The Ship Inn — Restaurant in England

I just love this place. After a 2 hour walk on the Danebridge Forest Circular up to Lud’s church nothing beats a spot of lunch at the Ship Inn. The multi room layout, the beer garden (weather permitting - it didn’t), the stone flagged floor, the warm atmosphere and friendly and welcoming James. James couldn’t be more helpful and he told the story of the Queen Mother (not) visiting but hanging around the bar area all the same.

The food ordered, it was not long before hot fresh dishes appeared. My dining companion opted for sausages and mash served in a delicious gravy. The 3 x sausages were wonderfully tasty (ok, they weren’t my order but I nicked half of one 😊). Having ummed and ahhd over which dish to plump for and, having conferred with James, I decided on the beef cobbler with suet pudding and winter vegetables served in a rich gravy. Good choice my son. My other consideration was fish & chips but decided I’d have those on a Friday when it is served with bread and butter and a pot of tea for a special Fish Friday price. Dedicated driver had 2 x pints of Diet Coke and co-diner had a glass of Pinot Grigio and the bill came to about £45. Not bad at all. The food, the decor, the atmosphere, the flagged floor, the welcome, the service and the food make this place a gem.

Don’t tell anyone or you’ll never get a table 🤫

Thank you to all the...

Popped in after a lovely walk nearby today. I spotted on FACEBOOK and on the sign down the road that they have on offer fish and chips for 9.95. Seemed a great deal along with the bread and butter and pot of tea.

Service was excellent, pub is as ever lovely inside with it roaring fires. Sadly the food was rather poor quality, the fish was very soggy and mushy inside the quite thin batter. The fish fillet is obviously frozen which I would expect, however I was disappointed that it was a cheap fillet of catfish or as now advertised in shops basa. Please chef correct me if I'm wrong here.

The mushy peas were dry and flavourless and how the bread had been buttered was laughable. Cold hard butter pressed onto the bread, just leave it out to soften or allow the customer to spread themselves. The chips were delicious, and appeared to be home cooked and fresh, i could be wrong.

Annoyingly when I paid the tab the meal was actually 10.95 not 9.95 as edvertised elsewhere.

Would I visit again YES, would I recommend to others ABSOLUTELY. I will stick to my usual pie meal next...

The service we received at the Ship in was first rate (to the extent that I even remarked to my fellow guests about this at the time) and the food served was very tasty (which was agreed by all). However, there were two options for Hand Battered Fish and Chips on the menu - large and small - of which I chose the large. I think the two options would be better described as "standard" and "small" as the "large" option I ordered was no larger than I would have expected of a standard size portion. The other dishes served at my table were visibly generous in proportion even though these did not have a "large" option. Had I received what was served for me as a standard size portion I would have been very satisfied and would gladly have awarded the Ship Inn a five star rating for its food. As it was, I left a little disappointed but not to the extent that it would stop me going again - I'll just know how to judge the food description for this particular dish...