Great gastro pub. Fab food, atmosphere and really friendly service. Strongly recommended.read more

The Bear has become a good quality gastro pub recently with a nice atmosphere and a good menu and…read moresome great specials. The ambiance is relaxed country pub and the staff are very helpful. There is a reasonable ca park as it gets quite hard to park in the summer. I have visited for lunch and dinner and both were very nicely presented and well cooked. The skate is very tasty and the scampi and Jenga chips are good. The costs can be a little bit higher for lunch but the menu is very similar and therefore for dinner, I thought it was quite reasonable. Peter who used to be at another Billericay restaurant is the restaurant manager and as normal makes sure we get well looked after.

Fish and chips was fabulous!!! We sat on the deck and relaxed in the pretty back garden. Highly…read morerecommend

Went on a Sat night, beautiful building and decor, lovely service, and the best steak I've had…read morerecently. Four of us went and everyone said how good it was, I can't remember the last time we all agreed (my brother is the difficult one, not me). We actually booked for a Sunday lunch while we were there, and if anything the Sunday roast was even better than the Saturday dinner. I really can't recommend it enough, a great find.

Hospitable, great ambience and hearty food - definitely recommend a visit esp if you enjoy the good…read moreold fashioned pub culture

Loved this place! Went there after taking someone to Harry Potter. It was drive from the location…read moreby not bad and well worth it. This is not or typical pub food place. The chef takes a lot of pride in his dishes and the staff is friendly. You might need to call ahead for reservations.

I had a wonderful trio of pork and it was so posh! The setting was ornate with lit candles around…read morethe room and on the table. You're surrounded by exquisite antiques everywhere you look. The owners serve you themselves and make sure you're having a lovely time. The bartenders were absolutely wonderful and I could not recommend a better place. If you want the true elegant dining experience, this is the place to go. It overlooks wonderful fields and a perfect place to dine and watch the sunset.

Great place to eat, service was ultra friendly, we will be back and back with more people. Great…read moreselection of gins.

Right, although I'm on the Newcastle Elite Squad of Yelpers and very proud of what the Toon has to…read moreoffer, I think I may have found a place which would make me up-sticks tomorrow and move to Essex. Yep, seriously - Essex... I know! However, the Bell Inn at Horndon on the Hill is truly something else. Totally not what I was expecting to find a few miles from Lakeside shopping centre (which is work-related, the reason I found myself in this part of the country, just in case you were wondering...) The location is a 15th Century coaching inn overlooking the hills down to the Thames Estuary. As you go into the main pub area, which leads through to the restaurant, you step into an authentic English country pub atmosphere, low wood beams, open fire, numerous ales on tap (the local pale ale we had was excellent), random brass items on the wall, but all done properly and not in the faux manner you get in some pubs. What really sets this place apart is the food. Wowser, this was superb. When we mentioned to colleagues that we were going here, everyone said we would not be disappointed and they were not wrong. The menu changes regularly to reflect seasonal produce (a big tick in my book) and the quality of ingredients and level of cooking was top notch. Starter was English asparagus wrapped in parma ham served with the richest hollandaise I've had in a long time. The main was a breast of guinea-fowl, served with various veg, each individual item cooked to perfection. To finish was a dark chocolate cheesecake with hazlenut ice cream. Each course went down a treat, I was actually a little sorry to finish as it was that good. All served by very friendly and professional waiting staff, their attention to detail was second-to-none. You know when somewhere gets it right on the money, well this place has got it and then some. It comes as no surprise to learn that The Bell has won numerous industry awards including being on The Sunday Times Food List as one of the 10 best gastropubs in the UK. So if you ever, ever, ever find yourself 'dahn sahrf' anytime soon, get yourself along the A13 and make a reservation here. Oh and they also do accommodation here, sadly this was fully booked on the night of our visit. However, I'm back down to Lakeside next month and you know where I'll be staying this time...

