"We have always eaten at the Ship Inn on our way back from South Wales, because it was a lovely, typically 'rustic ' English ' pub. The former owner Mike and his Manager and Chef, Jane, new their profession and just what their customers wanted simple, very tasty English cuisine and comfort food. It has been three years since we have been and during that time it has changed hands. Oh dear, that 's where our once good experience ended. It is now described as a 'boutique ' pub ? It has been re decorated and re furnished, obviously on a restricted budget and the menu has changed. We have to say that the refurbishment, in our humble opinion, has failed dreadfully. It is cheap and tacky and we were shocked that the beautiful old English wooden beams have been painted in a mushroom coloured emulsion type paint and the new seating is a purple crushed velvet type material with a ring on the back ?? Was this to fasten your dog to? It looks really cheap and tacky. What a pity. There were four of us, one didn 't eat, two had the homemade beefburger and I had the fillet steak with peppercorn sauce. What a pity the ambience of the place didn 't match the food. My steak was perfectly cooked and tasted really delicious. The burgers were definitely home made but the 'consumers ' didn 't like the taste of a herb/ingredient in them. Personally I thought it was very nice, apart from the fact that it was served on a slate !! What is it with restaurants these days? Slates, bowls, wooden blocks ??? Why cant we just eat off a plate ?? Sadly non of the old comfort food dishes like Jane prepared (lamb shanks, steak and kidney pudding, liver and bacon etc.. but never the less, what we ate this week was quite good. However because the ambience and character of the place has been totally ruined, we will sadly not be returning. Needless to say there was not another soul in the place from start to finish. To put the final nail in the coffin for us, they no longer sell Hobson 's beers !!! Sacrilege!"
