Palmers Steak and Ale House in Long Sutton is a lovely place for couples, families or friends to gather

There’s six pubs in the small town of Long Sutton and five within walking distance of each other - so I was pleasantly surprised to find Palmers Ale House & Kitchen on the Market Place so busy on a Wednesday evening.

It’s a lovely place and, having been there with friends a few weeks ago when we had a wonderful time, I thought it was somewhere the Fenland public deserved to know about.

Palmers is a beautifully decorated, open, spacious pub with room for drinkers, diners and various other clubs and activities.

When my wife Josi and I arrived just before 8pm there were a few groups eating, a couple of lone drinkers at the bar and a group of ladies taking part in an intriguing ‘paint and sip’ group.

A flyer on our table showed that the pub also holds country and western nights, quizzes, musical bingo, Pride events other occasions such as scavenger hunts and a Beatles evening. There are also weekly burger nights and curry nights - no wonder it’s busy.

The staff on both occasions have been friendly, knowledgeable and attentive too - this is a place that deserves the success it seems to be achieving.

Anyway, back to our evening. While we chose our meals, I sipped on a pint of Krombacher lager shandy (£5.60) while Josi and a large Pino Grigio (£8.40).

A waitress son arrived with nicely presented bread and olives, which was a lovely touch, delicious and, even better, free of charge.

For starters, I had the hummus duo (£7) which consisted of beautiful homemade pitta bread with bowls of classic and black sesame seed humus, both with a beautiful orange zest. Josi went for chorizo jam and haloumi crostini (£8). Both were really tasty.

Other choices were soup, chicken wings, nachos, salami, duck crostini, tiger mussels, cheese gougers or king prawns.

For our main course we had a choice of the main menu, the auberge selection or specials, with a lamb youvetsi, steak and ale pie, steamed mussels, beef skewers, burgers, pork ragu, five bean chilli, chops, gammon, haddock, pasta and sausages all to tempt us.

I went for the black been stew (£12) from the auberge menu, which was rich, warm and gently spicy.

It was served with a sticky rice and a flavourful avocado aioli. Josi chose from the same menu as me and ordered the chicken and leek cottage pie, which came with carrot, broccoli and parsnip.

Both generous-sized dishes were homemade, full of flavour and good value for money.

We were both too stuffed for desserts but noticed a good choice of cheesecakes, chocolate tart, cheese and biscuits, ice creams, sorbets and meringues, all at £7 to £8. There was also an extensive wine list and cocktail menu.

Palmers is a lovely place for couples, families or friends to gather and we, once again, had a super evening.

Rating out of five:

Food: Very nice with a good choice from two menus plus specials. ****

Drink: We enjoyed our choices and the selection was first class. *****

Staff: Very friendly and attentive. ****

Price: Two starters, two mains and four drinks for £60.60 is very good value. ****

Decor: Warm, friendly and spacious. ****