"We try and branch out in different ways. The ladies like to look at the jewellery," says Tony Brewis, one of the owners.
"We're thinking of a book club as well."

It doesn't take long at this 150-year-old pub to see that the ideas come fast and furious. There are adverts and flyers for Monday steak and wine nights, Fish Fridays, American, French and game theme nights, a family sponsored walk and a psychic night.

And this pub even has a loyalty card. Their furthest regular is in Carlisle.

The one thing we expect to see, we don't. There's no-one behind the bar to welcome us for a good couple of minutes until a barmaid turns up.
She's bright and breezy but can't do much about the atmosphere here. There are a few customers but it feels soulless.

There might be a lot going on at this former navvies' pub (they built the Sheffield to Penistone railway line) but it's not going on now.
Towards the end of the meal we tried to make conversation with a woman wiping down the tables. Who makes the sweets? we asked.

It was a one word answer. "Chef." And she disappeared.

We'd hit upon the Waggon & Horses after a reader sent a link to its website. The menu, with the words home made splattered liberally across it, seemed tempting.

When we arrived at the long, low pub by the side of the road, we realised we'd been there five years before when Malcolm Moate was cooking.

"He still is. He's been away but has come back," says Tony who runs the free house with Carol Dickinson and manager Rob Llewelyn.

The Waggon has a country menu (all mains £5.95) and an al a carte and a couple of specials on the board, some poached salmon, a carbonara and pork loin with a mustard sauce.

We started with chicken liver paté (£4.95) and Thai fishcake (£5.25) because both had the words home made alongside.

The paté wasn't bad – smooth and silky in a generous portion but was underseasoned.

The fish cake was probably the dullest I have ever eaten: there was no sign of Thai flavourings and, to be honest, very little sign of fish.
For mains I was tempted by the meat and potato pie but when I checked with Miss Bright and Breezy she told me it had no bottom so I switched to the belly pork (£9.50).

This was a big piece in a big dish, slow roasted and sitting on a bed of champ and surrounded by a moat of apple flavoured gravy.

It was enjoyable (and would have been even more so with crackling) but, again, everything was under- seasoned.

"Perhaps the chef has had a bad experience with salt and pepper," said my wife, tackling her very fresh-tasting salmon in its prawn and cream sauce (£9.95).

The bloke at the next table had ordered the pie.

Regular readers will know of my addiction to pie so I couldn't resist asking him how it was.

Turned out he'd walked into the pub hoping for pie and there it was. And he liked it.

"If you'd have come the following day we made some individual steak and kidney pies," said Tony later.

Desserts (£4.50) are all home made and well made although they did strike us as a little bland.

A cherry and almond tart scored well with both ingredients although a nicely textured toffee and apple sponge left the whole flavour to a thin layer on the top.

Last time we ate here we thought the food from Malcolm, who used to cook at the Box Tree, was smashing but perhaps it was an off-day all round.

We paid just under £40 for food and won't be signing up for a loyalty card.


WAGGON & HORSES
Sheffield Road, Oxspring, near Penistone.
Tel: 01226 763 259.
Food Mon-Thur 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat until 9.30pm, Sun 12-6pm. Credit cards. Ample parking.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food 3
Atmosphere 2
Service 3
Value 3
Pub food category. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.