EAT AT:

Who’d a Thought It,

Lockeridge, Marlborough SN8 4EL

Tel: 01672 861255

Closed Mondays

I promise you no puns on the very unusual name of this olde-worlde pub, but I read somewhere that there are only five inns with this name in the UK.

From the call to book our table, to the reception we received at the bar and then the cheery table service from the waiter, it could not have been friendlier.

This pub stands beside the road that goes from the A4 at Fyfield along the Kennet Valley and drops down the steep hill past the Giant’s Grave to Alton Barnes.

It’s peculiar how pubs go through good and bad spells, but the Who’d A has been in the ascendancy since Chris Kent and Cheryl Smith took over last July. We were settled at a table in the lounge/dining room, where there was a pleasant burble of conversation from a crowd of locals at the bar and families at the tables.

Joy chose garlic buttered king prawns to start and was pleasantly surprised when they came shelled, because it saved her the bother. She said they were perfect – they came on a bed of salad, but she raved about the dressing and said she could really have done with some bread to mop it up because it was so good.

My starter was a bowl packed with chicken livers and black pudding. I cannot recall having a better aperitif; the chicken livers were cooked perfectly and I just love black pudding.

I was tempted by the Wiltshire ham and eggs, but chose the 6X beef pie. It was literally bursting at the seams with beef.

The pie came with the same vegetables (new potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots) as Joy’s pork steak, which was served in a cream and apple sauce.

For pudding, Joy chose banoffee pie and I plumped for apple pie.

And even with three courses each and a few glasses of Stowford cider, our bill came to a smidgen over £50.

– NIGEL KERTON