I stayed at the Boot Inn for a couple of weeks during a training course. Myself and two other delegates decided to share a room, and it was made clear that we'd need 2x single beds, one double bed. When we arrived we were advised that we'd need to wait, as they thought we wanted a double double room. Not a good start.

The Food: The menu seemed to be pretentious, but on the fist night we thought we'd give it a try. The breakfast was "bigged up" by the owner, so we booked on for breakfast too. I had the pork steak slow roasted in plum sauce.. which sounded nice. In reality, it came out with way too much flavour clash on the plate from the plum sauce, onion gravy, roasted apples and roasted parsnips. my colleagues ordered the steak, only to find out there's no steak knives in the building, and the accompaniment was a few frozen peas... not good value. The breakfast was flavourless, and obviously made from cheap inferior ingredients.

The room: The pillows had seen better days and were virtually flat. There was no headboard on my bed, and the mattress actually left spring marks on my torso, it was that thin. The kettle was placed underneath the flat screen TV, and when boiled, the TV fillled with vapour. On the subject of the kettle, the owner told us "we don't believe in milk pots, so just get a jug from the bar" - At 02:30, when the bar's closed and no fridge in the room, this meant simply not drinking hot drinks.

The Bar: The bar was empty - it's a nice looking tiled bar that the landlord boasted took two weeks to create - what's the point if you're going to make the venue so unwelcoming that the only people who see it are the builders and grafters who are staying; they type of people that don't give a damn about a fine tiled bar. The beers were lousy quality, and bitters rarely on. Bar snacks? no no no.. The owner doesn't want to have snacks behind the bar because they "create the wrong impression".

Overall, I found this pub trying hard to be something it's not. So pretentious it could make you sick with attention to detail, but the wrong details. This could be a charming village local, and judging by how busy the other two pubs in Repton were, there is trade there for it, but during a 2 week stay, I only saw non-residents using the venue three times.

If anywhere could desperately do with Alex Polizzi paying them a visit to help with survival and getting them on the right track, I've found it.