty food is very reasonably priced. Despite the pub's proximity to the A1, it retains all the character and charm of a thriving village local. Well worth a visit when in the area or travelling north<->south. Cheers!
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Excellent beers, a nice cosy atmosphere and very friendly bar staff. Some oddly locals but I suspect that was because it was holloween!!!
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Excellent pub, great beer and great landlord. A real village community pub.
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