Eccleston: The Original Farmers Arms

10:26am Wednesday 7th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

That close knit village feel is so tangible at The Original Farmers Arms.

It's a real regulars pub that has a distinctive knock, knock, come in' culture.

The Queen Vic of Eccleston where everyone has a tale to tell and the landlady waves cheerio with have a good time in Spain..' or hope it goes well next week'.

As an outsider' however, as my friend and I were, that close-knit feel can be a little off-putting although I did get the sense that we'd have been given an ear if we'd cared to chat trivia.

Food wise the pub is a tad pricey for traditional fayre. Trying one of the cheapest main meals on the menu, a steak and kidney pie for £9.50, was a good choice. Chunks of pure steak piled out of a pie that had oodles of meaty gravy and served with fresh carrots/turnips, cabbage and chunky chips.

With no vegetarian main courses, except for a few on the special board, my fussy with meat' friend opted for chicken Kiev that was the size of two shop-bought ones but not that much different in taste apart from the masses of garlic butter doused over the top that made it too greasy for her liking.

The food was on the better side of okay, although I'd say you're paying for portion size as opposed to quality fayre. A basic green salad is £5.50 rising to £11.99 for salad with prawns. The four fish meals are £10.50 to £12.50, steak dishes £12.99-£15.99 and a mixed grill is £16.99 - that must be a whopper. Four set children's chicken nugget and such like meals are £3.50.

Drinks behind the bar were the usual along with a few local ales and double deals on shorts.

How did it fare? (out of six stars): Food **** drink **** service ***** atmosphere **** value ****