Cricketers

Pub Details

Address
Wicken Road
Clavering
Essex
CB11 4QT
Telephone
(01799) 550442
Opening Times
Weekdays
7am - 11pm

Location

Good Pub Guide Recommended

Busy dining pub with inventive food, real ales, a carefully chosen wine list and a friendly welcome; individually decorated bedrooms Run by the parents of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, this bustling dining pub places much emphasis on the well presented, imaginative food – but there's always a warm welcome if it's just a pint and a chat that you want. The main area has bays of deep purple button-backed banquettes and neat, padded leather dining chairs on dark floorboards, very low beams (the padding is a necessity, not a gimmick), and a big open fireplace. Back on the left is more obviously an eating part - two fairly compact carpeted areas, a step between them. The right side is similar but set more formally for dining, and has some big copper and brass pans on its dark beams and timbers. Adnams Bitter, Nethergate Lemon Head and a beer named for the pub on handpump, Aspall's cider, over a dozen wines by the glass and a good choice of soft drinks; piped music. Signed books by son Jamie are on sale. The attractive front terrace has wicker-look seats around teak tables among colourful flowering shrubs. The pub is handy for Stansted Airport.

Good Pub Guide Food

They make their own bread and pasta and use properly hung meat, as well as produce supplied by their son's nearby organic garden: sandwiches, an antipasti plate, ham and pork terrine with home-made piccalilli, five-spice duck salad, lemony crab and pea fusilli, their much-loved sausage bolognaise, aubergine and goats cheese gratin, a pie of the day, rump of lamb with a rich jus of mint, olives and balsamic and 30-day hung sirloin steak with wholegrain mustard mash and tomato salsa and daily-fresh fish dishes.

Bar food times: 12 - 2 (2.30 Sun) , 6.30 - 9.30; home - made cakes and tea all afternoon

Good Pub Information

Rating

  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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Rating: 3.5/5 (1196 votes cast)

Reader Comments

littleone60-747

Friday 04 November 2011 12:07:47 pm

had lunch at Cricketers recently, not impressed, packed with eaters, what would happen in the case of a fire and have they been inspected for this eventuality happening on a sunday?
waiter inexperienced and not able to cope, my pork looked as if it had been reheated as the top section was very dry and crispy (this was not the crackling), we ordered coffee, the ordinary coffee delivered quite quickly, the latte etc. (non-arrival) requested twice, reason for delay coffee machine broken have to use the one in the bar, another wait, eventually it arrived, upholstery where i sat was badly marked with stains. not impressed at all in my opinion trading on Jamie's reputation. would not recommend especially if you do not like being packed in like cattle.

Fatbloke

Saturday 03 September 2011 5:56:04 pm

This is more of a "restaurant-with-a-bar" than a country pub. We stopped off on a Saturday lunchtime on our way to a wedding venue nearby. The beers were OK, the food was very disappointing and expensive. I waited 40 minutes for some grilled sardines which, when they eventually arrived, had been cooked to death. I mentioned to the waitress that they were overcooked and very dry and she offered to get me some sauce to put on them. Eventually we were reimbursed for the food. Very poor show. I presume that this was a one-off error, but I'll not be giving Mr. Oliver a second chance.

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