The Bridge Inn, Amberley

Visited this pub for the first time about a month ago, having rejected our former favourite of The George & Dragon at Houghton (see my review there). Very friendly & welcoming family run pub with good food. Garden & terrace both busy on our first visit.

(I mentioned that we had come to them instead of the George & Dragon because of their (G&D's) restricted menu for outside food, and paper plates. They said that the G&D had changed hands a couple of times recently and several people had commented to them about the poor attitude of its new owners.) The Bridge Inn had a full menu choice for their garden and used 'proper' plates!

Have since been back and enjoyed another mid-week lunchtime meal there - again, car park was full and garden busy. And they warn you that there will be a 20 min wait for food because they are busy - which is helpful and more than a lot of others would do.

26 Sep 2007 12:33

The George and Dragon, Houghton

The George & Dragon had been a favourite pub with occasional visits over many years (15+). We have particularly enjoyed the garden with its views over the countryside - and enjoyed meals in the garden. The pub was always fairly busy, even for mid-week lunches when they did a discount on specials for over-50s.

We visited about a month ago on a mid-week lunchtime and were surprised how quiet it was - lots of space in the car-park and inside.

When we looked at the menu, we found that there is a full menu for eating inside, but only a restricted menu for eating in the garden - cold bar snacks or a very few hot dishes. We were told that for "'elf and safety reasons" meals outside had to be served on paper plates and most hot meals were not suitable for that!! (I note the similar comment by andley1972 about beer in plastic glasses.)

Apart from preferring 'proper' plates and glasses, the use of disposable 'crockery' etc. is not environmentally friendly!

The bar-girl was also somewhat off-hand and not friendly (and, from PeterKJ49's comments, this was not an isolated incident). It was obvious that the pub had changed hands (which was subsequently confirmed to us by someone else).

So we went to The Bridge Inn down at the bottom of the hill - by the bridge! - and had an enjoyable meal there.

26 Sep 2007 12:20