The Old School Bar and Kitchen
FOOD SERVING TIMES
Monday: 4 - 8pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 2 - 9pm
Sunday: 12 - 4pm (Sunday Roast Menu Only)
Safety precautions
- Surfaces sanitised between seatings
- Common areas deep cleaned daily
- Digital, disposable or sanitised menu provided
- Sanitiser or wipes provided for customers
- Contactless payment available
- Sealed or wrapped utensils used
- Limited number of seated diners
- Distancing maintained in common areas
- Extra space between tables
- Sick staff prohibited in the workplace
Dinner was lovely just not here hot enough, all members of our party agreed it needing to be hotter but lovely food.
The venue is a historic School with fabulous architecture, the decor is clever and creates a great ambience, the service is awesome, you have an entire family running it, all with exceptional customer services, Culinary skills, food was epic and of exceptional standard, then when we couldn’t be more impressed we get some super awesome live music, so to Summarise, a total hidden gem, in a great historic building, all levels top standard, come here and find out for yourself!
Food was lovely but we waited a long time for it.
Not a gastro pub, beautiful building, inside needs thought, quite a cold experience.
Food was OK, all freezer food and took a while to arrive especially as only 1 other table was in. Strange bits of salad at the bottom of the onion rings, but nice onion rings, fish lovely, fresh chips instead of frozen would have been nice.
Very friendly staff, lovely atmosphere, looks nice and trendy and great food!
Lovely layout to the restaurant, but it was a very quiet day with only one other table occupied, so it was difficult to judge ambience. Unfortuantely my wife had to go for her third choice as her first two were unavailable. Attention should be given to that as the menu options are not extensive. But the meals we were served were very good. The service was also very good.
We arrived at the restaurant and it was very quiet, was a bit worried what it was going to be like, got served drinks before we went to our table. The food was amazing. I had the sirloin steak and it was cooked perfectly and my partner had the BBQ pulled pork and said it was amazing and the portions sizes were great. Fantastic little restaurant. We will defiantly be going back before we leave.
This was a poor reflection on the old schoolhouse bar and kitchen we once visited.
Serious deterioration in all aspects of the experience.
No mask protection worn by staff. Staff need general training on the approach to customer service aside from Covi-19.
I'm sorry if you expected our menu to be similar to the previous owners. We make no pretense of being an expensive gastro restaurant, we offer wholesome locally sourced contemporary British and European food. C19 means we have to have less customers with more space for each table and also less staff. Our one waiter on that night had many other duties to perform behind the scenes. We wouldn't let anyone work here who has C19 symptoms so our staff only wear masks if they feel at risk from diners.
I would not return to this restaurant ever! They got the drinks completely mixed up giving my diabetic husband full Pepsi even though we told them twice that it definitely was not diet...his blood sugar level were flying up even with a sip. My food was mainly a plate of peas. The food took forever to come and when it did it came one at a time and very very slowly as one of my sons had finished before my others came! 😡 One of the waiters kept stomping through the restaurant which echoed each time he did it and still can’t believe it he had a baseball hat on and a coat serving 😡 I’m sorry but this restaurant needs looking at extremely disappointed 😡
Hi Claire, we tried 3 times to replace your diet pepsi's for you as you said they were too syrupy and have since had an engineer in to test the line. He has adjusted the mix as it was slightly excessive. This would not affect your husband's blood sugar levels as it would still be zero sugar. However, speaking as a diabetic myself, I try and avoid diet sodas if I'm eating a high carb meal. I hope no service charge & the 50% off EatOutHelpOut helped make up for the wait
Portions were massive. An excellent meal
Nice friendly staff and good honest pub food..huge cod and chips.
A very pleasant evening with friendly staff and good food. We did wait a long time for our meal to be served which wasn’t an issue for us as we were happy to sit and chat and drink the excellent wine. However, for some people this could have been a problem.
As the tables had to be socially distanced, this obviously made a difference to the ambience.
Good location but that is the highlight.
The food was overcooked and at £14 for a steak dinner very poor value.
