The Salt Cellar

The Salt Cellar Pub and Restaurant
Holmes Chapel Road
Middlewich
Cheshire
CW10 0JB
Tel: 01606 836903

A standard formula food pub owned by a brewery chain (Tom Cobleigh plc). Glossy menu, note your table number and order at the bar. Food priced to feed the masses as is evident by the size of the car park and number of cars on it. Therefore it must be offering something that people want or they wouldn't go for it.

Food is basically freezer to fryer or microwaved. Cod, chips and peas consisted of a piece of symmetrically shaped cod, a portion of frozen chips and some mushy peas for about a fiver or so.

Verdict - like a McDonald's for grown ups and you can take the kids too.

Update, May 2001

This is a pub that I can’t make my mind up about. It is good because you can entertain the children in the playbarn and have a meal afterwards, but the quality is a bit variable.

Since my initial review (above) I have returned twice to eat and have had contrasting experiences. The pub is always clean and presentable and the first of my return visits was with my two children. I had a steak pie and the children had nuggets and sausage and chips.

The steak pie was a large individually cased pie (a proper pie) and was wholesome with a good filling. I approved of that meal.

The next time we visited, I chose of the limited menu, two meals for a fiver and had chicken and ham pie.

This was a much smaller pie that had obviously been kept warm for a long time. The pastry had absorbed the filling and turned to concrete and the inside was hollow apart from some dried up pieces of chicken and ham – extremely economical remains too.

I guess the prevailing message is don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed. 

Phil.