The Sugar Loaf - Market Harborough

Visited 18th May 2014.

I have decided that I've been a little lazy so far this year and not really been making much of an effort to keep up with my pub visits so I have booked a hotel for Sunday night. It's in Worksop so it's a decent drive away and should give me a fair crack at  packing in a few stops on the way. I managed to get up fairly early (for me, on a Sunday) and was out of the house by nine and in the first pub of the day just after eleven leaving plenty of time to order breakfast. The pub was fairly busy and it took a while to get served. When I was eventually served I ordered  the traditional breakfast and a large latte and then went and sat in a booth while waiting for it to arrive. And wait and wait and wait. It did eventually arrive and although it looked fine when I tried it everything on the plate was cold. I then sat waiting for someone to come and ask me how my meal was but that turned out to be a wait in vain. I then became a little proactive and went in search of my waiter who was very happy to replace my meal for a hot one but didn't offer to refill my coffee which had long been drunk while waiting for the breakfast to arrive. I realise he was under no obligation to do that but given the circumstances I thought it might have been a nice gesture. It was a nice looking pub with an attractive curving bar and the general feel of the place was very pleasant. Sadly, I left feeling quite dissatisfied over the meal, not a good start to the day but hopefully it would get better.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The Sawyer's Arms - Exeter

Visited 24th March 2013. 

The second day of our weekend in Exeter found us walking round the city armed with a map of Art Galleries and workshops and various other gathering places. We were on the trail of Art. We had a pretty good day and managed to visit a gallery (the starting point), a pub and two shops that were part of the art trail. We were fed biscuits and chatted with artists and generally enjoyed ourselves even though there was a lot of walking involved. We finished for the day with a walk to the new 'spoons which hadn't existed on our last visit. Time for something to eat but we had left it a bit late and all the hot dogs were gone as was the lasagne. I settled for a beef roast and a beer, with the girls having ham, egg and chips and a baked potato with tuna and a couple of pints of Pepsi. When we arrived it was very busy and the barman was working hard trying to keep up on his own but it quietened down a bit during the time we were there. We decided we had had enough walking for the day as we worked out that it was going to take us about forty five minutes to walk back to our friends car and it was starting to get very cold. So we called a cab, to take us back to the car! She drove us back to her house so we could get our bags and car and then, thankfully, we had a nice uneventful journey home. A different, but very enjoyable weekend.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.

The John Russell Fox - Andover

Visited 29th May 2010.

Something slightly different today. Having just passed his driving test my son wants to buy a car. Days have been spent looking online and various magazines have been bought and digested. The net result is that we are off to Newbury to checkout a few garages. Disaster the 'spoons in Newbury doesn't open for a couple of weeks. Andover is next nearest so we head there after our Newbury visits. A few garages are visited and a car is found - great, now off to the pub! We find "The John Russell Fox" and a nearby car park which is free after 4pm. Woohoo! As none of us have eaten all day burgers are ordered and swiftly arrive. My beer of choice today - Stumbling Badger was very good. But oh dear, my order has not been communicated to the kitchen correctly and the wrong thing has arrived. I tell the barmaid who takes the meal away. Another swiftly arrives but is also wrong (wrong message from the barmaid again). Third time lucky, apparently my whole meal was cooked again - I'm not quite sure about that as the burger was cold but by now I didn't want to wait any longer. Unexpectedly the guy who had served the meal then appeared with a card stamped for a free cup of coffee for a later date with an apology for keeping me waiting. The pub itself was long and narrow with steps at the rear leading up to a family dining area. If you're interested the car purchased was a Peugeot 206.

© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.