The Bricklayer's Arms, Flaunden

Country pub fails to live up to the hype

If you're lucky, like me, and have a car, a wife who uncomplainingly acts as chauffeur and a satellite navigation system, then the next best investment you can make will be the latest Good Pub Guide. This will ensure that you're never more than half an hour's drive away from a refreshing pint and a roaring log fire. The guide doesn't pretend to be an expert on food, but it does have an opinion, and it suggested The Bricklayer's Arms in Hertfordshire as its "Dining Pub of the Year". The promise of a variety of guest ales sealed the deal.


Flaunden is a wee village tucked away between Watford and Tring. It's handily placed only a couple of miles off the M25 but suffers not at all from its proximity to a motorway; it's quiet, leafy and serves as a half decent proxy for our favouite villages in the rolling Cotswolds of Gloucestershire. The pub itself is also pretty as a picture; walls clad with ivy, and the interior all rustic charm with exposed beams and brickwork. The bar boasts some very well kept ales - Greene King St. Edmunds is a particular delight - and some very friendly bar staff. Order your locally-sourced and impressively expensive food at the bar, stroll out into the beer garden and wait for the treats to roll.


Except the treats never really do get rolling. Eggs Meurette were impressive, with a dark wine reduction packed with flavour, but the selection of home smoked fish was rather disappointing; edible, but absolutely nothing to write home about. You'd expect more from a pub lauded with awards and featured in the Michelin Guide, but unfortunately that dish set the standard. An aged fillet of beef came criminally overdone and palpably not worth the £23 charged - you could pick up the best steak of your life at Hawskmoor for that. Local pork and sage burger with cheddar, tomato, gherkin, yoghurt and cumin sounded intriguing but turned out to be very dry with a rather insipid and tasteless salad. The sausages and mash were no better than you'd get in a very average pub serving food as a bored afterthought. And so on and so on. Aside from the Meurette, everything else was distinctly underwhelming.


Reviews of this place are generally positive, and so we came back a second time to make sure. We were right first time round. The pub is a delight, the wine list is very good, the beers are kept excellently, and for a drink or three it's thoroughly recommended. Just don't go there hungry; you'll spend a lot of money for a distinct lack of satisfaction.