Drink 4/5 Decor 5/5 Price 3/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Staff 3/5

After a year where I seem to have reviewed more so-called gastro pubs than ever before, it is nice to return to more nostalgic ways.

The Golden Lion is unashamedly old fashioned with a pale brown ceiling which looks original (although I am no ceiling expert) and pictures of a bygone era on the walls.

Copper pots on a shelf and lights which look like they might have been used during the time of Queen Victoria add to the olde-worlde feel of the place.

The only modern bit of decor is the foil Christmas decorations which fill the place (and partly block the television in the main bar). But even those could be older than they look because I remember buying that type of festive foil from Woolworths in the 1980s.

Any discussion about the age of the decorations would be a waste of words though (I’m only given around 300 but, trust me, could rant for many more) because the pub has an open fire.

There is nothing better than having a pint while sitting next to a fire and feeling the warmth while watching the flames in the winter, so you can imagine how happy I was.

If I did not have other places to go I might have still been there sitting by the fire, wishing I was in a chair that rocked rather than a normal boozer one.

The choice of beers was not too bad either, with Harveys Best and Adnams Broadside both going down quite nicely. Broadside was the best of the two with the Harveys Best a touch too dark and heavy, even in this chilly winter time.

But both drinks have been around for years so they are both ideal choices for this pub which is steeped in history.