George and Dragon - Chipstead

Less of the pub, more of a pub-style restaurant with a great bar and decent cocktail and wine selection. Great food, really great, young friendly staff, historic pub that with lots of little corners that make it interesting and easy to find a cosy spot. Are there kids, possibly for Sunday afternoon but this place is in such demand we only go midweek when it's also pretty busy but we're more likely to get a table and no, I don't think I have ever seen anyone under 15 here. That said, we take our two teenagers who with the nightlights and candles could easily pass for adults, so I guess other kids might be going un-noticed by us. And that's the point. If I haven't noticed them, they're not a problem - for me, anyway. As for Sunday lunch, well where that serves a decent pub roast isn't full of younger ones and it's not so very long ago we were desperate to get out for a decent lunch that we didn't have to do the washing up after, so I don't begrudge any exhausted parents a break on a Sunday afternoon! But for anyone like us tired of the faux-artsy/funky/quirky chain pub template, because the food, the atmosphere, and the never anything less than charming service, the George gets 10/10 for being the kind of local gastropub that every town should have.

Two weeks ago myself and a group of friends visited, for the first time, The George and Dragon in Chipstead for lunch. It was not a positive experience. The noise was like ,being in the middle of a crèche on it's busiest day !. When we asked if it was possible to move to a quieter part of the pub/restaurant we were told somewhat haughtily that that was not possible, as it was a child friendly restaurant. We were then made to feel discriminated against because we had not brought children with us to join in the din. if it had been up to me and my husband we would have left, but our friends had organised the venue so we just sat there stomach juices churning away, nothing to do with the thought of the food we were about to receive. We did notice the few tables occupied by those who also had the temerity to turn up without children hurried their meals and left quickly! The service was very slow, in fact we did begin to wonder if the staff had forgotten about us. The food was OK ,but considering the prices it was a shame they bought in their puddings. I've seen the same thing in supermarkets To top it all we were charged for drinks we'd already paid for or simply just never received., to be fair the Waitress did change the bill straight away, but the damage was already done by then. Just to add insult to injury the service charge of 10% had already been added. WHAT SERVICE??!!