Each week, my good mate Belle Vue DP and I head off to a local pub for a meal and a good catch up. We both work pretty damn hard so the prospect of scheppling round the supermarket, cooking and washing up afterwards is generally mutually ignored in favour of eating out. Our routine targets on two local pubs serving great food which also has the plus side of having good service. When fully fed and watered, we head off to a coffee shop for a couple of take-out lattes and cookie combo's for finishing off with a good natter on Cleveleys beachfront. Last night we broke tradition and found a pub that served two meals for £6. Our expectations were as low as the yellowy ceilings. It didn't let us down - sticky tables, sachets of ketchup, bent cutlery jammed in a chipped pot. Scanning the menu, we noticed starters were £1.69! Despite our murmurings of 'shall we go?' and 'have you got any imodium, I think I might need it later?', we sat in a good observational vantage point for checking out the locals. I suppose it's really no surprise that pubs these days have to attract the punters in by offering meal deals. UK pubs have suffered heavily over the past few years with the smoking ban in all public places and the cheap supermarket alcohol prices. Nowadays, many have a similar feel to Little Chef and serve food not too dissimilar to motorway service stations.
Last night's meal was ok. Not great, but it's a bit trite to present a 'Michael Winner restaurant critique' when you're paying £6 for two meals. The meal was the equivalent of the Tesco Value Brand - marketed well to look appealing, but beans are beans unless they're Heinz Baked Beans. We had a couple of £1.69 starters and two drinks and the whole bill came to less than £13. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. And then I began to wonder what £13 could get you at The Ivy?....
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