The Hole in the Wall, Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

01206 576392

THE Hole in the Wall has to be one of the town’s most historic pubs.

For years it has been the centre of various cool scenes and I know for a fact for quite some time Dermot O’Leary used to spend New Year’s Eve there.

More recently it has had a bit of a revival with the return of live music and a great traditional pub menu.

On a particularly wet and windy day, two friends and I went along to a rather empty pub, but still playing cool music and still with its wooden tabled-charm.

Although we didn’t have a drink, the bar has some pretty good beer on tap now.

On the food front, the pick of the bunch was the fish, ordered by one of my dining companions. It was fresh, freshly battered and the portion was huge. According to my friend, it was very tasty.

My other dining companion had the sausage and mash. He was impressed with the pork and cider sausages, which were full of flavour. The mash was creamy and had a perfect consistency.

My steak and stout pie meal was huge, coming with carrots and peas and loads of chips.

The pie itself was OK. It contained some green squares which were lost in the pleasant steak and stout gravy. My guess is they were either courgette or peppers, but whatever they were, I could have done without them.

The top of the pie was nice, but for my taste it could have been a bit more flaky.

That said, I like the Hole in the Wall. It’s got bags of charm and should by rights be packed out on a regular basis.

I’m hoping it was just the rain that put people off on the day we went.

What we ate

Fish and chips £6.75 Sausages and mash £5.45 Steak and stout pie and chips £5.95

Our verdict (Out of 5)

Atmosphere 3; Food 4; Decor 3; Value 5; Service 4.