Kings Arms, Newport Pagnellback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Good description below of the pub.
Weird to find a single room, given the size of the building and also the beer garden out front.
Bombardier, Eagle IPA, London Stout and Director's Bitter on tap. My pint of the latter was £3.50 and perfectly drinkable.
Agree with Blue Scrumpy's comments about it being a bit of an uninspiring range, although these days I guess we are spoiled by the range of real ales on offer in some places.
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A good sized pub in it’s own grounds on the outskirts of Newport Pagnell, it’s a single room pub, U-shaped pub with a garden at the front and a car park and some decking at the rear. It seems to be something of a local’s pub with the friendly landlord addressing most punters by name, but as a visitor I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable.
The pub has something of a dated feel to it with red patterned carpet on the floor, a high ceiling with an intricate cornice, and large windows at either end with red patterned curtains. Paintwork is a mixture of a very neutral shade and chocolate brown elsewhere. Otherwise there is little of any note. A darts board was on the wall as well as a plasma stuck up in the corner, although this was not in use on my visit. Unusually there was a small freezer cabinet at the end of the bar containing a selection of ice cream cones.
Food wise, the menu consisted of a decent selection of “pub grub” dishes such as Fish & Chips, Ham Egg & Chips, Pie of the day, Sausage & Mash, Chilli Con Carne, etc., and these were mostly priced in the £8 - £10 range. In addition to this there was a snack menu with a few options such as sandwiches, jacket potatoes, cheesy chips and such like, and a specials board with another half a dozen options. These were similarly priced and included choices such as Sweet and Sour Pork and Cottage Pie. I chose the Chicken Tikka Masala from the specials board, and it was really very good. Homemade, very tasty and a generous portion. If I were being very critical I’d say that the overly greasy poppadum let it down somewhat, but that’s a minor quibble. Going on the ambience and feel of the pub, I had expected a ready meal out of the micro-wave, so it really was much better than I had expected.
Beers on tap were Eagle IPA, Courage Directors and Arkell’s Moonlight. Ciders were Strongbow and Scrumpy Jack.
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This pub looks quite large from the outside with its imposing front beer garden at the front and large car park at the rear. However the inside is much more compact than you'd expect. The beer range - Wells Eagle IPA & Courage Directors was somewhat disappointing. Locals were watching live horse racing. I'm not sure how pubs like this continue to stay in business. It's too far from the town centre to attract passing trade and there is very little to recommend it unless you live just around the corner.
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Almost empty on my visit but it was only early evening so this was to be expected. Very nice exterior and reasonable inside, comprising of one medium sized room - the one disapointing thing however were the beers on 'offer'.
Four hand pulled beers were available, although three (Badger, Courage and Bombadier) were all 'coming soon'. The one remaining beer on offer however was Charles Wells Eagle IPA which was nice enough.
If the pub could sort its bar out a little, it would have scored a little higher than average. Close to the M1 at Junction 14
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Large Pub, appeared on Britains Most Haunted, always seems empty apart from Carnival Days in Newport
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Like a reverse tardis, this pub is massive on the outside but tiny inside - once all the locals are in you'll be lucky to find a seat. Friendly enough and serves up a good pint of Bombardier.
DaveDimo - 23 Sep 2004 14:11 |
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