Father's Day at The Running Horse

Anyone doubting the community or family spirit of modern Britain should have been trying to fight their way through the chattering crowd of grandpas, daddies, sons and baby grandchildren at The Running Horse enjoying Father's Day lunch service today.

Our party consisted of my husband, younger sons and my parents, but the huge noisy table behind us was easily 11 members of a multi generational family who as we left at 3pm were replaced by a second 'relay' for another family of 12. Heart warming and great for the hospitality trade!

The Running Horse in Littleton is a popular  village pub with rooms, that combines friendly pub/bar/beer garden (where dogs are welcome) with a smarter panelled dining area, both of which serve hearty contemporary  British fare.  On a weekday lunch there is a mouth watering selection of sandwiches including coronation chicken, and on a Sunday traditional roasts are added alongside such reliable favourites as prawn cocktail or charcuterie starters  and mains such as fish and chips,  burgers, smoked haddock gratin and wild mushroom tagliatelli.

The service even on such a frantic occasion was swift and friendly, and the chefs visibly toiling in the open kitchen responded with genuine smiles when  my husband waved and thanked them. However as

the mother of a trained waiter I could not help noticing that the waitress poured the (nice dry ) house wine all wrong, grasping it in both warming hands. My dad quoted his late bon viveur brother who used to say 'Hold a bottle by the bottom and a woman by the waist'...

A really pleasurable place for a meal at any time of the week who more than rose to a special occasion.  The free bottle of beer for every dad was the icing on the cake.

Monday Munchies: The Fox at Crawley

What a joy it is to see a decaying ruin given a shiny new face lift.  No,  I am not talking about taking my own tentative steps into The Last Chance Saloon of plastic surgery.  I am talking about the pub formerly known as The Fox and Hounds in the smart village of Crawley outside Winchester.

Until about two years ago its reputation, location and architectural attraction had gone down the drain by becoming a dingey, damp, mostly empty pub limping into oblivion, but in October 2018 the management of  the equally bright, contemporary Bugle Inn in Twyford (review to follow) took it over, called it The Fox, and have transformed it both inside and out as a  beautifully interior-designed destination gastro pub with rooms. 

The airy glass-roofed dining room has smart oak floors but the sound-proofing panels help to muffle my absolute pet-hate - echo and noise - retaining classy potential for functions of all sizes. The smaller, panelled dining room has a comfortable, intimate ambience. The bar between the two is not really spacious enough to prop up of an evening, but is an elegant holding pen while you wait for your table. In summer punters can overflow into the wrap-around outside courtyards.

Added publicity and star dust is sprinkled by the occasional appearance of the Chef Patron Lenny on our local celebrity James Martin's Saturday Morning ITV programme. The staff are friendly and keen, and the service swift and efficient, making punters feel welcome and special.

The menu is for treats and occasions.   The famed Laverstoke buffalo burgers are local, while torched Cornish mackerel and off-shore mussels, East Coast brown shrimp and Norfolk free-range chicken presumably come from further away.  Both times I have been at lunch-time my companion (as professional restaurant critics say) has had the crab sandwich and I have had the enormous cheesy Croque Monsieur with lashings of salad.

The only awkward note is struck by the parking, which is fairly restricted and accessed round an awkward corner, so share lifts and come in as small a car as you can manage!