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Must eat (and drink) pubs on the Stourport ring


Neil Ryan

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3 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Just in case people dont know how this works, and many of Joe Public simply dont know how it works I will give a bit of advice. These ratings although can be of assistance on occasion are often a red herring and often nothing to do with cleanliness.  The main thing the EHO check in all visits is your paperwork. There are lists needed for what and when an item/area was cleaned and most importantly a record of temperatures for each and every fridge/freezer on the premises all numbered. These temperatures have to be taken twice a day every day and recorded and more often in hot weather.  There is paperwork required that lists ALL allergens in every meal you do to show to Joe Public.  A sign MUST be displayed stating ask a member of staff etc etc if you have any allergies. You have to be fastidious with this paperwork as the EHO just appear sometimes out of the blue. More points are awarded for paperwork than actual cleanliness. It is very easy to have a superb, immaculate kitchen and utensils etc and only get a 2 or 3 scoring because you havnt done the paperwork. You can also have a pretty god awful cleaning schedule and a grubby kitchen and still get a 4 if you paperwork is brilliant. A low score usualy means not good but can mean that a storage area needs the walls painting etc even if the cupboards are clean etc. Just thought it worth a mention.  Just to finish with our places we always had a 5 on every visit!! But its not the b all and end all.

Understood, as with all rating systems its highly dependent on what is measured.  What I would say is that many of the people I know who live in Kinver will not eat in the Vine and by inference of the more or less empty car park and closing early in the evenings, the pub is not performing well. By comparison about 4-5 years ago with a different owner it was a thriving establishment, after all is a great location next to a lock and with a large carpark and garden.

 

If anyone is passing and eats there, then some feedback to this forum on the actual performance would be great; but I will not be trying it until hygiene rating and evident popularity improve.

  • Greenie 1
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3 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:

Understood, as with all rating systems its highly dependent on what is measured.  What I would say is that many of the people I know who live in Kinver will not eat in the Vine and by inference of the more or less empty car park and closing early in the evenings, the pub is not performing well. By comparison about 4-5 years ago with a different owner it was a thriving establishment, after all is a great location next to a lock and with a large carpark and garden.

 

If anyone is passing and eats there, then some feedback to this forum on the actual performance would be great; but I will not be trying it until hygiene rating and evident popularity improve.

Yeah I wasnt particularily refering to that pub but just in general as I believe most people think the score is all about cleanliness which it certainly isnt ? a score of only 1 however means there are problems in many areas of the business.

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If you search in the Food Hygiene app on a smart phone you can see a score for an establishment, when it was last rated and a breakdown of the categories.

As said above sometimes a score of 2 or 3 can be awarded because paperwork or management skills aren't great but the actual food and hygiene can be excellent.

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33 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:

There is a brilliant posh scotch egg shop in Worcester (Charles Street IIRC) well worth a try.

 

The last time I was in the Old Bush in Swindon, it had 6 varieties of Scotch eggs!  However, it did achieve one of the lowest scores in my Pub Cruise that year, so I wouldn't go out of my way.  The Green Man had had a makeover, too, and wasn't the same incredibly cheap (Sunday lunch £3.50!) homely place it was.

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Another very good place is the Garderner's Arms in Droitwich - they do an excellent variety of sausages (Worcester Sauce flavour to name one!), amongst other things. It is at the back of the park that the canal goes through, in the centre of town. I would say Droitwich is a detour worth making and plenty of time with the number of days you have. You should have time to do both the Barge and Junction canal, but of the two I found the Barge canal to be prettier, especially the locks.

 

If going clockwise, perhaps a good idea would be to overnight at Stoke works, then the next day turn off at Hanbury Junction; all the way down to Hawford Junction; turn in the river; back up to Droitwich town centre for the night and then the next morning back up the narrow locks to rejoin the W&B at Hanbury to resume your Stourport Ring. For anti-clockwise, you could moor either on the river at Stourport, or Worcester, or at the Lenchford pub and then do the same as above but the opposite way round, still with Droitwich as the overnight stop in-between.

 

For reference, the pub I mentioned at Alvechurch is the Crown.

Edited by Philip
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13 hours ago, Philip said:

I agree with jonesthenuke about the Vine at Kinver; went in last summer and waited nearly an hour for a basic meal order, despite hardly anyone else in. The food was ordinary at best. Perhaps it may have changed for the better since..

 

 

Last time I was at the Vine, a server was eating chips off a plate before serving it to a customer.

