The Crown, Bishops Waltham, 26th March 2015

For our March outing we elected to return to The Crown Inn in Bishops Waltham, to re-assess the place after our earlier visit in 2013, despite our vow at that time never to return to the Crown for another pie.  That vow might have been made rather hastily, as it overlooked a number of important factors such as the fact that this is for us a local pub on our doorstep, and it serves good ale at reasonable prices. There have been several management changes at the Crown since our last visit, so we felt it was worth a re-appraisal (and we were feeling lazy and couldn't be bothered to venture any further a field).

So Doug, Joe, Nick, Si, Trev, Lord North & Tall Paul once more ventured into the cosy interior of the Crown, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.

On arrival we found that there weren't many other customers there, so we immediately went to the bar to sample the ales.

This being a Fullers pub there was a good selection of Fullers ales available: London Pride, Seafarers, and HSB. The guest ale was St Austell's Proper Job (4.5%), which was a rather good IPA. In fact we sampled all the ales and found that they were all rather good, just as on our previous visit. They do know how to serve a good ale here.

When Doug was arranging this visit he asked the chef to lay on a good pie for us, and he did us proud. We had a Steak & Oyster Pie (otherwise known as a Pauper's Pie) served with Broccoli and Mash.

The pies were individual pies encased in a delicious short crust pastry, and filled with a very tasty mix of steak, whole oysters, and sauce. The steak was in big chunks, and very tender. The oysters added a lovely salty tang. The filling was just the right consistency. The vegetables were cooked perfectly, and the mash was smooth & creamy.  Extra gravy was served separately, in a jug, just as it should be. The portion size was just right - not too big and not too small. We'd never had a Steak & Oyster Pie before, and we had to admit that this was a very good pie. Near perfect in fact.

Unlike on our previous visit, the service was very good this time, with fresh drinks being brought to our table by the very friendly and helpful waitress. Somehow, we felt that the ambience here was much better than on our prevous visit, although actually, nothing much had changed. There's still a very pleasant period atmosphere to the place, the facilities are very clean, there's plenty of comfortable seating, not too many distractions like canned music or TVs, and (this time) very pleasant staff who gave good service. As far as value-for-money is concerned, even the pie was slightly cheaper this time (£11.95 vs £12.50), and the beer has always been quite good value.

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry  4.41

• Filling  4.34

• Beer  4.14

• Ambience  4.12

• Value for money  3.58

• Total  20.58

What a difference 2 years and several management changes make! 20.58 is a respectable score which puts The Crown in 2nd place in our rankings of pubs visited so far this year. Of course, the more attentive reader will spot that we've only visited 2 pubs so far this year, but still, credit where credit is due. The score in 2013 was only 16.71 so this year's score of 20.58 represents a huge improvement, and definitely means that the Crown now comes with our formal seal of approval.

PS Oysters are alleged to have aphrodisiac qualities. Unfortunately on this visit these (if they exist at all) were undone by the quantity of ale consumed.

PPS At the time of writing, the Steak and Oyster Pie is still on the menu. Grab it while you can.

The Barleycorn Inn, Bishops Waltham, 25th April 2013

Pieman is pleased to report that the two recently-hospitalised Pie Club members have been discharged from hospital and are recovering well from their traumatic experiences. The doctors have told them that a sound diet will help no end with their recuperation, and what could be sounder than a good traditional British Pie washed down with a few beers?  Well, probably quite a few things would be better, but despite that our two heroes resolutely insisted on joining the rest of us for our April outing, once again making a full complement of Pie Club members present for this outing.  Out of consideration for their delicate condition it was agreed that a revisit to a local pub was the best option as this would eliminate a potentially hazardous bus journey, so off we went to the Barleycorn Inn, a pub that we last experienced  23rd June 2011.

We felt that a revisit was justified as we had heard that the food side of the business had been taken over by new people, and that the food was much improved. As we approached the pub we couldn't help noticing this enticing sign outside:

Inside there was a welcoming selection of ales available, although it was apparently limited to a choice of only 3:

This being a Greene King pub, they were unsurprisingly all Greene King Ales: Greene King IPA 3.6%,  Old Golden Hen 4.1%, and  Old Speckled Hen 4.5%.  Although the choice was limited we judged that these ales were all in fine condition and eminently quaffable.  We  noted with approval that the Happy Hour was still running, although most of us arrived too late to take advantage of it. Sadly, there was no trace of Sean - wherever he may be, we wish him well.

They'd made a Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie especially for us, which was nice of them, but we noticed on the menu that there was also available a Gammon & Peach Pie. Those of us with more traditional leanings opted for the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie, but some of us (those with a more adventurous disposition) couldn't resist the allure of something new and never-before tasted - the Gammon & Peach Pie.

