Fox, The

It's funny how history repeats itself. One of my earliest memories as a little nipper is being taken out on my birthday for a big treat - eating out at a roadhouse. Memory serves me ill as to what the food was like, in any case at that age anything was welcome, but the ambience was impressive - space, jollity, warmth, free and easy, yes, it really was a treat. So over half a century later here we are again, only this time for roadhouse read gastropub, more heavily urban, fuelled by the motor car instead of for it, a wider social mix, but essentially performing the same service.

These thoughts went through my mind as we sat in The Fox, formerly a fairly dreary pub that never recovered from the building of the Newport by-pass, but now transformed into a place of warmth, both subtle and real with reassuring décor and open coal fires. The staff were buzzing about with purposeful energy - fires were kept up to the mark, empty glasses hardly had time to form a mark on the mat, bar service was prompt and in the space of two hours between 6 and 8 pm on a Friday the place went steadily from warming up mode, to full car park.

An impressive and manageable menu offered a range of brasserie favourites, with local dishes and suppliers contributing. Starters include cider-marinated herring fillet, with tomato and little gem lettuce, grilled Shropshire black pudding, regularly changing and original-sounding soups, and local pigeon breast with salad. Amongst the mains Maynard's traditional pork and herb sausage with mash and onion gravy appeared, braised half shoulder of lamb with a red wine and rosemary sauce offered good value, and a casserole with all sorts of former local wildlife in it looked particularly toothsome. I particularly liked the fact that, in December, favourite Christmas dishes had been included in the standard menu. Separate Christmas menus are all very well, and The Fox has a very reasonably priced one, but this gives the ability to mix and match.

Behind the bar stood, with parade-ground efficiency, some thirty or so bottles of house red, a French Sautarel at £10.50 a bottle or £2.10 a 125ml glass, with corks drawn, an impressive indication of what they were confident the evening would hold. Few of the wines on the well-travelled list stray above the £20 mark and there is something for everyone.

The Fox has every appearance of being a right-on spot that will continue to attract a wide public, who see it as a place they could not only call their regular, but also go to on more special occasions with complete confidence.