Vintage Inns pubs Reviews 403

Visited the Sandpiper on 11/04/26
We were greeted by lovely staff the assistant manager Ross assigned Faye to look after us a lovely girl on her first day we were very pleased with her service very attentive without over imposing we love the Sandpiper & with quality staff like Faye & the quality of the food she shall keep coming back.

We accept we don’t go on that often maybe once or twice per month. But having visited our local Vintage Inn on Good Friday, to spend a gift voucher from a Valentine meal (which was dire), otherwise we wouldn’t have gone. The experience reinforced our first impression. Surroundings - lovely, service exceptional, but food and price were not in line. For an oversized chicken goujon with lettuce and sticky rice massively overpriced at £21.50 then a burger at £19.50. Sorry quality doesn’t match price. We don’t mind paying a reasonable price for good food. But I’m sorry, they don’t do it!!!
The place was virtually empty on a what should have been a busy night, ditto Valentines night Vintage - M&B you need to rethink how much you can dumb down your menu to raise the margins. Surely an empty restaurant doesn’t make profit!!!

Having been a regular visitor to a few vintage Inns over the last 15 years at least. I can only say that it is with sadness that I will no longer be visiting. The last 4 times that I have been I can only say that the portions and quality of the menu are very very poor. When I first started coming to Vintage Inns, Black Horse Brentwood. the meals were a good size, menu varied and all of the extras such as Salad and Veg were all included in the price. Fast forward to the last 4 years or so and I can only say that the menu is really poor, full of cheap cuts (IE bacon and Gammon) any extras such as salad rolls etc are now an extra! when I used to have the lovely creamy mushrooms they came with not only a roll but two artisan slices of bread, now you get one piece (a tiny slither) of stale bread. When I went (for the last time Saturday) we all commented on how poor the menu is yet the prices are going up! The fish chips and peas are tiny, my friend had the chicken breast which came with streaky bacon! aa tiny portion of mash and 3 runner beans!! The pie of the day was gammon! what happened to steak ale and chicken. The coffee machine was shut down at 10.15! (saving money perhaps), although there were no waitresses bar one. Each visit we have had recently the food has gone down, the menu is very poor and frankly the portions are reduced to children's portions. At an average hefty £20 plus per main this is not acceptable. It is clear that this chain is struggling as are many others but they need to think on their feet and see that many people are choosing not to visit. Money is tight everywhere and they should recognise this and reflect this in their menus and their prices. The last 2 Saturdays when it should be busy it was half empty. We are now opting to go to the Rose and Crown next door, they are now offering a 2 course menu for £20.00 all day every day, the menu is fantastic (even steak is included) AND all the salads and veg are included! The food is also fresh and home cooked unlike all of these chains. Apart from anything else I think it is important to support your local private business. Very sad as vintage used to be a really good VFM chain but not any longer. As an aside I would say that the staff and manager are all lovely and cannot be faulted for service.

We arrived at the bar and there was only Doom Bar on draught and no Guinness. We decided to order from the Weekend Treat Menu when we went to order they told us they didn’t have several items on the menu so we chose what they had. After being told there were no Scallops and would we like prawns instead we said yes. Then Scallop arrived 🤦🏼‍♀️ after a long wait they brought the mains without taking away the starter plates!! The main came and no veg when we questioned this there was no apology only she would let the kitchen know. Some staff were so rude but the manager actually redeemed herself before we left. Wouldn’t go back and definitely wouldn’t recommend

We were a party of 8 that visited Shaw Farm in South Woodham on Saturday 21st March & had a table booked for 7.30. We had a wonderful evening & the food was fantastic & service brilliant! It was actually my birthday which made the evening even more special & the lovely staff brought out the cake as arranged & timed it perfectly!! Thanku to everyone & see you soon!

Following visit to the Mermaid pub 18th March late afternoon . party of 2 we were served by Amber who was attentive and helpful. We ordered fish and Hunters Chicken. Unfortunately , The food was over cooked visually it was bordering on burnt. The fish was dry and the Hunters chicken batter was difficult to cut through .
The chips appeared not to be freshly cooked .
The discount code refused to work , the server commented it was probably due to terms & conditions.
The Manager was kind enough to clarify this point of activation period before code became available.

Have been to the oystercatcher in littlehampton many times and have bern pleased with the food and service, today was a total disaster.
Mu chicken skewer was overcooked and dry and the flatbreads were nothing like a flatbread just a flat bit of pastry with garlic butter smeared over it discusting and innedible. My friend had a chicken dish which was again overcooked and dry. My other frinds food was satisfactory fish and chips and fish pie. I have the chicken skewer fish on a regular basis at the swallows return zgoring and it is always great so i know what it should be like. The managers excuse that the menu had changed and flatbreads are now presented like is a joke they were obviously prepared by someone who did not know how to make flatbreads. My friend had her chicken dish taken off the bill but i expected my skewer dish to also be taken off the bill but by this time yhe manager had left tompick her child up from school so i had no option to pay for something that was badly cooked and half innedible

My daughters booked a table at the Old Gate Inn Canterbury for Mother’s Day . When we arrived there was confusion over a table , we were eventually shown to a table where we waited half an hour for our drinks order to be taken. We ordered food and waited a considerable time for them to arrive the garlic mushrooms were nice but came with lightly toasted brown bread not what was advertised. My daughters and husband ordered the tikka skewers that came with very limp salad. The main course finally arrived my husband ordered the trio roast which had small amounts of meat even though he paid a subsidy . I ordered cauliflower cheese with my main which was cold I sent it back and it returned after I had finished my meal .Dessert we were told that there was only crumble and mini puds available . The whole event was very slow and took 3 hours for our meal.
We were regular patrons but do not plan to return after our special meal was spoilt.

