Just be thankful that there are places like the Hop House - one of the Tom Cobleigh chain in the UK. The basic concept is bloody awful.....huge barns based generally in out of town locations, with large family dining areas and a choice of fare so vast and, to be frank, expensive that the smog of food confusion spreads to three seperate full-coloured, laminated menus. I know I've gone on about it before but if you have a family in the UK you are ghettoised. In most places you can be sitting, shivering, outside in the "beer garden" with your toddlers or in a carefully designated (read "tiny") family room just next to the bogs out the back. The Tom Cobleigh pubs provide plenty of room and variety of food for even the most vicious green-veg hating sproglet.

Our fussy "sausages only" 8-yr-old had exactly that, while older junior agent had lasagne - a vast sea of pasta layers, blister-hot and delicious. Q's chilli was a bit on the skimpy side, but - oh joy - my Chicken Fajitas were absolutely divine (honest!) - strips of cajun-hot seared chicken with a sizzling platter of red and green peppers and onions, finished off with four tortillas and ramekins of guacamole, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Fantastic and, by some league, the best food I've had in a chain pub. M