It’s perhaps not the best idea to roll up on Grill Night and announce that you don’t eat meat. Fortunately, our host Tom was quite relaxed about the situation and said we could choose whatever we wanted from the main menu and the specials board, mounted above the bar in the pub’s airy, well-lit main lounge.
We settled into the snug to contemplate our food choice, the fine range of period beer and the cigarette adverts on the walls contribute to the Haven’s distinctive, welcoming ambience. The Haven, part of the Castle Rock empire, became part of Bridgford life as soon as it opened back in 1999. Given the way that the suburb’s main drag, Central Avenue, has since evolved into an endless row of café bars and quirky watering holes, it’s all too easy to forget that West Bridgford was a puritanical desert for drinkers for so long before then – a reflection of old land use restrictions.
There was the Test Match at one end, Trent Bridge Inn at the other, and the less said about the sticky carpets of the old Larwood & Voce the better. Castle Rock’s decision to convert a pet shop into the Haven broke the mould, with the pub quickly filling up with a crowd of mature regulars starved of a local that provided real ale, sensible food on sensible plates and no piped TV.
Along with the extensive lunch and dinner menus, there are several set weekly theme nights for around a tenner a meal plus a pint. Freed from the obligation to order a plate of grilled steak for Thursday’s Grill Night, myself and my ten-year-old son began with a shared starter of olives, French bread and dipping oil.
Next came sausage, mash, beans and a jug of gravy for him (£5, children’s menu) and a filling mound of nachos, fiery jalapeno peppers, cheese and sour cream for me (£7). “If chillis are so hot, why do you eat them?” asked Christian. “I actually don’t know,” I said, wiping away the tears. “Anyway, how would you rate your sausage and mash?” “The mash is perfect. It would be ten out of ten if the sausage was a little bit nicer,” he said.
We were pretty full, but still had room for some solid but unspectacular pieces of hot brownie and hot fudge cake (£3 each), both served with ice cream and perky kumquats on the side. We cleared everything on the table – a sure sign of approval – so it was time to go. Mark Patterson
2 Stratford Road, West Bridgford, NG2 6BA. 0115 982 5981
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