Not happy that Vintage inns no longer offer a full sweet or a drink with their mini-sweet on the lunchtime menu.
Why stop this when full starter course has not changed?

We decided to visit The poplar farm for my hubby's birthday. We booked at 6.30pm and already the restaurant was very busy. Great atmosphere and the staff as always friendly. We went for the evening set menu and the food was delicious. For the price it was really good value! But Jess our server, made our evening with her caring , professional service. Jess had even remembered that I was a celiac!!! She hadn't seen me for months yet remembered! Thats exceptional! Although they were busy it didn't affect the service and we all left feeling it was a great evening. Thank you!

Fettykil Fox, Fife.
Firstly I have never in my long life seen chairs as filthy. My wife and I both swapped them for other chairs with plastic seat inserts which were undoubtedly as dirty but didn’t show it! A forty minute wait for pate was a bit too long and when it arrived it was 3mm thick! I kid you not! Portion control gone crazy! My bacon chop came with inedible wrinkled peas and the chips were lukewarm. The chop to be fair was quite pleasant.
The bathroom was nasty. Dirty and smelly with a rusty radiator and paper off the wall. Frankly the whole place looked down at heel. Plaster off walls, cobbles up on paths from the disabled car park causing a hazard. It just simply looked uncared for. Cannot see why anyone would return.

Amazing experience and very capable staff. Loved every bite of the food. Definitely recommend. Family friendly and very warm and welcoming. Will be returning.

Me, my partner and friends have always enjoyed Vintage Inns. I personally love their signature burgers. However it seems the higher ups are intent on charging as much as they can while providing as little service as possible by messing their own staff around with shifts and playing with automated systems to save/make more money.

We use the Swan at Heddon, lovely staff and they know our dogs. Always great. The Falcons nest, the Badger and also the Snowy Owl. The kind of places that at £20 per burger you'll meet good staff and a pleasant atmosphere.

First red flag, can't call the pubs anymore. Bookings have to be online or on an automated call. Second one, I ordered a set menu for £32.50 with a £6 surcharge for some exras yesterday and their automated computer tried to charge me £69!!! The staff couldn't amend the computer so the manager had to sort me out. This prompted me to ask why the feeling of service at Vintage is has dropped lately. It quickly becomes apparent that the higher ups are saving costs, cutting shifts for staff and tieing their hands with customer relations.

I feel bad for the staff and hope they move on to work for more worthy management. Being told hospitality is dying to justify said measures and shift cuts. It's not.. I'm not spending less on burgers and pints each month, but I'll spend less with Vintage Inns now. £0 to be precise, I'll be spending it with Green King and independents.

This is by no way a shot at the wonderful front line staff and managers in the pubs. They are truly the only thing keeping Vintage Inns alive for me, that and the nice buildings/locations.

But can't support a company that scrapes the quality off service and has their own staff in the firing line as a result.

If upper management want to know why people are coming less, look inwards. And the next time they go to an independent pub, notice how that human warm touch with a comfortable service is actually what matters most when you're inside.

Shame!

The Foxglove, Kirkburton, Huddersfield - nine of us booked in for Xmas dinner at £85 a head. Unfortunately we had the last slots of the day & the food was getting a bit tired (the turkey dinners seemed to be just thrown on the plate) The pigs in blankets were not there & when we did mention it some anaemic cocktail sausages wrapped in streaky bacon appeared which had obviously been microwaved & were inedible. My custard was lumpy & all in all a disappointing meal which wasn’t cheap - albeit Xmas Day. Staff however, were hardworking, lovely & polite & I feel perhaps too many bookings were taken?
Lovely staff. Disappointing food. Won’t be booking again for Xmas Day at The Foxglove, Kirkburton

Food was fantastic and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. I would recommend it.

Wonderful warm welcome by Louise at the Captain's Wife. Our favourite pub. Great seat by the fire and great food. We will return soon.

We visited 6pm on a Friday evening as they were fully booked a week before for later.
On arrival we were sat at the far end of the restaurant in a room that had about 16 covers, the room was very cold so we asked the waiter if the log fire could be lit he apologised and said that the fire couldn't be used as it needed sweeping, pointed to a small electric fan heater and said thats all the heating that we have.
We perseverd and unfortunately the fan heater had little effect, another family arrived at 6.15pm and also asked for the waiter light the log fire but were told the same, they decided to dine in their coats with one lady keeping her gloves on.
We ordered our steaks and felt quite unpleasant unfortunately out table was next to a window which didnt help the blind kept moving from the draught from behind.
Steaks arrived seems to be the food is getting to be more like a beefeater/harvester, average steak with 12 chips a tomato and some lettuce....a party of 7 women turned up and also mentioned to the waiter about the temperature he showed them the heater.
Won't be going back until the summer.

Just returned from the Snowy Owl in Cramlington. Probably the best meal we have had there over the last 4 years of visiting.
Bradley's service was excellent and the food second to none.

Went to Braintree Fowlers Farm today 2nd jan 2026.
Staff lovely
daughters main meal lovely,
kids meal tiny but she ate it all (she is 3) so a child older would be hungry:
Fish finger sandwich hardly any sauce and was cold.

Longbridge Mill, Hook, RG7 0DL. Wonderful staff, very friendly , helpful & patient. The food was excellent with good choices available. Service was very efficient and made our family dining very enjoyable for our New Years Day celebration. Thank you all.