The Holly Bush Inn, Salt

It's a pity that this place doesn't take bookings - I travel 27 miles to get there (in my opinion it's that good) so it would be nice to know there was a table waiting with my name on it to sit at once I'd managed to find a parking space.

I've never had a bad pint of beer, so it must be being kept well, although the choice is limited (only one guest beer). The business this place place does means that it could easily offer more and still keep it fresh.

The garden and frontage are a sight to behold (especially in summer with all the plants) and the inside is warm and cosy.

The menu is extensive, from the usual to the downright exotic, and uses many locally sourced ingredients and many of the choices are very unusual. The greek lamb will beat most with a normal appetite. There is also a good range of vegetarian dishes.

If any publicans are bemoaning the reduction in trade after the smoking ban or due to the credit crunch, they need to come here and see how it should be done - maybe the result would be a reduction in my petrol bill.

12 Dec 2008 19:00

The Admiral Rodney, Brewood

It's lunchtime on a Friday in December, it's 4 degrees outside and grey. Inside, it's cool, fine for the active staff but not so much for the less active customers who are mostly sitting with their coats on. The restaurant's open fire, for which the pub won awards in the '90s, isn't lit, the room is also empty - I wonder if there is a connection? There is a small wood-fire in the bar but the warmest seats are occupied by the pub's dogs and customers are steered to other tables to avoid disturbing them.

The beer over the previous couple of years' visits ranged from from fair to excellent but you can get the occasional duff pint as the first one was this day. An alternative was proffered freely but with no word of apology or acceptance that it was the beer below standard rather than this quaffer's taste-buds. Having no cellar-craft of my own, I'm just a paying customer, I couldn't speculate as to the reason for the variability but it has been suggested by those who know about these things, that too many guest beers can result in some going stale before they're used and that the distance between the cellar and pumps can be a problem.

The small range of food I have sampled has been generally good but on this day the 'T's in a BLT baguette are canned and the mushroom in the brunch replaced with the same. No hint of changes to the menu being made when ordering. This day was not a good day.

A few weeks previously, one of the staff was commenting about how the current financial climate was affecting trade, well they've just lost another couple of customers and it's nothing to do with the credit crunch. Instead, I'll be heading off more frequently to the Holly Bush Inn in Salt (a few miles north-east of Stafford) where it's warm, inviting, the food is excellent and far from run-of-the-mill pub fare. Unfortunately, the choice of seating is usually more limited (it is, more often than not, full both at lunchtime and in the evening) and they only have one guest beer at a time.

The old adage 'look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' do not apply to the hospitality trade - here it's the customers that need looking after.

12 Dec 2008 18:35