8:42am Thursday 11th March 2010
Triple Crown, Marden, near Devizes.
(01380) 843308
Entrepreneurs Howard Spooner and Guy Sangster appear to be on to another winner with their second Wiltshire pub, the Triple Crown.
The men, who were already the tenants of The Outside Chance at Manton, near Marlborough, like to give their pubs a racing theme.
So they have re-named The Mill Stream at Manton after the name given to the rare achievement of winning the three biggest races in the horse racing calendar in one season. In 1970 Nijinsky was the last horse to win The 2000 Guineas, The Derby and St Leger.
Inside the pub has been given a bit of a spruce up but largely the interior remains the same which is fine as the hostelry underwent a major refit a few years ago and already had style and warmth.
But the Mill Stream had lost its way in its final year or so and priced itself out of the market.
The new tenants, who both have racing connections, have changed all that and now the food is priced to bring back the punters.
I visited the pub on a Thursday evening and it was buzzing. The bar area was full of people relaxing and chatting and it was nice that dogs are still welcome.
The bar staff were efficient and welcoming and although the menu is now on the short side it was reassuring that everything would be freshly cooked. But acouple of extra fish dishes would not have gone amiss Rather boringly all three of us went for the same starter of a goat’s cheese quiche.
But it was melt-in-the-mouth light and had a beautiful texture, so it slipped down with only compliments all round.
For the main I went for the classic French dish of moules served with wonderfully thin frites that came with a delicious white wine sauce. My only quibble was that no bread also appeared with it and so I had to use the chips to soak up the gravy.
Ron had the fish cakes which came with the same sauce but he found its runny consistency which was perfect for the mussels made the fish cake a little on the sogy side.
My son Mike had rib eye steak which was cooked exactly right.
The three of us shared a generous cheese platter which made me glad I had missed out on the bread.
Opening hours, Monday to Friday, 12 noon to 3pm and 5.30 to 11pm, Saturday, noon to 11pm, Sunday noon to -3pm and 5.30pm to 10.30pm
Large car park
Disabled access
Dogs welcome in bar area
Children’s room
Our Eating Out is an independent review carried out by the Gazette without prior knowledge of the owners.
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