The Samson Inn Community Pub — Restaurant in England

If you're visiting the area this pub is well worth a stop, if you're staying in the lovely village of Gilsland you should check out this recently re-opened gem for all your supper needs. The Samson now belongs to the community, where locals have bought shares and work shifts under the pub manager. We hadn't expected a newly-opened community pub to offer food but in fact there's a varied menu, the food is excellent and at prices which are very reasonable. The welcome is friendly and the service is good. We spent three nights in the area and visited all three nights, twice to eat. Pre-booking is recommended - it was busy midweek when we visited. The pub is dog-friendly with accommodation available, also with dog-friendly options. We visited just after Easter and they'd been so busy all the draft ales had sold out, but I tried a pint of my local beer (John Smith's) and that was in good condition. Gilsland is a perfect base for exploring Hadrian's Wall with walks climbing up to give fabulous views over the beautiful countryside and the longest stretch of existing Roman remains on the whole wall including turrets, a fort, bridge supports and rest station. Highly...

We were staying at the lodges up the road and popped in for dinner with the dogs. Place is very run down and the manager working was in shorts and T looking very rugged. We waited 15-20 minutes to have our order taken. We ordered pate and deep fried Brie for starters. I think we waited at least 30 - 40 minutes for the starters to come. The pate was very soft and discoloured at the edges - like it hadn’t been kept in the fridge and was going off. The Brie was fine but nothing special. We then ordered a turkey dinner and scampi and chips for mains. We proceeded to wait another 30-40 minutes after our starters to get the mains. The mains were fine but nothing special. The scampi looked very sorry for its self and came with the smallest portion of peas. We sat down at 6:40 and left at 8:30, straight after we finished our mains.

The manager did apologise and offer us drinks on the how but the food was below par as was the service and the decor. Would not...

Together with friends I walked from Haltwhistle specifically to visit this community pub. It is great to see it back open and we truly wish them well and hope people use the pub and it stays open. Sadly our experience was not the best on this occasion. We do enjoy a nice pint of real ale and when we saw that it had plover from the Allendale brewery on we were very happy. Unfortunately the beer was past it's best and we had to hand it back. On a positive the lady behind the bar changed it for a lager which we asked for. I really hope this was just teething problems and would urge people not to be put off trying this pub. The food was OK. I would recommend whoever looks after the beer to get in touch with the landlord of the Black Bull in Haltwhistle who keeps some lovely real ales. We returned there after the walk and he explained how he rotates the beers through the different lines on a...