The Down Inn, Bridgnorth

Star rating: ****

My husband has an aversion to anything picked up for a discount price. He loathes having to visit Asda even though it’s only a two-minute drive from our home and breaks out in hives at the mere mention of Primark.

Buy cheap, buy twice is Nathan’s mantra and doesn’t he just love saying it.

It’s such a standing joke among family and friends that it has become sport to catch him out. My little sister and recent poor student loves to waft past him in her latest purchases fishing for a compliment: “nice jacket”, “love the shoes” (yes he is in touch with his feminine side), “great accessorising”.

Okay I have never heard him say that last one but he has been known to admire a certain garment only to turn this season’s shade of mustard yellow when he is told it’s from Primark or Matalan.

But sometimes even he can be swayed by cheap and chic without the need to disguise it as something else. And so it was with the Down Inn on the road from Bridgnorth to Ludlow.

There’s no pretensions with the Down - it does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a country pub with mild aspirations of being a restaurant but one which serves basic food in plentiful portions and not cooked that badly.

Particularly when it comes to the carvery - at £7.50 on a week night this is a veritable feast of a bargain.

My dad’s birthday falls in January and while we all love to celebrate, the excesses of Christmas have often caused too much strain on the credit card to really push the boat out. And dad is your original meat and two veg fan.

He has similar aversions to experimenting with his diet as Nathan has to rummaging through the rails at TK Maxx. So the Down was a perfect choice and I have to say it delivered.

Our party consisted of five very different diners who all would have named a different place as their favourite eating out haunt in Shropshire. But one of the beauties of carvery is in the ability to have a fair bit of choice in the confines of one dish.

And the Down did its best to live up to that claim. They had three different kinds of meat - turkey, beef and pork - on the go on the Monday night we paid it a visit.

The vegetables were also in abundance - carrots, cauliflower cheese, peas, red cabbage in red wine, swede, roast potatoes, parsnips to name but a few. To have such a healthy-looking hotplate on a Monday night in the middle of January was encouraging and unexpected.

Unfortunately one of the joints of beef would have benefited from a little less time soaking up the artificial rays as it was overcooked and desert dry at the edges but a second piece had fared far better and requesting a middle cut to get at the rarer portion of the joint was no problem for the young chef serving us.

The turkey came up trumps. Okay so it’s officially “out-of-season” in January but it still provided a good reason to back the Chicken Out campaign - for different reasons to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of course .

The Yorkshire puddings were the only let-down - burned black and practically inedible. A shame but with so much else to pile on your plate it was easier to overlook the culinary mishap.

And our party seemed only too pleased with the meals they had created from the options available - some choosing more meat, others taking a generous share of the vegetables.

We did indulge in puddings and were pleasantly surprised by the traditional offerings of treacle tart and ice-cream. It’s a particular favourite of mine despite the scary quota of calories it boasts. But it was sugary and naughty in all the right places.

The service was also spot-on and while some may argue that the Down could do with a refurbishment it’s cheap and chic charm is only enhanced by the dated if somewhat cosy interior.

All in all a great winter warmer that won’t break the bank. Even Nathan couldn’t argue with that.

By Tracey O’Sullivan

MENU SAMPLE:

Starters: Pan-fried mushrooms in creamy garlic sauce, deep-fried brie with cranberry jelly

Main courses: Carvery £8.50 on a Saturday and Sunday, home-made steak and kidney pie, lasagne

Desserts: Bread and butter pudding, treacle sponge,

ATMOSPHERE: Cosy, rural  and relaxed.

Service: Friendly and only too willing to help.

Disabled facilities: Access is good although the car park doesn’t have the best of surfaces.

Smoking policy: No smoking

CONTACT: The Down, Ludlow Road, Bridgnorth WV16 6UA, Telephone (01746) 789539