On arrival we had to wait while we ordered our drinks which seem to take quite a long amount of time. We were then taken through to our table and our order was taken quite promptly. We then had to wait 3/4 of an hour for our meal to arrive even though it was only us and one on the table in the restaurant. Half the stuff on the menu was not available. The food was okay a bit hit and miss. I wouldn’t return.
Our apologies for the lacklustre experience you had. Covid19 has presented many challenges that we are tackling as they come along. One, is an unexpectedly busy Sunday which wiped out most of our stock leaving you with a limited menu. Secondly, our attempts to stagger customer tables are challenged by some who arrive early and cannot wait. This puts unnecessary stress of our reduced staffed kitchen.
Bad food and poor service. Cheap diner style food not the gastro pub food that was expected. Premium price for bad quality. Service was poor and they sent out their son in scruffy work clothes (a hoodie and jeans) with dirty hands to deliver one of the courses.
Hi, we are sorry for the service you received, and if you were expecting to have food similar to the previous owners who had a gastro restaurant before. Our aim is to offer wholesome, affordable traditional meals and snacks, as well as value priced a la carte menu with main courses starting at just £8 We were busy and due to Covid restrictions, had reduced staff working, you may have had our kitchen porter bring out one of your dishes instead of the waitress. I am sorry if this was off putting.
The service was excellent and the food was very good.
Thank you for your visit and your review. We hope to see you again real soon.
This pub should not serve food, unless your looking for poor quality badly fried food go elsewhere. The pub itself was freezing cold, people kept coats hats etc on, Service was appalling and very much an afterthought. When looking at previous reviews for this pub, we foolishly read reviews from the previous tenants, lesson learnt check the time scale in future 🙄
Thanks for bearing with us on our first busy night. It was the Landlady's birthday, people had come to wish her well. I'm sorry if the menu did not appeal to you. We checked back with each course and you did say you were happy with your food. Your comments (including those also left on Google and Tripadvisor) though, have been noted. You may like to know, we are currently working on a new menu which will offer, not only a simple bar menu and snacks, but also an alacarte menu for the restaurant.
Good food and friendly staff. Really enjoyed the scallops. It was very quiet when we were in there, but it sounds like they had a busy spell earlier in the evening and then went quiet.
This is a shame we expected great things, but it felt like no one cared about our food or experience while we were there. There was no warm welcome, no menu, lots of staff (although hard to tell who was staff and who were customers), no one with a specific role and lots of swearing, the food was overcooked and uninspiring and it generally felt like we were in the way rather than valued customers.
Relying on custom from previous owners reputation. Advertising from previous owners website which states a gastro pub which it is clearly NOT. Great venue, but Shame on the owner shouting at staff, awful atmosphere, awful food, obvs not locally sourced, more like frozen supermarket warm ups, which prices for are an insult. Abysmal portions sizes. 45 min wait just for starters. What a shame.
Sorry. You arrived 90 mins late. Put our staff under extra pressure as we had other parties at that time. You left after your starters as we were bringing out your main courses, a shame as you would have tasted that our food is all freshly prepared and cooked using locally sourced suppliers. We appreciate that people do not like to wait, but you make us hold a table for you, then ask us to rush your food ahead of others who arrived on time, and then reject it with no intention of paying for it.
The man behind the bar was lovely, the woman there needs to work on her customer service skills (and how she talks to her staff) fantastic food, great value for money. Not sure I'd describe as 'dog friendly' though.
Thank you for your visit and review. Also our apologies if the manageress seemed bossy, but we had a table arrive very late and put us all under pressure. Pleased you enjoyed your food. Puzzled how you felt we weren't dog friendly, as dog owners ourselves, we welcome all your furry friends into our bar area (where there is normally a basket of doggie treats) and also our private restaurant 'snug' can be booked in advance, which even has a doggie bed.
Great friendly atmosphere with warm and welcoming staff.
Thank you for your visit and review, we would like to welcome you back again soon.
FAQs
You can order delivery directly from The Old School Bar and Kitchen using the Order Online button. The Old School Bar and Kitchen also offers takeaway which you can order by calling the restaurant at 01209 891609.
The Old School Bar and Kitchen is rated 3 stars by 22 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting bookings at the moment.