The Old Inn is so called, I assume, because it is said to be 14th Century. Unfortunately, it is a Hall & Woodhouse establishment which means mixed blessings. Like many of their houses it may have been very old but it has been gutted and refurbished to a homogenous style seen in all their refurbished houses (all the ones I have visited, anyway). This means many beams, often with 'amusing' or interesting comments written on them, smooth stone floors and minimal atmosphere. Only a few retained features attest to the age of the place. At the Old Inn it means an original granite fireplace, hewn from some nearby Dartmoor quarry in the mists of time, no doubt. Another feature that has been retained is the rambling nature of the interior. It is a long series of joined rooms with only one bar at one end of the building. It is quite a walk, a twisty one at that, from the bar to the other end of the pub.
Quite why H&W go for a house style that avoids atmosphere to such a depressing degree is beyond me. But there are saving graces, the ales are excellent and the food is usually more than adequate. On this visit I was lucky to have the last of this year's supply of the seasonal Hopping Hare. Quite why they do not make this beautiful real ale available all year is a mystery. Although, the replacement Fursty Ferret is almost as nice.
The last few times I have eaten in a H&W pub the menus, written in a chatty, amusing fashion, have tried to put over a local, personal to the pub, attitude. But as the menu has been identical in each place, this is nothign more than an illusion. The menu items were okay but suffered from more or less indiscriminate use of Bearnaise sauce which never bothered me that much but which angered my vegetarian daughter who preferred her veggy delights without the addition of 'herby savoury custard'.
The Old Inn's menu is different to the others I have seen. This may be a group-wide revision, I haven't been in any others to compare. But unnecessary sauces still seem to bedevil vegetarians! My daughter's otherwise enjoyable summer vegetable pie was ruined by it sitting in a sea of unidentifiable sauce (it may have been bearnaise again, not sure).
My wife and I both had nicoise salads. On the plus side, the tuna was (I think) freshly grilled and flaked. It could have been a little less cooked as it was slightly dry but was just about okay and, most of all, not tinned. However, what sort of nicoise salad doesn't have anchovies, green beans, avocado? Almost in contravention of the TDA I would say! It was nice but it wasn't the nicoise salad the menu said it was.
Price-wise, it was a slightly high average for food and a bit more than average for drinks - Hopping Hare at £3 a pint!
Would I go back? Yes but more for the fact Widecombe is so nice and I love Dartmoor, often going there than for the pub itself. I wouldn't make a special journey. read more
