Pub chains that serve food - which one?

jonkil

Guest
Just ate tonight in the "Brewers fayre" chain pub.
The food was OK, for the price that is. Two of us for £9.99 each and a a few coffees (unlimited refills) in quite pleasant surroundings..... Not to bad at all.
So the question?
Which pub chains that serve food do you all like. Hungry horse? Harvester? Beefeater?/other...... Or which is the best/worst.
Just a quick survey as it is nice to eat out when out and about in the van.
 
We often go for the weatherspoons, just cos they are fairly cheap and dependable...certainly not gourmet food! Use Harvesters too but they can be very crowded and noisy so OH does not like them much! Toiby Carvery can be fairly good too. Think chains are all pretty samey.We found a pub in lincoln which, I think, was part of the Greene king chain and they had a "traditional menu" which was countrywide, similar to Weatherspoons (I guess it the competition!). This was reasonable and better than average:tongue:.
 
£9.99 each sounds expensive, there are Pub chains round here that do a meal for almost half that. It's not Gourmet Cuisine but they throw a free drink in with it as well. We have 2 long standing motorhome friends that live nearby and we have the odd midweek meet up in these type of pubs for a meal and a chat.

If anyone wanted an overnight stopover in Gateshead, there is a Trading Estate and one of these Pubs on the edge of it.
 
Can't beat Toby Carvery, £6, all you can eat, plenty of choice of fresh veg/4 meats, sometimes it's worth waiting for them to bring fresh dishes out if they've been stood a bit.
 
It would help if you used Chef & Brewer,John Barras ,Taylor Walker or any of the Spirit group of pubs .
At least then I could keep fuel going in my van !
:drive:
 
Yates, Whetherspoons, Crown Carveries,all good at what they do,not gourmet food but good for a quick lunch etc.we ate in Yates Southampton,today,meal deal. £5.each, Including a drink, soft or alcaholic, hard to beat that,Lasagne, garlic bread chips and a pint of Strongbow, Scampi chips and salad and a cappuchino for my wife,luvly.Crown carveries do a three meat roast and as much veg as you want £4 ,75 great quality we use them a couple of times a week,cant cook it for that,three venues in Southampton area. SO where ever we are when hungry just pop in.
 
Like many have said, at some you can get a meal for one for £4.99 or £5.99 including a pint of beer/lager or a soft drink/coffee.

Weatherspoons is one. They have different offers each day - steak day, curry day, fish Friday etc. Hard to beat, even if buying from superstore and cooking yourself.

Weekends can be more, but even so there are deals going.
 
A lot of the big groups now offer a franchise arrangement to keep costs down punch taverns being one, never will be gourmet and consistency no doubt will differ
Channa
 
You can't. Beet a, TAY BARNS, all you can eat for about 6 quid ,lotts of choice. As many courses as you like definitely not for stick insects, :
 
Good stuff.
The prices you all quote seem great, used paying a premium here in Ireland !... so the 9.99 we got tonight seemed reasonable.
Just doing the survey as we intend to spend prolonged periods this year touring, and a good bit of this in the UK.... hence the question.
Appreciate the fact that it wont be gourmet, but at this end of the market the food is never going to be..... if its acceptable, its reasonable, its tasty and its available then that's what matters.
I find that if you can find local establishments doing their own take on the market then it can be really good. One such place quite local to me do just that...... problem is I tend to use their standard as a benchmark !
Must say I do like the Toby's when I am over in the UK.
 
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As card carrying CAMRA members, we get wetherspoons vouchers

Also if we've run out of vouchers they give us 20% off food and I can't remember what it is off a pint

The food is microwave but try buying that much curry in tescos for that price (remember the bundled drink) and you don't have to wash up

No sympathy if you don't drink real ale - you'll have to pay full price :D

Rich
 
We prefer to support independent caters,and not the homogenised chains.They support local producers and local specialties My daughter was a temp in a chain pub when she was a catering college and she said that the the cookbook with pictures to show how the food is to be arranged on the plate and colour coded recipes that corresponded with the markings on the microwave dial! She left after a few months fed up with frying,defrosting and dinging.
 
Most of these posts mention "gourmet cuisine" what constitutes gourmet in your world?
 
I suppose you need a Michelin star to qualify as 'Gourmet'.

I had a Michelin tyre once, that is why my beans on toast is first rate perhaps? :dance:
 
sasquatch said:
My daughter was a temp in a chain pub when she was a catering college and she said that the the cookbook with pictures to show how the food is to be arranged on the plate and colour coded recipes that corresponded with the markings on the microwave dial! She left after a few months fed up with frying,defrosting and dinging.
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You would be surprised how many restaurants, and I can speak from personal experience of three Michelin starred ones, do have photographs of the correct plate arrangement displayed in the kitchen for reference by the staff...we didn't microwave though!
 
Then after their nutrishious meal and the bottle of wine they jump in their cars vans or lorries and drive away. watch out for them then he he.
 
We would rather cook something up in the van than eat that pub chain muck!
 
vindiboy said:
Then after their nutrishious meal and the bottle of wine they jump in their cars vans or lorries and drive away. watch out for them then he he.
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The importance of lunch to the French really comes across when you drive past some roadworks at lunchtime. The workers are usually having lunch together, coolboxes at their feet and wine on the makeshift table, having a great time! Compare that with scoffing a dodgy Gregg's steak slice while rushing to your next appointment.....
John
 
sagart said:
You would be surprised how many restaurants, and I can speak from personal experience of three Michelin starred ones, do have photographs of the correct plate arrangement displayed in the kitchen for reference by the staff...we didn't microwave though!
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The main reason for the pictures is for the staff to identify the ingredients especially the vegetables.
I was in a supermarket once and two orange ladies with perfect nails,mobile and hair,were overheard " Oh my God is that what chicken looks like" when spying a whole chicken!
 
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