Bell Hotel and Inn, Woburnback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Had a Christmas meal here recently. Disappointing standard GK beers on offer and generally unhelpful staff, food cold when it was brought out, supposedly 'mini veg' (mini parsnip, mini carrots etc) were poor quality and badly cooked. Service slow. Bar area complete with local toffs talking about the state of the economy etc. Car park small and awkward to manouvoure in when busy. Best bet is to go and park in the Bell Hotel car park opposite. Probably wouldn't bother coming back here.
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A large pub at the end of the High Street, it is apparently part of the hotel of the same name, although unusually this is opposite rather than adjoining. At least two thirds of the pub is given over to a restaurant, and from my quick glance this looked to be quite cosy with plenty of old beams on a rather uneven ceiling, wooden support posts, some exposed brickwork and a large brick fire-place although this was filled with a display of wine bottles rather than anything to generate any heat.
The bar area runs down the left hand side of the pub and is finished in the usual gastro-pub hues of green and brown. Although it's clearly had a makeover at some point, it was presumably a little while ago and is starting to look slightly tired in some places. A few wooden beams on a small section of wall hint at the more traditional character that the pub must have had at one time. Flooring is a mixture of black tiles at the front, wooden boards in the middle, and carpet at the rear. There is a covered patio area at the back.
The rear area is partially partitioned off to separate it a little from the main bar, and the partitioning housed a collection of spirit bottles although I'm not sure if there was any particular significance to this. There is a large brick fireplace at the front with a wood burning stove, although this was not in use, and some bench seating where the base appeared to be made out of old wine crates (although was probably chipboard printed to look like that). Other than that the decor was all fairly bland and generic, although there were some random photo's of bells, presumably in an attempt to incorporate something in to the pub that was vaguely meaningful. A small TV was at the rear showing some terrestrial TV.
The food menu was extensive and divided in to various sections such as mains, classics, gourmet burgers, steaks and grills, jackets, etc., as well as another half a dozen options on the specials board. Most of the mains were in the £8 - £10 range, and I found my Hunter's Chicken to be distinctly average. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it was clearly mass produced and not worth the £8.99 it cost. It arrived with a few salad leaves drenched in a rather strong vinaigrette, whereas personally I much prefer a vegetable selection with a hot meal like that. Many pubs offer you the choice, but not this one apparently. If it had been two or three pounds less I might have recommended it as a basic but good value meal. But it wasn't, so I wont. In retrospect, with such an extensive choice of food as well as a Greene King part number printed on the bottom of the menu, I should have expected nothing more.
Beer choice was the usual GK options of Abbott Ale and their IPA. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. Despite it's apparent gastro pretensions, this pub falls well short in it's delivery and with a disappointing drinks range as well there would seem to be little reason to go out of your way to visit. On the plus side the staff were friendly and helpful, although it's the first pub I've eaten in for a while where I haven't been offered a tab.
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The Bell pub is on the opposite side of the road to the Bell Hotel. Pleasant & clean with a tidy bear garden at the rear. Greene King IPA & Abbot Ale. Top marks to the gents toilets which was immaculate. Food wise we were a bit wary having read some of the comments below however it was above average pub grub & there were no problems. We also tried the wasabi nuts which are a great accompaniment to a beer
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Awful. Just awful. Woburn is a picturesque, nay upmarket sort of place and whilst this inn may look the part it certainly doesn't measure up when it comes to the quality.
Food was abysmal. For example, the salmon special was a ropey piece of fish no bigger than a deck of playing cards, served with (count 'em) 4 new potatoes the size of golf balls.
The vegetable chilli came out as a curry. Does chef know the difference or is it just because they're all spicy so nobody cares.
The rib eye steak - asked for rare - came out so well done you could have nailed it to the bottom of your shoes and taken a turn round Woburn safari park in it without it reducing by a millimetre. When it was rejected they should have asked the surly waitress to just stare daggers at it to grill the replacement sufficiently.
There are plenty of other alternatives in Woburn so do yourself a favour and steer clear of this one.
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A mixed experience. The restaurant messed up our reservation meaning one of our party had to sit on a separate table behind a pillar. They didn�t seem to have prepared enough deserts so we had 4 very hastily defrosted cheesecakes which were either still frozen or warm from the microwave. The owner refused to reduce the bill which resulted in an argument � not a great end to our evening. On the up side this is an attractive venue with attentive staff and aside from the desert issue, the food was good.
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Strange place, really. Tiny bar area, and so mostly all casual restaurant. Had a perfectly nice meal, though, so will probably be back at some point in the future.
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Agree with the previous comment, but would add that most of the 'pub' is really the restauarnt for the hotel which is (curiously) located on the opposite side of the road.
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Mostly concentrates on the hotel side, but the left hand side is a pub, albeit very small. Hence, it is quiet and not that interesting - However, is a perfectly acceptable stop off.
TheGP - 29 Aug 2005 18:04 |
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