The Red Lion Whittlesford

Lovely country pub really authentic feel and a very warm welcome. Parking available. Room was clean a tidy with everything you need (we definitely needed the extra radiator as it was freezing outside!) the staff were all very friendly and dealt with any requests or queries we had with enthusiasm. Overall we loved our stay overnight for our visit to Duxford IWM and would recommend anyone staying here. Beware the breakfast is so good you won’t need any lunch, Thank you

On Saturday, 11 January, myself and a friend had been at the pet crematorium to attend her beloved pet's cremation. We had to go away for two hours to await the ashes. The pet crematorium gives out an info sheet with recommendations of places to eat in that interim period of time, this establishment being one of them and being the closest (5 minutes drive away). However, this review should serve as an alert to anybody who may think to visit The Red Lion to cross it off their list! On arrival, we looked for parking and despite the lack of poor signage, managed to find the 'car park'. Then, we headed for the entrance - On the wall by a door on the side of the building opposite the Holiday Inn Express there is a painted sign indicating "Accessible Entrance" with an arrow pointing toward the front of the building. On arrival at the front of the building and the main door, there is a sign "Entrance" and an arrow pointing back toward the side of the building from where we had come - misleading and confusing! Eventually, we had to ask a group of people where the actual entrance was. We approached the bar/resaturant area - which was completely empty - and validated our parking on the tablet at the bar. The young barman asked what could he help us with. I said, we will have a coffee or something first but would like to eat. I was hoping for some breakfast as it was just past 11am and as I had left home in Norfolk at 7.30am, was quite hungry. The barman said that they stopped serving breakfast, although he did not specify an exact time. The barman also informed us that the "chef" had, in fact, gone for his break. I asked when the chef would be returning and the barman said, "probably" for lunch service - probably? At that juncture, a very rotund, unkempt, dishevelled male, clutching a pint of beer, came out of a doorway and around the bar. I mention rotund because his trousers were not hoisted up and hanging down under his belly! .. As he came around the bar, the young barman said "Ah, here's the chef and these ladies are after food, possibly, breakfast" to which the chef replied as he went past us "I'm going for a rest, it's quarter past 11, so that would be brunch anyway". I then said "We are not locals, and we looked at your website twice and there is no mention of when you stop serving breakfast, etc.". As he left, through another doorway, I heard that he muttered something else but could not quite hear the words. The rudeness and offensiveness of said person is one thing, but without being too personal and putting too fine a point on it, we were fairly happy that we had got to see this person as one would not want to consume anything that he had had anything to do with. The barman was embarrassed it was clear. We left promptly after that and drove five minutes to another pub, where we had a wonderful experience - that review will be following shortly! Apparently, the Red Lion has been taken over in the last year. I feel

Very warm welcome and ambience. So nice this pub and hotel is back in full operation. Good drink choices including alcohol free. Brett great host and all staff well trained. Nice food menu including for non meat and non fish eaters. Good easy going background music Nice place.