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5 hours ago, Philip said:

Another very good place is the Garderner's Arms in Droitwich -

Oh-oh! Here's another favourite I really don't rate! It changed hands in a bit of a shuffle a year or so ago and then, as I understand it, the landlord who'd moved on (to The Old Cock Inn iirc) moved back.  I never did get to give it a go under the brief new management, but I'd been there a few times before the switch and been underwhelmed.  The final straw was going to pay a bill only to be told we would have to wait as the card machine was not available whilst the landlady was making a long phone call. Neither the food nor the beer was worth the wait.  Not sure which iteration you were impressed with, but I can see why it really ought to be a lovely place to go.  

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8 hours ago, Laurie.Booth said:

Last time I was at the Vine, a server was eating chips off a plate before serving it to a customer.

 

Doesn't surprise me too much sadly! We went in about a decade ago and seem to remember it being pretty good back then, shame how it has slumped.

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Oh-oh! Here's another favourite I really don't rate! It changed hands in a bit of a shuffle a year or so ago and then, as I understand it, the landlord who'd moved on (to The Old Cock Inn iirc) moved back.  I never did get to give it a go under the brief new management, but I'd been there a few times before the switch and been underwhelmed.  The final straw was going to pay a bill only to be told we would have to wait as the card machine was not available whilst the landlady was making a long phone call. Neither the food nor the beer was worth the wait.  Not sure which iteration you were impressed with, but I can see why it really ought to be a lovely place to go.  

I've had a meal there twice now, first in Sept '17 then again last March, so this may have been during the brief landlord's tenure. Both meals were just of very good quality, freshly prepared and well cooked etc. There was good choice on the menu too. Since I'm more a lager drinker (still enjoy some bitters mind!), I can't comment on the 'beer', let's just say the lines were clean and the barrels in date...

 

My only slight negative thoughts are that it took ages to be served a drink the first time (but it was a Saturday night and they were predictably busy!) and also the size of the building and the rooms did seem a bit small for the number of punters that were there on both occasions, they were very stretched and getting to the toilet was a challenge, especially having to clamber over dogs in the bar area! Looks like it's a victim of its own success!

Edited by Philip
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5 minutes ago, Alan B said:

In Droitwich the Gardeners Arms is not looked on too favourably. Better to try the Talbot or Hop Pole which is a regular Good Beer Guide entry.

Phew! I was beginning to think it was just me!  The Talbot became a Craddocks under the shuffle I referred to earlier (previously the Old Cock Inn was), improving it greatly.

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1 hour ago, Alan B said:

In Droitwich the Gardeners Arms is not looked on too favourably. Better to try the Talbot or Hop Pole which is a regular Good Beer Guide entry.

 

57 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Phew! I was beginning to think it was just me!  The Talbot became a Craddocks under the shuffle I referred to earlier (previously the Old Cock Inn was), improving it greatly.

I can't say I have ever picked up that the folk of Droitwich collectively don't rate the Gardener's Arms, although I am aware it's not a universal favourite. It had a resurgence 10 or more years ago when it started focussing on food. It would probably have died otherwise. I assume it's location is a throwback to when Vines Park was a salt works as it's a bit of a strange place to find the sort of pub it aspires to be. Before that the Old Cock was the most popular for eating and I actually had my first date with my now wife in there but that was 20 years ago. It went downhill in the 2000s after a change of landlord or two.

 

There does appear to be a revolving door for proprietors in Droitwich. I seem to recall that the guys who run - or ran - Portofino, the Italian restaurant in town, once had the Gardeners Arms or the Old Cock or maybe even both.

 

JP

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22 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah I wasnt particularily refering to that pub but just in general as I believe most people think the score is all about cleanliness which it certainly isnt ? a score of only 1 however means there are problems in many areas of the business.

Not quite true, if your establishment has not been inspected it gets a score of 1.

 

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Only been to the Gardener's Arms once which must have been not long after the Droitwich canal reopened. Seem to recall we had very good service and good food at that time.

Edited by Rob-M
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1 minute ago, Laurie.Booth said:

Not quite true, if your establishment has not been inspected it gets a score of 1.

 

Mmmm since when? We have taken over several places and informed EHO who just asked us to remove star rating from the premises until after inspection. In any case the rating doesnt have to be displayed at all but will be on line unless yer in Wales or northern ireland then its compulsory. On checking the last place that was rated on before we took over the figures were not changed on line to a one. I understand that different areas do implement it in different ways.

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