George Inn, Abbots Leighback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Since my previous review this has been closed for some time and has now re-opened under new ownership. This is a shame as I enjoyed my previous visit there and had a very good meal. Decor wise it’s largely unchanged, although the partition between the two bars has been removed and the brown paintwork has been replaced with green. I also spotted a garden at the rear along with a patio area and usefully a hatch straight in to the bar for service.
The emphasis still seems to be on food here, and the prices of the main courses are now in the £10 - £15 range, although there is also a much more limited menu offering two courses for £9.50. I chose from this menu and found it to be very good value. My Fried Whiting with Chips, Mushy Peas and Tartare Sauce (the sauce was deconstructed, so was just a bowl of capers, pieces of gherkin, etc.!) was a decent enough dish, although perhaps a little light on the fish. Similarly a desert of Rich Chocolate Torte was very pleasant. Less successful perhaps was a Lamb Neck Fillet from the main menu. This had been cooked for 12 hours so was beautifully tender, but could have done with some sauce or juice to liven it up a bit, and the accompanying Rainbow Chard had a decidedly burnt taste to it. At £13.50 it seemed expensive, although it was a decent sized hunk of meat.
Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Gem, Purity Mad Goose and Salopian Shropshire Gold. Cider’s were Thatcher’s Gold and Symonds Founders Reserve.
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This used to be a traditional country pub on the main A369 through Abbot�s Leigh. Unfortunately it closed a year or two back and was empty for a while. Now it�s reinvented itself, like so many other places, as a gastro-pub. Whilst one does inevitably have misgivings about all our country inns turning in to restaurants, if that�s what it takes to keep it open, then that�s obviously better than nothing.
On arriving at the small bar, we were immediately asked if we were dining. We were as it happens, so weren�t even allowed to order drinks at the bar, but got shuffled off to a table where a waitress took our drinks orders. That�s not necessarily a negative thing, it�s just the way it is. The pub is split in to two rooms, with a low partition with etched glass above separating the two. The larger room to the left is very much geared up for dining, with all tables laid up and several reserved. The smaller room to the right had half a dozen or so tables and chairs and could be used as a drinking area, but was empty on our visit. The decor is the same throughout, with polished wooden flooring, a mixture of cream and brown paintwork, an old stone fireplace at each end, and a few artistic photos of the local area on the walls.
The food was actually very decent, and I would highly recommend it if that�s your thing. OK, it�s certainly not your traditional pub grub (although there was a curry and faggots on the menu), but what we had we thoroughly enjoyed and it seemed good value for the quality of the food served. Starters were typically around the �6 mark, and mains �10 - �12 or so. Complimentary bread was served before our starters, which seems a sure sign of a restaurant rather than a pub. Staff were helpful and efficient, although perhaps slightly impersonal.
Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Butcombe, Gem and Timothy Taylor Landlord. Ciders were Stowford Press and Thatcher�s Gold.
This is a tricky one to mark. For food, it�s at least 8/10 as long as you�re not expecting �pub grub�. A traditional pub it�s not though, in spite of the decent range of beers. But then that business model clearly didn�t work or it wouldn�t have closed. I wish them success and hope they do well. I will certainly be returning to sample more of the menu, but perhaps not pop in for a pint.
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Had a complete refurb after being shut for a few months. Haven't yet been to have a nose so will update when I do, or maybe someone will beat me to it? :-)
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an old fashioned pub - but in a bad way. Waited half an hour for food which was very ordinary. The roasts featured bootleather beef, chicken which seemed formed, mass-produced frozen yorkshire puddings - the kind of food you might have expected in 1977. The soup with crusty bread came instead with pitta bread (we've just run out of crusty - sorry) but no attempt to do anything else except explain why we hadn't got what we ordered. No reduction, no drink on the house - nothing - and who wants pitta with soup?
The Landlady is friendly, the bitter is fine, the portions are large - but if you want decent food and modern standards of service this is not the place for you.
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Excellent pint of Otter Ale. Also available were Doom Bar, Courage Best & Bath Ales Gem. Food was good with large portions and reasonable prices with a good choice of food. Real pub, real people - older style pub without TV, pool or any other distractions, good welcoming staff. Great pub to have a meal or just sit be able to chat without other distractions.
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good guest beer but dispiriting experience.
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Found this one on a wander out over the bridge one night back in 2000 and loved it, nice food and port by the fire. Went a few times since but not for a while, had heard the food isn't what it was but worth a trip for sure.
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