The Lock Stock & Barrel, Newbury Reviews Summary

Location & Setting

Pros:

• "Great location. Good selection of beers and a large canal-side open area."
• "Real selling point is location next to canal which during summer is beautiful."
• "Beautiful setting on the terrace overlooking the river."
• "Lovely town centre pub with lots of space, a rooftop terrace and plenty of outdoor space for the summer next to the canal."
• "Dog friendly pub with nice seating view outdoors towards the canal."
• "Lovely setting. Sit outside and watch the ducks swans and boats. Beautiful gardens and baskets of pretty flowers."
• "A great location by the canal and is always nice to sit outdoors on a sunny day."

Cons:

• "Love the lab but pricey compared how it used to be, and I don't like the wooden benches at all. They absorb too much heat and I absolutely hate the way they've blocked off the balcony view of the canal."
• "Lovely location but there never seems to be any atmosphere."
• "But I think on this occasion they had a issue with their plumbing as it didn't smell very nice by the entrance/bar."
• "We were also left sitting in near darkness in the conservatory area, the only lights being a string of fairy lights."
• "The roof terrace is pointless as sitting up there gives you nothing but views of seats."
• "No facility for track & trace if you don't have a smart phone."
• "Overflow from upstairs pouring water onto customers sitting in garden."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Food is great quality and a nice menu with good choice."
• "The best steak I've eaten yet the cook on the steak was absolutely perfect."
• "The food arrived promptly was hot and to a good standard."
• "Steak was pretty much the best I’ve had in the UK so far."
• "Food (roast) was amazing, hot, tasty, perfect and plenty of it."
• "The whiting was fresh and crispy, and the scotch egg was warm fluffy."
• "The club sandwich was excellent."

Cons:

• "The food is poor choice for 'plant based' and the chips are not triple cooked they are just frozen in the bag- a bit embarrassing considering they have the head chefs name on the menu."
• "But the food was uninspiring and straight from the freezer like chain pub food."
• "The food was horrendous."
• "The burger and chips I had here on Saturday was revolting !! The chips tasted like they were reheated, and the beef patty in the burger was socking with loads of fat."
• "Food not as good as it could be.... miserly portions, bordering on tasteless."
• "The food we ordered took 40 minutes to arrive, 3 sandwiches and a fish and chips."
• "The food is around £17 for a main (burgers, haddock and chips etc) but is sadly very very disappointing."

Service & Staff

Pros:

• "Friendly staff and fun, warm environment!"
• "Very good atmosphere, happy staff, good food and have some good beers and lager on offer."
• "Over all Great experience and would definitely visit again."
• "Friendly and efficient staff."
• "The staff were super friendly and the pub was kept very clean."
• "The service was friendly and the menu was nice."
• "Staff pleasant and efficient."

Cons:

• "The staff do not like single people drinking there."
• "Bllody awful experience, non responsive staff and most of the menu missing.. After a while of being ignored we just walked out.. Not that anyone actually noticed."
• "All the staff were so rude to me like they wanted me to leave."
• "Unfortunately the bar service is terrible, people were walking in and getting served first, even though people had been waiting for 5 minutes at the bar."
• "Manager didn’t give a hoot. No apology."
• "Do not come here! Absolutely shocking service and staff attitude in this establishment."
• "No staff told me the procedures to order my food until it was 10 minutes before the kitchen closed."

Price & Value

Pros:

• "The drinks here are fairly expensive. However, the food is good quality and I am happy to pay a little more to get good food here."
• "It's not the cheapest place, but for quality of the food it's good value."
• "Other than that the food was very good and decently priced (for the area)."
• "Bar prices are reasonable and the staff are friendly."
• "Everything was lovely and very reasonable priced."
• "Very reasonable priced."
• "Price seems to have actually gone down compared to previous visits (numerous over the years)."

Cons:

• "The most expensive pub I've ever visited. More expensive than London."
• "It's an expensive place and I don't think the food is amazing."
• "Expensive chain pub with average food."
• "Alas a pint now costs £6.25 (ASAHI - apparently all drinks prices have been raised to a similar price when i enquired with the barmaid) and when you ask to use the toilet after paying such a high fee you're told you can't because you don't wear a mask."
• "It's a little on the pricey side (more expensive than some London pubs) but this seems to help maintain a relaxed atmosphere."
• "Truly shocked by the £12 cost of a large glass of white wine."
• "The beer price is astronomical at 5.70 a pint."