Smallish cozy pub. Owner / bar tender has around 100 different gins behind the bar and beers to…read morepull and on tap. I'm not a huge fan of gin but if you like it at all, this clearly is the place to have a gin cocktail. The bar tender asked what I liked in terms of sweet, floral or savory and then she surprised me with the best gin cocktail I ever had.

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.

The food is amazing and the staff are always helpful and go above and beyond. I highly recommend…read moretheir Sunday roast especially with the unlimited potatoes and gravy! I love coming here the pub itself is so lovely too with such a welcoming atmosphere. My family and I often come at least once or twice a month.

This is my favourite spot! Food is amazing and the staff treats you like family! I've never had a…read morebad meal even when it's been 11 of us!

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]

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.

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

Anyone browsing my reviews will see I don't hand out a lot of five star reviews. But I have always…read moreenjoyed this place, and my visit today is off the charts good. A bluegrass (?) band is playing and doing it very well. My cheese burger is excellent and the accompanying mixed salad is not the usual afterthought but very well put together. And I haven't even got to the beers. I have enough experience to claim this place have a top-class lineup of beers. Some ten cask taps (I had four of them yet) and then another dozen+ of keg taps. Excellent beer choices. In addition the bottle/glass menu choices I have not yet explored of wines, whiskeys, bottled beers, etc. I'm having a five-star experience and I'm loving it.

Came here for the craft beer and they didn't disappoint. They have a large selection of interesting…read morecrafts on draft and cask. I was pleased to find some more rare offerings compared to other places in this Victoria station area that mostly had the same old offerings. I was hoping for Verdant, Track or Cloudwater or Beak but those are not here yet unfortunately so will try and find another craft bar outside of this area for those. Barkeep was friendly and crowd was mostly youthful hanging out. The food menu is small with just burgers

A great gastro pub on the Suffolk/ Essex borders in the lovely little village of Nayland…read more The pub is very unusual in that it grows most of its own vegetables aswell as rears it's own meat, so those worried about their food miles can eat here with a clear conscience. There is a seperate restaurant upstairs serving great comfort food, the steak with green beans and lardons and the beef and onion pudding are highly reccomended, added to that some locally produced real ale, really friendly staff, and open fires, make for a cosy night in a country pub. Be warned though, don't be fooled by the pub's quiet country location, you'll need to book for the restaurant at weekends. If you are in the area it is well worth a visit

I wonder if the previous poster has even been to The Anchor Inn or is indeed the owner of the Lion…read morein Leavenheath or the Crown in Stoke by Nayland. I have been going to The anchor for about 2 years since moving to Colchester, the food is amazing and the staff are very friendly, I prob go maybe once a month or so usually on a Sunday, which is so busy i always book( after being caught out one Sunday!) To say there were 4 people in there! I think the fewest I have ever seen is about 40! The waiting staff are superb always running about with the food like a ants nest, you usually have Becky or Rachael behind the bar both of whom are lovely and the new manager Dave never stops moving. Sunday Roasts are I think £9.95 and they come overlapping the plate and its not your usual Sunday offering there is always something random like Boar Pigeon or Pheasant. I had not been for a couple of months and in my absence the conservatory had been redecorated and had new tables and chairs and the bar had been repainted, although the tables in the bar could do with replacing as a couple are a bit rickety!