Butchers Arms, Fringfordback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
An attractive pub just off the main Buckingham to Bicester road, it looks in many ways the quintessential country inn with an ivy covered frontage, a few picnic benches out the front, a couple of enormous beer barrels either side of the doorway and even an old red telephone kiosk.
Inside, the main bar is an L-shaped room, and this continues in a similar vein with a few black beams on the low ceiling and a selection of horse brasses, old black and white pictures of the pub, a couple of large clocks, miniature vases and copper pots and pans dotted around. To the left is a dart board and to the right a small stone fire-place which the landlord was keeping topped up with a supply of logs. Flooring is carpet and the lower half of the walls are clad in light wood panelling whilst there is cream paintwork up above. To the rear is a separate restaurant area, and décor wise this looked to be fairly similar with the exception that the floor was wood strip.
Menu wise, a chalkboard next to the bar offered a decent selection of “pub grub” dishes, with options such as Chilli Con Carne, Pie of the Day, Sausage & Mash, Steak, Burger, etc., and these were mostly priced just under a tenner. My Curry of the Day (vaguely described as Chicken by the third member of staff I spoke to after she had enquired of the kitchen) was a decent enough dish and a generous portion, although more reminiscent of the Chinese takeaway style than anything authentically Indian. Whether pudding are offered or not I’m not sure, they weren’t listed on the board and nobody asked if I wanted one.
Beers on tap were Adnam’s Broadside, Doom Bar and Brakespear Bitter whilst the ciders were Stowford Press and Hogan’s Passion Picker which makes a pleasant change from the usual dross around these parts. Overall I quite liked this pub, although my initial impressions were that the landlord was a bit miserable. On reflection, I think perhaps he was just very quiet, and offered a cheery goodbye as I left. It’s interesting though, that like one of the previous posters when I asked if they were doing food I was told “We will be”. Further enquiries elicited the fact that, yes, they were doing food now, so it seems a slightly odd response. Overall though, well worth the short detour off the main road to get here.
|
Went here recently . Asked about the the guest beer to be told "dunno what it's like" nor offered a brief taste . Staff then had to rush of to find a clean glass to serve a resaonable pint of Adnams. Asked about food 7.30 (in the evening) to be told "not booked, no food", despite plenty of empty tables and only the two of us . Left 50 minutes later with no sign of the deluge of people anticipated after the fully booked comment . Un welcoming, poor attitude and frankly sales prevention service.
Pity as it's a pretty pub in a nice location. Local , won't be back .
|
On a warm and sunny Spring day it was a delight to sit outside overlooking the cricket field. However, I found the service offhand and unfriendly. Living nearby, I don't think we will be visiting again.
|
Visited this pub recently with my husband and 2 and a half year old daughter. On walking in it seemed to be very much a pub for villagers, the bar stools were taken by locals enjoying an early evening drink and noone wanted to move to let us order drinks. We gave our drinks order over the heads of the people sitting down, but the bar lady seemed to see us as an interuption to her evening! She even huffed when I asked her what flavour J20's they had. We noticed that the lights to the back restaurant were off so enquired whether they were serving food, to which we got the response "we will be yes", no indication was given as to when that evening we would be able to order, we weren't even given a menu to look at while we had a drink. We took our drinks to a table inside then noticed the signs saying "children must remain seated at all times", now I have a VERY well behaved daughter but wouldn't expect her to stay sitting down throughout an evening out. We took our drinks outside, then left as soon as we could. The general feeling we had was that this is not a place either for visitors to the village, or to children. A warmer welcome definitely needed to ALL of its customers.
|
Friendly village pub, out in the sticks. Part of a pubco, so the beers tend to be the standard ones, Broadside was on today. It was ok for Broadside though.
The Sunday Roast though was enormous and very pleasant. I don't think I have to eat for a week now.
All in all a pleasant country pub, well run and worth a visit.
|
Brilliant.Food,beer,and staff all good.Excellent value.
|
Christmas lunch here was mixed. Had duck for main course. It was fine but for, after eating half there was no more gravy left so left it a bit dry towards the end. The pudding ( a brulee ), was definitely not well done and came out like warmed up milk.
Beer was fine ( Deuchars ), and they also served Admans Broadside.
Its a small pub, with nice atmosphere, nice open fire. Can get smokey at times.
anonymous - 20 Dec 2006 11:40 |
Food is fantastic. Huge portions for the Sunday roast and well worth the trip oput to the village just for that. Beer is great and well kept. Prices aren't too bad either. Everyone is friendly there. Can't fault it really. The gents loo is outside so things get tricky in the colder months. Oftent eh light in the outside loo doesn't work so take your mobile with you so you can light the screen up to see what your doing :)
anonymous - 26 Sep 2006 16:14 |
|
