Drink *** Décor ** Price **** Food **** Atmosphere ** Staff ****

IF SOMEONE had kindly baked four and twenty blackbirds in a pie at The Three Blackbirds then I would have ordered it from the menu.

But, sadly, the only pies available when I was there were chicken, bacon and mushroom, tipsy steak and Timothy Taylor steak.

There were also no maids having their noses picked off.

However, here the nursery rhyme references must end because to make too much of the name would suggest this pub had a unique character.

It is true it had some character but this was shipped in by pub giant Mitchells and Butlers as part of its Sizzling Pub Co chain.

A complete blackbird themed boozer would have been distasteful but a little information about the origins of the name would have been nice.

Still, the reason people go to a Sizzling pub is not really because of the name or the history of the establishment.

They go for cheap drinks with pints starting at £1.65 on Mondays and inexpensive tipple available at other times of the week too.

Sadly it seems punters do not go for real ale because there is none.

The closest on offer was a keg version of Greene King IPA and my thoughts on this are well documented.

Despite feeling very much like an identikit Sizzle Pub, the one thing which makes it a little different is the staff.

They may work in a bog standard pub serving bog standard food and drink, but they still provide a happy, smiley, friendly service.

This could not have come from a head office directive.

Or maybe it did and making me think it didn’t was all part of the Sizzle experience.