Lunch at the Trent Navigation at Trent Lock, Long Eaton

I thought I would make use of the bank holiday Monday by going on a nice bike ride. The route was to go from the Nottingham University Park Campus to the city centre along the canal before picking up the River Trent which I would follow to Trent Lock. The bike ride sounds a great idea, but the practicalities of it with hyperthermia setting took some of the shine off. It therefore goes without saying that upon arrival at Trent Lock I was in need of a good pub to warm myself up and replenish my energy.

After dumping my bike outside the Trent Navigation I went in to order a drink/food. The choice of ales was poor with just some un-flavoursome beers from some of the uninspiring corporate large breweries. So I took a pint of mild, which as expected turned out to be bland. Whilst ordering my food at the bar, things did not get much better as the barman was having a war-of-words with someone over an issue of a locked door. Thankfully this disagreement only got as far as threatening to kick someone’s door in! For lunch I ordered the Navigation burger (topped with cheese and bacon) and chips. Since the pub was busy, we were told there would be a big wait for the food - I did not really mind this, as it meant I had time to defrost myself.  

So I sat there sipping my poor beer waiting patiently for my lunch, when someone decided that playing a best of the 1980’s CD at a loud level was a good course of action. Things were not getting better at the Trent Navigation!

Eventually the food arrived and I was impressed – for all the wrong reasons. The burger was the greasiest vile insipid thing I have had for years. Combine this with poor quality soggy bread made for a disgusting lunch. The portion (or lack of!) of chips that came with the burger would have been perfect if you were on a diet. Sadly I am not on a diet, and after riding nearly 15 miles on my bike I was very disappointed with the portion size.

The combination of terrible food and the music made this place a real throw back to the 1980’s, in all the wrong ways! Without doubt this is the worst pub I have been in for a long time. It is sad to see, because it is in a good location. I think this is probably the reason of the poor service – a captive audience who are forced to put up with crap food/drink/ambience once they arrive.