I visited a Staffordshire countryside pub to see if it matched up to the rave reviews

The discussion around what constitutes good pub food is one which provokes strong debate.

Across the region, there are pubs which make their money from cooking and serving food and providing a quality dining service for those looking for a good meal.

In some cases, it can be the base-standard fare of burgers, egg and chips, scampi and maybe a pie or two, whereas others will provide more upmarket meals with long and complicated names and descriptions.

However, the most important thing, which customers and publicans both agree about, is the overall experience, from walking through the door to the quality of the restaurant and eating areas, what the service is like and, ultimately, whether the food is any good.

One place which has touted itself as a foodies paradise is the Red Lion in Bradley, a pub set in the heart of a quiet and idyllic village in the Staffordshire countryside.

It’s a pub which has been at the centre of the community since the 17th century, having started life as a coaching inn, and reopened after an extensive refurbishment by one of the UK's oldest breweries, Davenports, in August last year.

The transformation saw the pub become part of Davenports Boutique Collection, meaning it has been given a unique character and look through mixing original features, bold wall dressings, and quirky accessories.

I was at the launch event in 2025 and saw the pub at its busiest, with dozens of invited guests and locals enjoying drinks from the bar and a wide range of canapes, but I was left wondering what it’s like on a quiet weekday evening.

So, to find out more, I went along to the pub on a Tuesday evening with my mum to see what the dining experience is like, looking at the welcome, the service, the ambience and the quality of the food.

Bradley is, to be fair, somewhere you need to know where you’re going as it’s in the middle of the countryside, possibly the sort of place you’d want to retire to, but the drive up is a nice one, cutting through country lanes and lovely scenery.

The pub itself is a beautifully craft building, looking from the road like an old-fashioned white cottage, but with the tell-tale signs of a pub on the outside and, as you head up the driveway, the vivid Red Lion sign comes into clear view.

The outdoor area of the pub provides places for people to enjoy an alfresco pint, as well as a dome which can set up to six people inside, and, for a Tuesday night, the car park was filling up nicely with Land Rovers, Mercedes and BMWs.

A walk into the pub area provides a sensory overload as you find yourself looking at mounted deer heads and crystal chandeliers and wooden beams, as well as big screen TVs showing the cricket and comfy seating areas.

We were met by a friendly member of staff and shown through to the main dining area, a journey which takes you through various nooks and crannies which felt carved into the building to provide a special route through.

The main dining area, at the back, was big, but also felt intimate, with some tables close to each other for couples or solo diners, so we took our seats next to the window, a setting which offered a view of the sunny evening, as well as a view of the ever-filling dining room.

With a Guinness-Zero for myself and a gin and tonic for my mum, we settled down to look over the menu, something Davenports have spoken with immense pride about and described as having something for everyone.

Indeed, it is very detailed, with plenty of choices for starters and dishes for the table, including Patatas Bravas, nachos, olives and several dishes full of meat and fish.

The main dishes are also detailed and show the range of the kitchen staff, from salads filled with all sorts of healthy stuff to big sandwiches and deeply indulgent loaded fries... and then we get to the mains.

The mains list contains continental twists on favourite dishes, with a lamb rack, seafood pappardelle and Catalonian Chicken just some of the high end dishes available, while the pub classics menu is no slouch, with fish and chips, a full English breakfast and a very tasty looking pie on offer.

Add to that burgers and steaks hot from the grill and you can see why it was as busy as it was on a Tuesday.

We settled for Garlic and Chive sourdough for the table, while mum had the Chicken Liver and Port pate and I went for the Birria Beef Croquette as starters, plus the seafood pappardelle and Steak and Ale pie for mains, plus some halloumi in hot honey on the side.

Service was good and, while I had to wait a bit longer for my beef Croquette and for the halloumi, the staff were full of apologies, saying how they were catching up from an 18-person table earlier on.

I accepted it all in good faith and good humour as I could see how busy it was in there and, in any case, the food was worth the wait.

The pate wasn’t even a piece, it was a whole slab of soft and strongly flavoured pate with chilli jam on the side that combined wonderfully, while the Croquette I had could have been a whole meal on its own, full of soft and tender beef and mixed well with the guacamole it rested on.

Mum had ordered the light version of the pappardelle and that turned out to be a good thing as it was huge, full of tangy sauce, soft pasta and so much seafood that she was digging bits out all the way through.

My pie was wonderful, full of soft and tender meat and with a spectacularly rich gravy that just added to the complexity of the flavours, plus excellent twice cut chips and soft cabbage alongside it, and the halloumi was excellent, chewy and rich.

We both sat there at the end, full of meat and fish and with every expanding bellies, but we had to indulge our sweet tooth's with the dessert menu, a riot of rich sweet treats that would look good in a high end restaurant in a city.

We decided to share a pistachio and chocolate cheesecake, which came with soft and tangy ice cream and a very thick and crumbly cheesecake which, as a team, we managed to conquer.

The Red Lion has been working to make itself a destination pub, somewhere you can go and enjoy a meal amid great scenery, a good ambience and a warm feeling in your stomach afterwards.

If it’s that busy on a Tuesday night, then I have every reason to believe it might just do that.