2 /5 Naran McGregor: Popped in here on the 10th September for coffee, and drinks after a meal in Cockfosters. Hadnt visited this pub since before the renovations which must be as long as 10 years ago. Prior to this ld been visiting since the late 70s on a regular basis so had seen it undergo a couple of changes, the last one when it was the Cock and Dragon which had the lovely Thai restaurant at the back and very eclectic pub area. Hadnt heard good things about the most recent reincarnation, but hoped the reviews id heard were wrong. Sadly I was not impressed. None of the cozy corners of the old pub, no atmosphere of a traditional pub, very few people there when we arrived although it did start to get busier just before we left. The decor is more like a hotel restaurant and bar and lacks real personality. The toilets are good though and the place is very clean. My problem though was with the drinks we ordered. I dont think they have much call for coffee, as the cappuccino I ordered came with soured milk. I took it back and they made a fresh coffee without complaint. The gin and tonics that were ordered came with dried fruit, but on finishing the drinks the acrid smell off one of the slices was overwhelming. The other slice was ok. Again I complained about it to the bar staff and they said that it must have been the last of the old batch that they used and proceeded to demonstrate that they had opened another bag of these fruits. They showed me a bag that I noticed had a use by date of 12 September, and the inside of the bag in fairness had the same strong acrid smell. The young serving staff were very polite and dealt with all my complaints. However this is not somewhere I would choose to come back to, nor would the considerably younger members of our group, who found the whole set up rather staid and old fashioned.
