Angel Hotel, Lavenhamback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Well the below explains quite a lot. Visited the place last year and found it rather quiet and empty, thought it was a restaurant that did you a beer rather than a pub at the time. Now the place looks more like a pub that does food and a very good one too. Grand open fire with comfy sofas, good pint if Adnams, could have happily sat there most of the evening if I hadn't come there to eat. Luckily, the food was top notch.
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Word around town is that this has changed hands yet again. The Marco Pierre White experiment has been deemed a failure. It is to be hoped that it might now return to being the best village pub again. Come back Roy and Anne...
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This is no longer a pub. As a restaurant, the food portions were tiny, the quality dreadful, and service painfully slow. I shall not be visiting again unless there is a change of management.
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They really, really don't want to be a pub anymore. Ran out of beer the other night. Seriously, all they had left was some cider.
The interior has taken on something of gloomy unwelcoming atmosphere. The seats outside the pub are there one day and not the next, then back again. Prices drift upwards. The staff don't seem to have a clear idea about what they're doing - under orders from head office and nervous about the occasional visit from Marco.
Shame a young energetic couple didn't buy this and run it properly in the tradition which Roy and Anne established. As it is it has lost it's way as a pub without establishing itself as anything other than a cynical outpost of a 'high end' food chain.
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Well, they�ve invested a bit of money which the building badly needed. But they�re also doing their level best to turn it from an inn with good food into a restaurant plain and simple. Although they still serve drinkers, prices have shot up and lager and Adnams are no longer on the menu.
The pictures all over the walls look interesting - originals by JAK and David Hughes - even though on closer inspection most feature Marco himself (you even get a photo of him to take home at the end of your meal). And the hide tableclothes may or may not be Marco's old leather trousers from the eighties. But a quick look at the websites of his other pubs suggest he must have bought the decor by the pallet load - everywhere the same.
Some of the old staff I gather are becoming quite demoralised. The new staff are friendly & eager, if a tad nervous and awkward. I sense a disparity between how they�re being instructed by head office and what they�re finding is the reality of Lavenham.
For what it�s worth the Timothy Taylor Landlord was fine and the potted shrimp absolutely delicious. But there is a feeling here of a concept being forced onto something that it doesn�t quite fit.
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I visited this Pub this afternoon with my wife. We have been going there for lunch every couple of months for the last few years and have always enjoyed a delicious fresh thick gammon sandwich. Today was different. The menu has changed, presumably under the influence of Mr White, and I was looked at like an alien when I asked for a sandwich. Instead I was directed to the bar menu, which on the face of it looked ok if not a little eclectic. I chose Hock of Gammon on toast, with a mustard dressing and my wife chose the "Classic British Cheese Board".
For both these dishes we were to be charged �11. Imagine my disappointment when my lunch turned up and it looked like a heinz toast topper on two small slices of cold toasted baguette. For my wife, three thin slices of cheese and three small crackers. No grapes or apple, normal inclusions in a "classic Cheese Board" AND you don't get a plate. Your food is arranged artfully on a piece of driftwood. I know this is meant to be trendy but quite frankly for a fiver, a plate is a simple pleasure I would prefer to have. The staff were friendly enough and the beer was ok if not outstanding. My advice? Don't visit this place unless you have money to waste and are not very hungry!
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From The Morning Advertiser:
"The Maypole Group, the under fire operator of five rural inns, is in discussions about appointing an administrator � after its bank called in its loans.
The company, which yesterday suspended it shares from trading, revealed last night that Clydesdale bank had demanded the immediate repayment of its loans.
It said: �Maypole Group announces that discussions regarding a possible re-branding initiative referred to in the company's interim results announcement have failed to reach a conclusion and that Clydesdale Bank, bankers to the company and its subsidiaries has today demanded repayment of its loans to the group.�
The Maypole group was born in November 2003. It operates the Lifeboat and Old Coach House, Thornham, Norfolk; the Angel Hotel, Lavenham, Suffolk; Wayford Bridge Inn, Stalham, Norfolk; the Pear Tree Inn, Whitley, Wiltshire; and the Bridge Inn, Norwich.
It underwent a refinancing exercise last year with the Clydesdale."
Rumour is that the favourites to buy up the chain are the Marco Pierre White group.
If so, could be bad news for the regulars who gather to drink here if it follows the model of one of his other 'pubs':
"In January 2009 it was reported that White was to charge �5 for a pint of real ale at the venue, making the Yew Tree "one of the most expensive places to drink British real ale in the country". White was quoted saying "Most pubs undercharge. You're not just paying for beer, you're paying for the place you drink it in and the people who serve it." (from Wikipedia).
Make the most of The Angel while you can still afford to step inside.
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This place has been in a state of flux recently. The Maypole Group have gone up in the air (why do these Pub groups overstretch themselves?) and everyone nervously awaits the next buyer. Word around the bar has it that it will be the Marco Pierre White group.
