THE ANCHOR PUB & RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Huntingdonshire

Truly appalling.

The only reason this pub even has the mediocre star rating that it does, is because someone has given it a suspicious 4 star review without any comments. Mind you, even that and its second best rating of three stars were both awarded some 4 years ago. Every single review that it has received in the last year tell you the accurate story of this place, and if you are even contemplating visiting, then it's a story that you MUST read.

The landlady was so rude that it was actually almost humorous, like the theme restaurant where the staff are paid to be hugely obnoxious for a laugh. Except this was no laughing matter. Specials board. A selection of home cooked pies with a choice of potatoes. "What potatoes do you want?" - "What's the selection?" - "Tut! The same as you get at home!" - "Can I have roasties please?" - "Roasties are Sundays only, boiled, mashed or chips."

I'm in my mid 30's, I eat out regularly, not all the food that I've sampled has been great. But in all that time I have never left a meal. That is, prior to visiting this hovel. The food was inedible, all three of us left it.

On the hottest day of the year, on a Saturday afternoon, with a lovely beer garden, surrounded by houses filled with people and not another pub nearby that isn't a drive, this place should've been packed. It even should have the luxury of being gloriously placed to take advantage of transient trade visiting Paxton Pits Nature Reserve on its doorstep. It was deserted, and that's testimony to how bad it is.

More like a sinking ship than an anchor, this is one mistake I will never make the mistake of repeating. Avoid...

Won't be coming back!

I came into this pub with my small daughter today planning on buying us some lunch and an icecream. We came inside and there was no one behind the bar/in the pub but I had seen some customers outside so I waited to be served. After 5 minutes had passed I politely called into the staff area (the door was open). There was no response but I could hear someone bustling around so I thought I would wait a while longer. After another couple of minutes I rang the bell that was situated on the bar area (by the post office section). I waited and rung it once more.

At this point (I estimate after at least 10 minutes of patiently waiting for service) the landlady came out and shouted at me very angrily and agressively 'ringing the bell repeatedly is not going to make me come any faster'

I was shocked and distressed by this outburst (especially as I had my 2 year old daughter with me). I calmly explained to the landlady that I had waited patiently for a long time before ringing the bell, and that I had assumed the bell was there to attract the attention of a staff member.

The landlady again crossly informed me that she had been busy out the back, and that I shouldn't have rung the bell. She then turned her back on us and returned out the back, rather than serving us. By this point both myself and my daughter had been reduced to tears by this awful treatment.

Awful customer service. Reading other reviews i'm obviously not the only one to...

Old village pub with a nice extension to the rear, good parking and a refurbished and updated feel to it. Pleasant, clean and modern inside, it is aiming for the food market and quite rightly so in this area.

It isn't what I'd call a beer pub and the pint of Theakston's I had here with a group of volunteer colleagues wasn't fresh, so, understandably this a isn't CAMRA-listed establishment. My fault for not asking for a tester first and though in conversation with others, I should have returned it straight away as I would do normally.

The choice is good for what is standard pub food and the quality seems fine. My fish, chips and mushy peas was well-presented and tasty.... and they were proper chips too.

All in all the pub coped well with 14/15 of us ordering individually and though there were some delays, as to be expected for such a large group, it all seemed properly cooked and nicely done.

Is there a 'but' coming? Yup..... I would give it another chance, certainly, but that pint disappointed as keeping good beer is so important in a pub. I will try again...