IF I had my way I’d spend my evenings with my feet on the sofa and a Scotch in my hand, but Toots never allows me to have my way.

As the spring weather rolled around, she wanted to hit the road and take in the sunshine.

“It’s still freezing out,” I barked.

But, with a quick eye roll and flick of her hair, she handed me the keys to the Buick and pointed towards the door.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, but I was right.

Spring it may be, but warm it certainly is not.

She didn’t seem to mind as she directed me aimlessly through narrow streets before declaring we stop for grub, immediately.

We’d already left the comforts of home behind us and neither of us knew the local joints around us but, one cosy looking building by the side of a busy street caught our eye.

We pulled up at a quiet place on Hamilton Road, neither of us had ever heard of, let alone visited before.

“The Mailcoach,” the Moll said, “it looks good, we’ll go here.”

After a week of chasing crooks and overdoing the wine the night before, I was in no mood to argue.

We stepped inside the warm and cosy pub and made our way to a cosy seat by a big window.

To start, we opted for soup – and, apparently, I made the wrong choice.

Goldilocks opted for the tomato and basil, which she approved of, branding it “nothing special but it does the job”.

I wasn’t so lucky.

The lentil soup, which arrived with crusty bread and butter as did the Moll’s, was very watery and needed a lot of seasoning.

It was a little too early for a large main – and we both had our eyes on desserts – so we chose to go for sandwiches.

My chicken mayo and spring onion creation was everything it needed to be. No fuss or frills but it was presented well and tasted pretty good.

The Moll has no complaints about her toasted cheddar and bacon option which, again, she declares simple but good enough for a quick bite.

Finally, the time we had been waiting for had come.

It was a choice of sticky toffee pudding for me and apple crumble for Toots with ice-cream on the side.

Both were delicious, with each pudding the perfect temperature and complimented well with the vanilla ice-cream.

Toots was so pleased with hers, she finished it in record time.

Overall, it was a cheap and cheerful little joint and the staff couldn’t have been friendlier.

The food wasn’t out of this world but it wasn’t all bad, either.

We’d certainly pop in again if we were in the area, although it’s not one we’d travel to.

BILL

Starters

Lentil soup - £2.90

Tomato and basil soup - £2.90

Mains

Chicken mayo and spring onion sandwich - £3.20

Toasted cheddar and bacon sandwich - £2.90

Desserts

Sticky toffee pudding - £3.20

Apple crumble - £3.70

Drinks

Coca Cola x2 - £3

Total - £21.80

REVIEW

FOOD - ⭐⭐

ATMOSPHERE - ⭐⭐⭐

SERVICE - ⭐⭐⭐