An excellent dining room which is open on Mondays as well. It has never failed \to please…read more Adrian Winbow

We made a reservation for Sunday roast at P&B. To be honest, it was like Thanksgiving on a plate…read more We ordered the 45 day aged steak. It was tender and delicious. The potato's looked better than they tasted (overrated). What tasted the best in my opinion was the sautéed leeks and parsnips and carrots. The bread was like a fried donut, eh. The Scottish eggs are decent. The ambiance was cool n trendy. Music was on point. We enjoyed our night here.

Vibe: 8/10 Service: 8/10…read moreValue: 6/10 Pork snacklins: 6/10 Sirloin roast: 8.5/10 Roast cod: 7.5/10 Chocolate mousse: 7/10 Overall: 7.29/10 (3.64/5) [To clarify our review system: 10 = we'll never have anything else as good as this in our lives (we use 10 very sparingly!) 9 = extraordinary 8 = great 7 = above average 6 = average Anything below 6 is being critical]

The Leather Bottle is quite proud to announce that they're in The Michelin Good Pub Food Guide, The…read moreGood Beer Guide, and was a final of the Best Gastro Pub in Essex 2010. So much so, that they've erected publicities on a pole outside in the green. Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it, right? While I can't speak to the food, I can wholeheartedly report that the staff is smiley and friendly, the Doom Bar real ale is refreshing after a five mile jaunt through the countryside*, and the back garden is sun-drenched and filled with laughing children on a Sunday afternoon. This seems like quite the weekend social hub of Blackmore - not that there's much in the way of competition. Although I'd just had a reasonably filling sandwich for lunch on the green outside, I began to salivate uncontrollably upon seeing (and smelling) the fish and chips brought to a table near us. That's in contrast to the burger on a dowdy-looking bun that her dining companion had. I won't lie, I considered shanking the other diner for a bite, but she was Asian too, and probably hungrier than I was. She might have bitten my ear off or worse. Instead, I just ogled from afar. Whether you're seeking a comely cosy bar scene, a fine dining experience, or a lovely afternoon sit in the sun, The Leather Bottle's likely to do you just fine. You just have to be willing to make the trek from Ingatestone - but a worthwhile sojourn it is! ---- * And quite reasonably priced, considering we had a pint and a half of real ale for barely over £4.

Lovely little location, great menu and the food was even better, shall definitely returnread more

Popped in for some food. As a few other have said - it's a…read moregood mix between a more modern food menu and the good/cheap beer and look of an older London pub. I got the bangers and mash while by wife got the cottage pie. I think I got the better meal as the sausages were really tasty and the whole grain mustard in the potatoes was a great way to elevate the potatoes. Her cottage pie was fine but didn't have a ton of flavor. Food came out surprisingly quickly, but we also had an order of chips which was crazy slow to come out of the kitchen. The chips were quite good but we'd both finished our entire meals and most of our beers by the time we got them. Beer options were solid, some good German choices. Beer was cheap too.

Though it is located just a short walk from the many attractions of Brick Lane, The Carpenters Arms…read moreretains a very local feel. This place is not trying to play up on an image like many of the bars in this areas and sticks instead to the important business of being a damn fine pub. Being quite small there is a naturally cosy feel to the place and this is complimented by the decor wuth lots of wood panelling and comfy seats. The bar has a great selection of draft and bottled beers and, for the summer months, there is an excellent beer garden. I've yet to try the food but they do serve traditional pub grub between 12 and 5 Tuesday through Sunday. With a great atmosphere, warm and friendly bar staff and an excellent range of drinks, The Carpenters Arms is a brilliant place for a relaxing evening or a great stop-in after a hard days shop.

Really, really good food. Great service and a cool place to have some dinner and get some work…read moredone. Loved it.

Shit space, had a reservation and couldn't get seated. Couldn't mention how bad the food was,…read morecouldn't get to my reserved seat.

An amazing place with great food, excellent atmosphere, and very friendly staff! A rainy day…read morecancelled our plans and we were hoping to find a nice place for lunch. Thankfully, we found The Old Mill! Such a lovely place for a meal or pint. We only wish that we could come back during the warmer months to take in the outside seating.

Gem of a place with real ales and real food - most of our from local farms and butcher. Wide…read morevariety with whole page of vegetarian choices.