Running Horse, Swindonback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Revisted this pub after many years and really wanted to leave a review to thank the staff for a great evening. The landlord has really put heart and soul into this pub- the pub looks lovely inside and out, the staff are great, they have it just right!. We had a lovely meal, quality produce etc.
Really great place, lovely team and the landlord should feel proud. I look forward to visiting again. It makes a change to see an establishment working so hard for the customer. 10/10 Go visit.
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Just not keen on the name change....the Runner??
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The new landlord seems to have rejuvenated this place again!
It had slipped a bit in the last couple of years tbh, but it's on the up again now after the fefurb!
Range of Arkell's ales, Stowford Press cider, lagers, food looks pretty good, bar-staff friendly & efficient. TV's showing sport in a comfortable lounge type environment, separate restaurant area, playground outside for the kids (weather permitting).
It's the first pub you see on the way into town from the M4.
Good family pub, and yet still worth a visit for us "normal" folk ;)
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Busy when I came here on Sunday afternoon - apparently recently refurbished, it was clean and smart. Decent Sunday roast for £9.75. Three ales were on from the Arkells range - I had the Kingsdown and Noel (both 5%) and they very pleasant. They had footy on on two TV's away from the dining area. A good first impression - I am not local to this area but my hosts lived 4 minute walk away and were aware of it's ups and downs.
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Lenny's gone, pub's on the slide.
Not too bad yet, but needs getting a grip on quickly.
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New menu (at last), new update...
Overall, still a nice family pub, but the food prices still creep up. Also, the food has become less consistent in its production: for example, the "chicken sizzler" can range from the bland to the "omigawd", so this is something to look at Lenny...
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Been in again recently. Still a very pleasant experience. The food looked good, service was friendly and prompt, and the prices are acceptable.
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I think that the food "specials" have quietly been dropped. It's still definitely worth a visit for food, just costs more ;-(
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What a disappointment!
They've done such a good job with the food, it's actually quite edible in Swindonian pub food standards... but the bar staff are teenagers working on minumum wage. I've been overcharged twice in the new Running Horse, and the staff members are incomptent and rude. And no apologies from the staff, of course.
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Been open a bit now, and it seems to be going well. It is being run more as a family food pub, in line with the local area. They have also done a good job of tweaking things to fit their clientele.
Food, in general, in excellent quality "pub grub". They have kept the specials, but prices have gone up as demand has grown, so the Friday steak for a fiver is now �6, but still well worth it. It is now a firm favourite when "Da Management" go out.
Now, if they could widen the range of ciders and improve the "Campaign for Real Lemonade's" rating of their offering...
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Arkells have taken the place back (from,I believe Herald Inns) what a difference!! Cleaner, brighter, friendlier. Food offers all week, e.g. steak dinner for �5 on a Friday, and very passable too. Well worth a visit
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Without any discernable publicity, this place has been refitted and reopened. The old dedicated restaurant area has now been integrated into the rest of the pub, and it now serving a very drinkable set of Arkell's beers, with Stowford Press available as a draught cider.
They are also doing food again, but that only started on Jan 4, so not tried yet.
Definitely good to see this back in operation and worth visiting.
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Some confusion over their special offers at the moment.
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SW6 is a less actionable version of my original review. Used to come here regularly with family. It now has an entire estate just behind it, yet the beer, when they have it is often undrinkable. But it has massive potential given the locality and the space it has...
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The first time I tried to get this place added to the site was before the summer when my accompanying review was scathing to say the least. Only been in once or maybe twice since.
It's a family pub selling Arkells beers and doing, what looks to be, bog standard food. The outside play area is tatty but serviceable, the beer garden (at least last time I was in) was overgrown and in need of attention, there was dog faeces hiding in the long grass and the fences were in danger of becoming, certainly in one case, a health and safety concern.
It has the potential to be a great family pub but it needs TLC.
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