The Black Castle, Arno's Vale

A very unusual pub, looking exactly like a black castle as it’s name suggests. I believe that it was built originally as a folly by the local Lord of the manor when this was still part of the countryside outside of Bristol. Unfortunately despite it’s interesting appearance from the outside, it is now located in the middle of a supermarket car park and inside it’s a very bland, corporate affair with no interesting features whatsoever other than a couple of arched doorways and windows.

It’s a large, U-shape building, and the courtyard in the centre of the “U” is still pleasant enough, although not quite as attractive as I remember it from my youth when there was a pond and fountains illuminated by coloured underwater lighting. Once you’re inside though, you might as well be in a Brewer’s Fayre, Premier Inn or any of the other bland chain pubs that blight our landscape. The left hand leg of the “U” is more the bar area and this had rather cheap looking laminate flooring, whilst most of the rest of the pub was carpeted and taken up by diners.

The bar area has a couple of (orange?) pool tables at one end as well as a pinball machine. Paintwork was a mixture of khaki green, cream and mustard which actually looked better than it sounds. A number of old black and white prints of Bristol were on the walls, as well as some arty black and white close-up photo’s of golf, darts and pool. There were also a couple of plasma’s dotted about which I think may have been showing sports of some sort.

Service at the bar was somewhat slow with only one person serving initially and a number of people ordering food and paying by card. A pile of at least a hundred empty glasses at the end of the bar indicated that they are either understaffed or disorganised. I didn’t inspect the menu, but it appeared to be very much the cheap and cheerful sizzling variety, and there were a number of meal deals on every single day of the week such a steak nights, burger night, great big combo nights and even pudding nights.

As might be expected, beer choice was not extensive with Bombardier being the sole offering. Ciders were Blackthorn and Strongbow.

24 May 2013 16:27

The Sandringham, Arno's Vale

A basic, no frills, Victorian boozer on a corner plot in Sandy Park Road, it is quite a large establishment and includes a skittle alley as well as a couple of good sized bars.

The main bar is a basic affair in a sort of staggered L-shape, with old green carpet on the floors, rough plasterwork on the walls and an old brick fire-place to one side. A notice board advertised a Sunday meat raffle which always strikes me as a sign of a proper local’s pub, and in addition to that there were a few local photos on the walls. There was some old bench seating around the perimeter and plenty of red chairs.

A few TV’s were dotted around, many showing sports channels, but the volume was off and this was not intrusive. A number of fairly light were strung up above the bar and there was a darts board at one end. I think there may also have been a few more darts boards in the above bar, although we did not investigate this.

Beer choice was a little disappointing with Courage Best being the only real ale on. Ciders were Thatcher’s Dry and Thatcher’s Traditional.

24 May 2013 13:08

The Chester Arms, Chicheley

Although this looks like a traditional pub from the outside with a few picnic benches in the front garden, in reality it is much more of a restaurant these days both in form and function. It's obviously been refurbished at some point (except for the loos) with the owners clearly going very firmly down the gastro route.

It’s divided in to three rooms, a main bar at the front with a smaller room off to one side and a small cellar bar at the rear. The main bar has the distinct feel of a casual bistro type restaurant, although it was difficult to pin down exactly why. It still had a good sized bar counter and a couple of wooden beams on the ceiling, but other than that there was no sign of any pub like features. The walls were all just plain white, with wood panelling on the lower part and plasterwork above whilst there was a red patterned carpet on the floor. There was an old tiled fireplace off to one side and a few watercolours on the walls of wildlife, and most of these were for sale at around the £150 mark. Seating consisted of a mixture of black and red upright leather chairs and all the tables were laid up for food.

The small room off to the left had tables that admittedly weren’t laid up, but there were only a couple of tables in here and it still had little in the way of atmosphere. The cellar bar that was down a couple of steps at the rear looked as though it may have been more promising with a tiled floor and whitewashed stone walls, but that was in darkness and apparently was available to hire for private dining functions.

The menu was very much restaurant like in both the choice of dishes and the prices, with most of the mains being around the £15 - £20 mark, although that said a subset of dishes were available as part of a “2 courses for £14.95” or “3 courses for £17.50” menu which was considerably better value. Steaks featured prominently, as well as a few fish dishes which were apparently fresh off a boat from Cornwall. My Smoked Haddock Risotto with chargrilled Asparagus and a poached egg was a pleasant enough dish, although I’ve had tastier and it wasn’t a particular generous portion, especially as far as the fish went. If I’d been paying the regular price of £16.50 instead of having it as part of a meal deal, I would have felt very hard done by. As it was, combined with a very nice Chocolate and Bailey’s Bread and Butter Pudding, I suppose it was reasonable value for the quality of the food served.

Beers selection was very disappointing with just Greene King IPA on tap. Even worse, there was no draught cider at all. This is a tricky one to mark. As a pub it fails to deliver on most fronts, and this is after all a pub review website, and hence my low mark. If you’re after a decent meal though, it may be worth giving it a go.

21 May 2013 22:38