The Swan Tavern

The food at the Swan is of excellent quality, seems to be a notch above your typical pub grub. However, this is reflected in the price.
There are lunch deals available between 12 – 4. At this time you can have 2 courses for £8 — £11. After the lunch deal, the full price menu will cost in the region of £10 — £17 for a typical main course. A medium glass of wine costs £5.
I had a steak & kidney pudding. It was packed with delicious filling, and came with mash, garden peas and a little jug of gravy.
Chocolate fudge cake for dessert is delicious. I had mine served warm with ice cream, and it really melted in my mouth.
I wouldn’t hesitate to go to the Swan again but I’d think twice if it was after 4pm as I think it’s not really worth the full price menu.
Service wise, our waitress was reasonably attentive, to the point of being a bit overbearing at times.

Waited at the bar for 20 mins to order before leaving. Staff were disinterested and slovenly. The manager was very busy dealing with complaints during my wait. The food coming out of the kitchen looked very unappetising. The tables, cutlery and even the plastic menus were sticky

I’ve been visiting The Swan for over 6 years because it’s convenient and local. To be kind, it’s rather erratic and inconsistent when it comes to service and food but I keep going because it’s a 2 minute walk. However after my last visit, enough is enough. My wife’s chicken skewers were raw in the middle and despite showing the manager the obviously raw chicken, he said they couldn’t be raw because they would have been probed. To make matters worse, my Red Mullet Nicoise (The Swan’s take on a classic with a twist) was possible one of the worst meals I’ve ever had in my life with an at best tenuous link to the classic salad of tuna, green beans, anchovies, egg, olives & potatoes. Apart from crumbled boiled egg on the tiny portion of salad, all the other ingredients were conspicuous from their absence. It did include the most tasteless sugar snap peas I’ve ever tasted and the fish was overcooked and covered in a bland unidentifiable sauce. They also have the usual bland, crass, unadventurous, cliched children’s menu and it’s always awkward and difficult to try and change or adapt it. Over the years I’ve never, ever had a decent steak (and in fact have sent several back) and their regular, stock menu items are highly erratic in their consistency. The staff never seem happy and you always feel that it’s a pain for them to swap or substitute menu items. Specials are anything but special and always seem to be the same. Despite referring to chef, I’m convinced the kitchen is staffed by cooks who match plates to pictures and follow recipes that have more input from accountants than actual chefs. I’ve given it the benefit of the doubt for far to long and you’d think that after a succession of management changes over the 6 years I’ve been going that Chef & Brewer would get it right. They haven’t. Don’t waste your time or money

Before we went, we read the reviews above and i thought there was only 1 iffy review out of 6 so we went along.
Not very nice at all, the food was awfulprawn cocktail starter consisted of prawns on a bed of rocket leaves. The fish which my daughter had was full of bones so i wouldnt let her eat it. Not that she wanted to anyway and i wont go on and on but lets just say i wasnt satisfied at all. the service was fine but the food was crap.

Always a good atmosphere, friendly and vibrant place to spend an evening, the food is fine and pretty good value for money but I feel the place comes into it’s own during the summer months when the crowds gather outside, I can not drive past without wanting to stop for a drink and whenever possible I do.

Good reasonably priced food, I have always enjoyed the food here and never felt that it was not value for money. Nice atmosphere and freindly polite staff added to the food make this a good place to visit.

A bit awkward inside because if you have children, you can only sit in certain places. I think the food sounds great on the menu but its actually a bit hit and miss. However its a lovely environment to be in — nice décor and staff, free parking too. Not too dear for a family to eat out here.

Ive been to the Swan several times and have always been very happy with the food and the service.
I would say that although the food is not expensive, it is slightly dearer than the normal pub chain pub grub. However, the service has always been good, the food is lovely and good quality and good portion sizes too and I think theres always a good selection of dishes and my daughter can always find something she likes to eat too.
The pubs not far from junctions of the M6 or the M62 and has a lodge at the side of it too, I can’t remember which one.
As the pub is a good popular pub it can be busy sometimes, but I think this is a reflection on the good service and good food.
I would recommend to a friend and have never had a bad experience.

I found the menu limited and very expensive. Found it difficult to find anything I would like. We also found one of the members of staff very rude.

I’ve been to the Swan quite a number of times now, and I’ve always found it to serve good food. You don’t need to reserve a table, which is a bonus, but it can be very busy, so you may have to wait for a table.
They have an extensive menu at a fair price. Access from the M62 is excellent.