If so, could be bad news for the regulars who gather to drink here if it follows the model of one of his other 'pubs':
"In January 2009 it was reported that White was to charge �5 for a pint of real ale at the venue, making the Yew Tree "one of the most expensive places to drink British real ale in the country". White was quoted saying "Most pubs undercharge. You're not just paying for beer, you're paying for the place you drink it in and the people who serve it." (from Wikipedia).
Shame.
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�8.50 for 1 disappointing field mushroom! .. Message to all wannabe veggies - delay your lifestyle choice for 30mins and choose the gammon salad instead.
This was the only downpoint to the visit. Staff excellent and friendly, beer well kept, and not too rammed with tourists given the location - tho peak times are always different.
Eerily clean and well kept market square, with crisply painted buildings - i spose it's "all for the greater good".
A good place to sit and ponder why that bloke down the high street thinks it is reasonable to try and charge �10k for a small bronze gorilla? Makes you hare stand on end.
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I agree that it's more like an hotel that a pub and it relies heavily on it's food trade BUT unlike many foodie/gastro pubs those who want to drink are made welcome and there seems to be a strong body of regulars (at any rate in the early evening) who use it for the drinks alone. The Adnams I had was first rate and the service friendly and efficient.
I liked it and will be back.
Even if olde worlde buildings aren't your thing, this and the Greyhound are two good reasons to come to Lavenham.
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Lavenham is one of the most unspolit medieval towns in Britain and the Angel occupies a prime location at the heart of the central market square. For some reason though I have never really warmed to the place, probably because it has more of a hotel / restaurant ambience than a pub and also because you expect the interior to be more Ye Olde Worlde given the building�s age (it is thought to date from the 13th century but is known to have been first licenced in 1420). There are a couple of fine fireplaces and some slender but slightly knarled pillars and wonky beams in the main bar but overall it is quite featureless with very standard and ordinary d�cor that really stands out as quite mundane in a town crammed with so many fantastic Tudor buildings. The old Pub Sign is mounted on the wall in the main bar but there is generally little of interest visible. Half the main bar was set up for diners and a small small room to the rear also appeared to be diners only. Admittedly all my visits have only been during the daytime so how much is reclaimed by drinkers in the evening I cannot say. To the rear is a pleasant beer garden.
On the beer front there are 4 Ales, 2 quite ordinary (Adnams + Greene King IPA) plus Woodford Wherry (fairly common for the area) and, on my last visit a guest (presumably) I have noted as Maypole (didn�t note the brewery). Overall it is a decent enough place and certainly worthy of popping in if you are visiting the town (highly recommended) but most of the reviews so far revolve around the food and accommodation (which is fine) but as a pub experience, drinkers may find it a bit disappointing given its current rating (8.6). A sign outside reminds the visitor that it was the Good Pub Guide Pub of the Year 1997 � trading on a few past glories perhaps.
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So far so good. Still the best pub in the vicinity - by a country mile. The location on Market Square is quite magickal. The staff are as friendly and attentive as ever, the beer (Adnams) superbly kept and the food very reliable. Even the customers are an interesting mix.
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An excellent menu on offer hear and we weren't disappointed with the Partridge.
Excellent wine as well, didn't get chance to try the beer unfortunately. Seemed more of a restaurant than a pub, though one side is much less formal than the other.
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Stayed at The Angel at the weekend. We've stayed here regularly over the last 10 years and the food is outstanding as ever, great choice of drinks, staff friendly, efficient & make you feel very welcome.
However, on this occasion we were surprised to receive a cheeky unnotified charge on our bill for our fried breakfasts (which were previously included in the weekend tariff). As this place has been recently taken over by the Maypole Group, I hope this isn't the first change of many to turn this Hotel into a cash cow, whilst stripping away its uniqueness.
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The unfortunate news is that The Angel changed hands a couple of weeks ago. At the moment it feels a bit like a skipper-less boat although so far the staff and the menu have remained the same. But we're all holding our breath at the moment waiting for the first tweakings. The new owners (a small hotel chain, I believe) would do well to remember the wise old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it..."
We'll see...
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Took the missus here a couple of weeks ago: dinner, bed & breakfast. INCREDIBLE. More of a dining pub than a local, but they do an awesome job. There's a resident's lounge I'd love to hide away in for days at a time with a good book (of which they have a selection).
I'll be back
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A true gem, a marvellously run pub and restaurant in the heart of one of England's most beautiful villages,yet neither are compromised in doing so.
Fine,well kept bitter's,excellent wine list at reasonably prices and a good,relaxed and happy atmosphere. Large comfortable bar area and great selection of board games for winter evenings.
Splendid food,well priced,very well cooked.Above all, the service is polite,friendly and efficient.
The owners have a great deal to be proud of.As good as it gets.
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My favourite pub. Sitting outside this old inn on a summer evening sipping a pint of beautifully kept Adnams as the swifts and swallows wheel around the medieval market square is one of the sublime pleasures of life.
Food not bad either...
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