please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
New owners in I understand. My folks phoned to book a table for Sunday lunch and got an answerphone. Left a message, but no reply. I visited last night to find the front door locked, but lights on? Peering through the window all 3 hand pump clips were turned round....what the hell is going on?????
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Well we've been now. It was certainly better than I expected even including the beer. Well sort of. It's very homely and welcoming and was very locally. That's not a bad or good thing, just an observation that it wasn't attracting outsiders. We didn't eat but the menu prices looked a good £2 over what I would have thought reasonable but from we saw it looked good. A log stove was in one part of the bar and an open grate in the other; all very cosy. Now the beer. I was initially excited at seeing Otter on the bar, not what I had expected. Having said that there were two from the same brewery, with fairly similar strengths and Adnams I think. We opted for the lower strength Otter; my pint was ok but nothing special and my wife's half was not good. She didn't enjoy it at all. Hers had been pulled first and looking round at the other 8 customers I noticed we were the only ones drinking ale. Wine, lager and Guiness were the chosen beverages. Had my wife got a stale, in the pipes, beer. Probably. Sadly at the price of a pint we probably won't return, not just because of that bad half, but the lack of decent choice of ales, a thought through range of strengths and syles, which can be done even with just 3 on. Guiness is probably one of the worse stouts ever made but customers have seldom been offered anything different yet there are some superb examples of stouts out there in the real ale world. If real ale hadn't made a comeback all those years ago I would probably be still drinking Brew1X and be none the wiser. I sincerely wish the new owners the best but far too many pubs have closed recently who have done all they have done and still not succeeeded in attracting custom. Get the ale choice and quality right customers will come and may eat, and tell others and the sought after reputation will be established.
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I clicked on the advert at the top of the BITE page today as we live within a few miles of the Winterton. Although it makes good reading and I am pleased the pub hasn't disappeared I was disappointed to see no references to what beers would be avaialable. It's the beer choice that attracts me and I suspect many others and everything else follows. Time and time again we find if the beer is right all else like wine, food and whisky falls into the qaulity and choice category. We keep finding the same beers in one pub after another. There are over a thousand breweries in the country yet you might be forgiven for thinking there are only a dozen. I shall look forward to my visit and hope the lack of aditorial about the choice of beers on offer isn't a true reflection of what we shall find.
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I called in here on sunday 19/6/2011 with a mate and have to say what a difference
to when I was there a few months ago.
Then it was filthy and the roast was awfull but the new landlord has made a real effort to clean up the place.
The roast I had was exellent very tasty and plenty of it,must be a good chef-----at last!!.
Congratulations, and I realy hope it works for the new people there.
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filthy, dirty! New people in there again - only good thing is the food. The chef is wasted here. Somebody please take this pub on who knows what they are doing!!!
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went there last week and had an amazing sunday lunch accompanied by fantastic ales.a very warm and friendly place
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Based on the other reviews, I'm either mad, blind, fastidious or just caught a bad night. Will assume the latter and say nothing.
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Had a wonderful family meal in very pleasant surroundings, the children and dogs were at home in the garden, would recommend this pub to any family. Thank you for a lovely afternoon!!
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By far one of the better pubs in this area, we have stopped here on a regular basis in the last two years, never disappointed. Food and garden, superb and reasonably priced.
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What a gem of a place!!!! Sunday Roast to perfection, friendly people, what more could you wish for? The barman in the stripe shirt provided us with excellent service and even catered for our dog! Well worth a visit, but please, keep this secret place to yourselves.
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Good pub let down by the choice of beers.
Sadly this is down to the brewery not the Landlord and Landlady.
The food was excellent and I would recommend this pub to all locals.
Beers were Spitfire (very drinkable) and Green King IPA (I don't like the company policy so I don't touch the stuff).
Don't let the beer choice put you off.
Mine host get top marks. We were looked after like Royalty.
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what a cracking little pub, had a sublime and reasonably priced meal in a lovely beer garden. staff are charming and will be seeing me again
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We ate here at the weekend, and in all honestly, I can't remember when we had such good, hearty, home-cooked lunches in a pub.
The pastry on my excellent chicken and ham pie was obviously home-made, and my wife's nut roast I would have gladly eaten myself, but I'm no 'veggie'. Beer and wine also very good. Pricewise, the whole thing was very reasonable.
I took the trouble to compliment the chef, who turned out to be a delightful lady, who does the cooking with her sister, and they were most appreciative of my comments.
I'd like to keep this little gem to myself, so please don't go there and spoil it.
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We were just driving along the A283 looking for somewhere to eat when we found the Winterton Arms. Not been there before but hungry so we decided to give it a try. Seems to be a quiet local type pub but very friendly and with a comfortable feel to it. Nice drop of beer on the pumps and the meals we ordered were very good value both in quantity and quality. We had to wait a while for it to be served but if you want freshly cooked food that's what you expect and definitely well-worth the time. We both enjoyed our meals and will make the effort to drive along the A283 again!
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above average for an outer village pub
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Now under new management (again) and shows great promise. We've eaten there twice in the few weeks since they took over and the food is good quality for a very reasonable price. The steaks are the best I've eaten in a long time. This is not a chic gastro pub, but their food (and beer) is far better than most.
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Lets face it, relatively small, north side of the village by nearly a mile and directly in competition with 2 pubs to the south and 1 to the north. Me thinks, why bother in Chiddingfold, just go to the Merry Harriers. No rating left, last had a drink in this pub about 1974 I think !
Biker - 27 Nov 2007 10:07 |
Another Punch disaster!
anonymous - 27 Nov 2007 09:29 |
resently Been taken over thank god cos the previous Owner never opened the place so the place was dead every time you Went in there i do like the pub but i did go in there about a month when i was driving Past one night and saw it open i desided to go in i Gave a complement to lady that was working behind the bar saying'' its good to see you open how long have been open till this time of night for'' the responce i got with a Attitude o want do you meant we have been doing this for ages and then she walked off which was so rude but other thing the beer tasted like Vinegar so i left my pint and left
anonymous - 19 Nov 2007 14:06 |
It certainly is a quite roadside pub now! because you never know when the new land lord can be bothered to open up for business. Shame really, has the potential to be a great village Pub.
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Quiet roadside pub. 3 bitters, all cooking - Youngs Ordinary, GK IPA and Banks's.
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Have they left? Used to do a fabulous Pork Knuckle thingy with mustard sauce
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What happened to Dave and Heather?
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