Golden Ball, Whiston - Excellent place to eat out

Had meal At Golden Ball Whiston Rotherham

Food was awesome & pub quaint with a lot of character

Staff very helpful & welcoming

Would recommend

I Agree I've also been recently the food is good and nice pub all round

M&B upgraded it from its Ember Inns brand to Vintage Inns a few years ago. Very good for its type.

I much preferred it about 30 year ago before it was messed about with. It was a proper lively pub then and the only food you could get was a bag of crisps or maybe a sandwich at dinner time.

So it's a Vintage Inn then? Same menu and food quality as most other Vintage Inns no doubt. Like Dore Moor, Fox House, Castle at Castleton, Admiral Rodney...etc

M&B upgraded it from its Ember Inns brand to Vintage Inns a few years ago. Very good for its type.

I much preferred it about 30 year ago before it was messed about with. It was a proper lively pub then and the only food you could get was a bag of crisps or maybe a sandwich at dinner time.

Do you recall the first pub you went to-Sheffield area- that did cooked lunches? (I can't). It was as you say sandwiches and crisps but perhaps on the 'expensive' side of Sheffield did them.

So it's a Vintage Inn then? Same menu and food quality as most other Vintage Inns no doubt. Like Dore Moor, Fox House, Castle at Castleton, Admiral Rodney...etc

Not for me then

Not for me then

Me neither, Vintage Inns are not the best chain group. When the Golden Ball was Ember Inns, it was a good place to eat, well cooked food at a reasonable price ... we even did the Christmas Day Lunch there which was excellent. Then came along the awful Vintage Inns with their overpriced microwave warmed up 'plastic' food ... that's when we stopped going.

Do you recall the first pub you went to-Sheffield area- that did cooked lunches? (I can't). It was as you say sandwiches and crisps but perhaps on the 'expensive' side of Sheffield did them.

Not in Sheffield but across the road from Stockport town hall there was a pub called the Nelson that did a roaring trade in simple meals, mainly pie and chips. That was in 1969.

Me neither, Vintage Inns are not the best chain group. When the Golden Ball was Ember Inns, it was a good place to eat, well cooked food at a reasonable price ... we even did the Christmas Day Lunch there which was excellent. Then came along the awful Vintage Inns with their overpriced microwave warmed up 'plastic' food ... that's when we stopped going.

I wouldn't know the difference between an Ember Inn or a Vintage Inn to be honest! I'm guessing Vintage Inns are for older folks and Ember Inns are for folk who enjoy going out a lot?

Joking aside (that was meant to be a joke btw): They are both owned by the same big brewery, Mitchell & Butlers, or "M&B" as they are known. In fact, M&B have dozens of brands - here they are:

Sizzling Pubs

Vintage Inns

Harvester

Ember Inns

Toby Carvery

Crown Carveries

Castle

Nicholson's

O'Neill's

ALEX

All Bar One

Miller & Carter

Browns

Innkeeper's Lodge

Oak Tree

Orchid Pubs

Premium Country Pubs

Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery

A right load of rubbish in the main. Cheap food, for undiscerning people. But millions love these brands so I realise I'm in the minority with this view.

Out of the above list, if I was forced at gunpoint to have to dine at any of these I'd choose the Miller & Carter option - which at least tries to be a bit upmarket and offer decent food, or probably All Bar One, mainly because it attracts some gorgeous women!

I wouldn't know the difference between an Ember Inn or a Vintage Inn to be honest! I'm guessing Vintage Inns are for older folks and Ember Inns are for folk who enjoy going out a lot?

 

Joking aside (that was meant to be a joke btw): They are both owned by the same big brewery, Mitchell & Butlers, or "M&B" as they are known. In fact, M&B have dozens of brands - here they are:

 

 

Sizzling Pubs

Vintage Inns

Harvester

Ember Inns

Toby Carvery

Crown Carveries

Castle

Nicholson's

O'Neill's

ALEX

All Bar One

Miller & Carter

Browns

Innkeeper's Lodge

Oak Tree

Orchid Pubs

Premium Country Pubs

Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery

 

A right load of rubbish in the main. Cheap food, for undiscerning people. But millions love these brands so I realise I'm in the minority with this view.

 

Out of the above list, if I was forced at gunpoint to have to dine at any of these I'd choose the Miller & Carter option - which at least tries to be a bit upmarket and offer decent food, or probably All Bar One, mainly because it attracts some gorgeous women!

I didn't know that M&B owned all of the above. You learn something new everyday.

In regards to your comments on people who eat cheap food: I know people who don't have much money but still enjoy not having to cook every so often. They tend to go to Carvery's / Wetherspoons etc. That is their budget and it's not something they do regularly.

Please don't think i'm having a go at you because i'm genuinely not, I just wonder what other options are open to people on a tight budget who want to eat out from time to time.

That aside I agree with a lot of what you say on here.