The Chequers Inn, Fingest

This place is going upmarket and with prices to match. I visited recently in midweek. There is very little on the menu under �15. It was good but I would have liked to have seen a few less expensive offerings. There was only one beer on the day I went.

7 Oct 2011 14:13

The Chequers Inn, Fingest

OK, I went back to The Chequers after I'd heard it had changed hands again and am pleased that I did. I asked the new barman how long he'd been therre - 5 weeks - and one of the locals delighted me with his observation of the idiots who ran ir for 6 months (November 10 - May 11 " they didn't have a f***ing clue". A pretty astute summary to someone who'd he's never met before and I liked his frankness. I couldn't have agreed more.

Anyway, those awful people with their horrible "laaarsaaarneeeiaaar" have gone and the new folks seem to know what they are doing. Saturday lunch was great, all washed down with an excellent pint of Oxford Gold and cider (not at the same time!) .

It's definitely back on my list.

4 Jul 2011 13:29

The Chequers Inn, Fingest

Oh dear. Towards the end of 2010 The Chequers changed hands. My girlfriend and I have been quite a few times over the past few years and while the previous landlord wasn't exactly a "Ray of sunshine", he did run a very tight ship and served up simple but delicious meals in a timely manner and provided complimentary newspapers.
The new people don't seem to have a clue. I went there on my own in mid-December for Sunday lunch and the service at the bar was so haphazard and slow a number of people got fed up with waiting and walked out. I hung in and had the roast (which was OK) but when I came to pay the card machine wasn't working so it was a good job I'd had enough cash on me. Recently, I went with my girlfriend for a "quick" Saturday lunch. We ordered a vegetable soup with crusty bread and a sausage baguette. We waited and waited and waited. GF twice enquired when the food would arrive and was told both time "it's coming". Yes, but when??? One hour and 10 minutes after we'd ordered we were finally served. We were told they had burnt the soup so had to make a fresh lot. OK fine, but why not tell us so that we could (a) agree to wait, (b) change our order, or (c) get some bar snacks to tide us over? GF did not get a spoon and had to interrupt the landlady who was extolling the delights of her homemade "laarsaarneyaar" (I always thought it was Italian rather than South Bucks in origin) to another customer. Spoon arrived but no knife for her crusty bread (2 meagre slices from a supermarket baguette) so she had to interrupt again. When I came to pay, the card machine was still not working and the barman said he'd knock something off the bill for our trouble. I ended up paying �14 for a soup, sausage baguettte and a pint and a half of lime and soda. GF was furious when we were in the car park when I told her and reckoned we had been OVER-charged. However, it was obvious that the barman was having a bad day and for the sake of an argument I didn't go back in to make his, or more particularly, my own experience even worse.
We won't be going back which is a real pity as we'd had our first date there. The Frog at Skirmett and the Bull and Butcher in Turville will be rubbing their hands in glee if the people at The Chequers don't up their game.

10 Jan 2011 12:15