The Black Horse
The Square
Woburn
Tel: 01525 290210
Website:

The Black Horse is one of those pubs that has seen many changes in the recent era and has gone from boom to bust a couple of times but is now back at its best - which is more I fear you can say about many other Woburn pubs!
It is now a sister pub to the Swan at Salford and the new team have put some oom and ahh back into the operation. This is obvious from the fact the crowd is now using the place regularly; what a difference people make!
The food here is typically modern dare I call it gastro pub grub. There is a good mix of dishes on the menu and those requiring something without meat will not be disappointed. I started off with a fish cake that was listed as a main. Initially I wanted it on its own without the garnish but then Hester decided she wanted one too so they were going to give us half of a big one each and in the end gave us two smaller ones which all goes to show they are not automatons in the kitchen and confirmed the freshness of the product. So I had the wilted spinach and the butter sauce (light béchamel) that goes with the fish cake, all very good.
For mains I had a 10 oz Woburn Venison steak which was enormous and came sitting on the vegetables and potatoes with a couple red currents on top. A modern way of serving things; maybe they don't have big plates but at least they used ounces! Hester had what was called a lamb cushion served with beans and mint yoghurt; again a slightly off putting presentation with the lamb on top. This is all very well but cutting into meat swimming on top of sauce and veg can create problems of its own. Make certain the table napkin is well tucked in!
Add to the good solid food some decent service staff who actually seemed to care, an interesting wine list and a busy pub and it is easy to see why the Black Horse is so popular again. With this formula it will continue to be so for a long time to come.

Update October 2010
Visited, for lunch, and found a severe shortage of staff. One person behind the bar and one waitress is simply not enough. The waitress (from France) was excellent but she needed several extra arms and legs but preferable a some help. In fact I would have walked out is she had not persuaded me to stay.
On top of that I thought the browsing plate was disappointing - I darn't try anything else or it would have been dinner. In particular the Bedford ham was dry - I sure it had been pre cut some time before. OK it was that kind of dish but nothing really rang my bell - disappointing.