The Three Chimneys, Biddenden

This used to be one of my favourite pubs for a country lunch and a couple of pints. It still looks absolutely brilliant for whiling away an evening at any time of the year, accompanied by a few pints of beer, but I won't be returning.

We recently had lunch there on a wet and windy Saturday. We were a few minutes late in arriving for our 2pm booking. It was explained to us that the kitchen would close at 2.30 on the dot, no exceptions possible.

So we got on with ordering. I was immediately disappointed to find that the vegetarian main course was exactly what I remembered having a year ago, and was a very unimaginative offering at that. We asked about children's food and it was explained that they could do children's portions of things on the main menu. Fine but what they didn't tell us was that we'd get charged �9 for two sausages and a few anemic chips. We queried after the meal and were advised to call the manager later. When we did so we learnt that kids are considered purely as "bums on seats", taking up space that could be more profitable if occupied by adults, so kids' portions were charged at a deliberately offputting rate.

I won't be back. Other pubs manage to do fantastic food and have a reasonable attitude to children too so I'll take my business elsewhere.

25 Nov 2009 16:54