The Five Bells, Horton

This pub is in an area where a lot of travellers live and over the years it has fallen in and out of favour with them. Travellers tend to take over a pub and the atmosphere can get quite intimidating as quite often casual visitors become the object of in jokes and verbal ridicule. If a traveller gets barred then there can be a lot of fall out including revenge attacks on the pub. Over the years this pub has had its fair share of these sorts of problems.

The pub is under fairly new management and the landlord to his credit is trying to create a village pub, but it is an uphill struggle and shortly after moving in, his beer cellar was broken into and stock stolen. A perfect introduction to the area.

The pub has a wide screen TV at one end and Premiership football is generally on show. Some of the regulars treat the pub as a home from home and sit at the bar watching soaps. Thankfully the bar area is quite large and L shaped so it is quite easy to escape the TV.

Like all pubs, staffing is a problem and the landlord has to use the best that he can find. Sadly a lot of the staff give the impression that you are interrupting their conversation or when you try to order a drink. Customer facing skills aren't the highest that I have encountered.

The beer is well looked after, but the range of wines is very basic. Expect to order white or red.

A few years ago the road outside the pub had speed bumps installed and this had the effect of reducing the passing trade on the pub and it is now mainly regulars who use the pub. Some evenings the bar staff outnumber the customers. That said, there is a good atmosphere to be found on workdays between 5:30pm and 7pm as local office workers pop in on the way home. Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes are a nice time to visit. There is a generous sized beer garden at the rear for use on warm days and some play equipment for children.

There is food available, fairly basic fare and quite affordable but don't expect cordon bleu. The pub is clean and tidy and lie all pubs has benefited from the no smoking rules, although it does have a tent in the garden at the rear for smokers to use and a table with an ashtray outside the front door. The toilets are clean and well managed.

There is ample parking in the pub car park, but I suggest that you don't leave your car there overnight and on dark evenings, try to park your car outside the front where you can keep an eye on it. The area has a terrible record for vehicles being broken into.

8 Nov 2008 08:03