The Man Bird and I received an invitation to attend the V.I.P opening night at The Queens Head pub in Ockbrook where Pauline Latham MP would be attending, and duly toddled of to see the fruits of Dave and Julia’s labour in their extensive refurbishment of the premises.
The pub itself is owned by Stonegate pubs, which have an estate of over 600 pubs nationwide including the Yates’ and Slug and Lettuce brands.
The celebratory vibe was very much in evidence with a plethora of purple and silver balloons festooning the outside areas and car park entrance.
Once inside, the decor was very stylish, and each little area had its own feel. One space had plaid carpets and high back chairs whilst another had a mix of mirror styles and a stylised map of the area mounted on the wall with a more modern lighting style.
There were wooden floors throughout and a colour scheme of warm greys which kept it all cohesive. Lovely little oil burners in Hurricane lamps were on each table as well, giving off a warm glow on the late autumn evening.
Servers were bringing round complimentary trays of Prosecco and guest Cask Ales, which were being warmly received and the large bar was busy too for those wanting other tipples and soft drinks.
Suzy from LeisurePR was owning the room with her bubbly chatter and warm smile, looking as gorgeous as ever it has to be said. In one corner there was a musician with his acoustic guitar providing some great background tunes, and he regularly got an appreciative round of applause.
The Boy Wonder and I settled ourselves at a table to take in all the action and luckily it happened to be on the route from the kitchen so it wasn’t long before our noses were twitching at the delicious aromas emanating from there.
A lovely young lady came out bearing a tray of mini chicken burgers and asked if we would like to try one; of course we did, I mean, do birds fly?.
It was very nice and set the juices flowing nicely in readiness for the mini pies that we sampled before too long; Fishermans pie with its chunks of Salmon and white fish topped with creamy mash, Beef and Cheese pie that melted in the mouth and Venison pie ( with a hint of Clove).
The Venison pie is going to be featuring on the specials board, so look out for it, it is delicious. Both the meat pies had golden puff pastry tops that had a lovely texture to them.
We were also treated to mini cones of Fish and Chips with a dinky garnish of lemon wedges. Nothing tops a good supper of Fish and Chips, and with its succulent flesh and proper earthy tasting potatoes the version at the Queens Head, Ockbrook hits that sweet spot on the bulls’ eye.
Taking our leave of everyone, we made our way back to the nest with high hopes for the Queens Head given the quality of the samples we had tasted.
Hopefully it won’t be too long before we return to do a full review, but in the meantime if you are looking for somewhere new to try then pop down and say hello to Dave and Julia, they are a very friendly couple.
