Simple, Honest, Perfect...

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George Orwell once famously fictionalised his idea of the perfect pub: "The Moon Under Water", where '...it is always quiet enough to talk. The house possesses neither a radio nor a piano, and even on Christmas Eve and such occasions the singing that happens is of a decorous kind.' Over the decades since, and in particular this century, pubs of an 'ideal' kind such as his creation have gotten rather too thin on the ground, with inappropriate conversions and closures alike conspiring along with the smoking ban and more latterly Covid to force long-established public houses into extinction with no realistic prospect of resurrection.

Happily for me, though, there is one establishment that continues to fulfil its historical role with aplomb: The White Horse in Clun, which I've mentioned in these pages many times [this week, even], and which we've frequented, when on holiday down here, for just about as long as the current owner/publican, Jack Limond, has held the licence there. The White Horse is my ideal of the perfect pub, serving home-brewed ales [Clun Brewery] that are as nectar to the gods, along with a goodly selection of other beers, lagers and ciders. The food they serve, is good home-style cooking at very reasonable prices; with today's Sunday Roast [pictured - just shy of eleven quid apiece] being a prime example of their fare. The thing we really like about the menu, which is commendably short, apart from the quality and value, is that they serve portion sizes to suit everyone. Sunday lunch for instance, is served in small, medium or large portions.

My choice is always the small, as I'm no trencherman these days; a perfectly adequate quantity of food for me at lunchtime, which allows me to clean the plate, leaving no wastage. The food at The Horse is all locally-sourced produce of the best quality: the pork today was perfectly fatty, moist and soft, served with a piece of crackling, roast potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding and steamed vegetables, topped off with good gravy. Another plus was the large boat of extra gravy between us, thrown in for free. A very pleasant hour and a half: good food, sublime beer and a read of the papers, attended to by great staff. And to top it all, the pub was in my family 120 or so years ago, so it feels fitting that it should represent perfection to me over a century later...

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