This is the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie:

This is the Gammon & Peach Pie:

The pies came with an ample selection of vegetables, chips, mashed potato, all served in separate dishes, and extra gravy in a jug:

The end result was a good plateful, enough to satisfy everyone's appetite:

The gammon in the Gammon & Peach Pie seemed to have been shredded, which is okay, but we some of us prefer our meat chunky. The peach and gammon went well together but was surprisingly not very tasty, although the peach was clearly discernible  We think the pastry was some sort of suet pastry, and rather good, but we weren't so keen on the gravy, which tasted too bitter. The pie fillings were both packed full of meat and of good consistency, although some remarked that the steak in the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie was a bit chewy. But, minor quibbles aside, both pies were excellent and very satisfying, and good value at £8.95. There was hardly any room left for puddings, but we managed.

We noticed that the pudding menu was much  reduced compared with 2 years ago (and actually the same could be said for the main menu as well) but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It meant that between us we were able to sample most of the puddings:

These are good traditional puddings, and we noticed with approval the complete lack of any unnecessary garnishing (not like last time!).

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall): 

• Pastry 4.06
• Filling 3.53
• Beer 3.78
• Ambience 3.875
• Value 4.125
• Overall 19.37

So once again The Barleycorn leaps into 2nd place in our rankings for this year, although with a lower score than last time, which is perhaps a reflection of the experience that we have all gained as judges over the last two years rather than a reflection of the quality of this meal. Maybe the ambience was marked down because there was background music on, and they played Phil Collins twice! After this meal the Pie Club members adjourned to the garden of The Crown to bask in the spring sunshine.  

The Bugle Inn, Botley, 29th March 2012

The plan was for the Pie Club members to meet up at the bus stop in Bishops Waltham square at 12.00 noon. Unfortunately Joe, Si, and new member Steve (welcome) arrived early, happened to notice that the Crown Inn was open, and right next door to the bus stop. This pub has only very recently re-opened after a very expensive refit, so they decided to check it out and have a quick one in The Crown while waiting for the others to catch up. 

Unfortunately, they don't serve pies there. Otherwise we would have had this Pie Club meeting in The Crown.


Nevertheless, a well refreshed Joe, Si & Steve still managed to get to the bus stop by noon to meet up with Trev and Nick, just as they were boarding the No. 8 bus to Botley. This bus goes all around the place, seemingly visiting every little hamlet for miles around, but eventually we arrived in Botley, and headed straight for The Bugle Inn.

We were welcomed by the landlord, and noticed immediately that there was a fine selection of ales available: the excellent Bowman's Wallops Wood 4%, the always popular Sharp's Doombar 4% , and (maybe a bit strong for lunch time) Gale's HSB 4.8%.   


We settled down for our first pint, some having Wallops Wood, and others having Doombar, and surveyed our surroundings. The landlord had taken us to a table in the dining area of the pub, where there were no other customers, so we had the place to ourselves, although there were several drinkers in the other bar that we could hear.  There was no garden to sit in. We had our second pint then decided it was time to order some food. As there was only one pie on the menu it didn't take us long to decide what to order. 2 of us opted to have chips instead of new potatoes. We didn't have to wait long for the food.

  The pies had the correct short-crust pastry, a Steak & Mushroom filling, pre-applied gravy, and a selection of freshly-cooked vegetables: Cauliflower, carrots, and red cabbage.  Some of us (perhaps those who were hungriest) thought they were OK - nothing special but OK - but others were quite put off by the smell, and one of our members was actually unable to finish eating his pie*.

We'd also noticed some strange smells coming from the loos (or were they coming from the kitchens?). To be fair, this pub has a Lebanese chef, and a full menu of Lebanese food available (but no Lebanese pies, which might have been interesting). Maybe that accounted for some of the strange smells.


There was a tempting selection of puddings available, but by now we'd had enough, so we decided to skip the puddings:

As we left the pub, someone suggested walking just around the corner to The Brewery Bar to see if we could get some puddings there. This is not a bad looking pub, with a good food menu (including some pies) and a fine selection of ales:

It was a lovely sunny day so we sat outside in the garden and had a pint while we considered the pudding menu.  In the end we didn't bother with the puddings, and after a couple of pints we caught the bus back to Bishops Waltham.  We quite liked the look of the Brewery Bar, and decided that it was probably worth a proper Pie Club assessment later in the year.


As we got off the bus in Bishops Waltham, someone happened to notice that the Crown Inn was open, and right next door to the bus stop. This pub has only very recently re-opened after a very expensive refit, so we decided to check it out and have a quick one in garden at the front, in the sun.  As we were sitting there enjoying our pints, we got chatting with a young couple sitting at the next table who turned out to be JK and Lucy, presenters of Heart South Coast Breakfast Show.

Lucy got quite friendly with one of the Pie Club members, but Pieman feels honour-bound to reveal no more, and certainly won't publish any photos! The Pie Club got a mention on their show the next morning.

Scores for The Bugle, Botley (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry 3.3
• Filling 3.6
• Beer 3.6
• Ambience 2.7
• Value 3.4
• Overall 16.6

* On checking the Pie Club constitution, Pieman was surprised to see that there is nothing in the rules about penalties for leaving a pie half uneaten. Pieman would have thought that the offending member would at least have to buy a round.