Black Swan Photos
Recommended Reviews - Black Swan
Start your review...
17 years ago
Nice, will be even better once they've finished tarting it up. Restaurant is overstretching itself, they should scale back on the menu and spend the money on some higher-wattage lighting. Park on the cobbles outside. Wifi is present, but no-one knew the key, or alternatively they just didn't want to share it. Parts of the pub resemble a building site, with materials and tools left lying around work in progress. Tidy up when no-one's working on it, it looks a right mess otherwise. Continuing the theme, there was a fair bit of broken furniture in the room: a drawer front hanging off, a knackered trunk/box in the bathroom, and a bathroom mirror awaiting attachment to the wall. A cobbled alley leads from the street to the left side of the pub around the back of the kitchen to the side entrance. Vital when the front is locked, and also saves dragging luggage through the bar. Lots of different levels and steps adds interest to the inside, but it is unfortunately totally wheelchair-unfriendly as a result. The bar is very pleasing, with Theakston Old Peculier & Best, Black Sheep Best, Nick Stafford's Hambleton Ales Stud on tap. Plus John Smith, pickled eggs, onions, and the regulation lagers. The night I was there the local football team were celebrating a major victory, accompanied by the cup they'd won. They started out cheerfully enough... Through to the crepuscular dining room; no pool table any more according to a returning ex-local on the next table - apparently it used to be where he's sitting. While waiting to order a fight broke out in the bar, and a few refugees arrived in the dining room to take shelter. Over quickly, no major damage done. Presumably over-refreshed footballers were involved in some way, so I guess this isn't exactly a regular occurrence. My chicken liver starter was fine, although the sauce was very watery - more of a reduction, some bread to mop it up or both would have been appreciated. Dirty wine glasses are inexcusable, never mind that the lighting is dim. Use some detergent, polish them, just look at them! Mine had visible marks from someone else's lips, which is not good. Next door had a long, involved A-road discussion with mine host. He should spend less time banging on about roadworks, and more on basic tidiness and hygiene. Lamb casserole was very good, perhaps a tad sweet, but spoilt by the amazingly stingy provision of bread. You know those packs of part-baked French bread rolls you can get in supermarkets, four to a plastic pack? I was served *one* of those on a plate with the pot of stew. It was about the size of a Granny Smith apple. Bring proper bread, and more of it for heaven's sake, it looked and was ridiculous. There was plenty of noise from the bar through the floor of the room, they didn't bother with soundproofing when they built these places. Have a few pints before you retire, it'll stop eventually. We awoke to the very pleasant noise of horses being taken up and down the hill for their exercise. The toiletry supplies were rather peculiar - 4 shower caps, but no soap. Breakfast was unremarkable, but fine. Rereading this it sounds like a right old moan. In fact, it was not bad; good value, but it could be loads better with minimal effort. read more
7 years ago
16 years ago
