Litten Tree/Cafe Litten

The Litten Tree Pub is fastly becoming a well known name in night time hotspots as more and more of them sprout up due to the increase in popularity. I have visited it a few times during the day for lunch - as I am a lady who lunches don't you know - but never at night. Last night my mummy graciously offered her babysitting services allowing me and 'him' to have some time to ourselves. When eventually the hunger pangs overpowered the urge to jump ...
...check The Litten Tree out and see what it's like at night. So off we went.
Therefore this review is only based on my local Litten Tree (Blackpool) as I can't comment on other ones.

** The Bar **

Let's start off with the most important aspect of course! There is a wide variety of drinks available, all types of Beer/Lager such as Fosters, Carling, Export for example, all of the most popular brands of wine, Jacobs ... more

The Litten Tree Pub is fastly becoming a well known name in night time hotspots as more and more of them sprout up due to the increase in popularity. I have visited it a few times during the day for lunch - as I am a lady who lunches don't you know - but never at night. Last night my mummy graciously offered her babysitting services allowing me and 'him' to have some time to ourselves. When eventually the hunger pangs overpowered the urge to jump straight in bed - woohoo kinky! - we decided let's check The Litten Tree out and see what it's like at night. So off we went.
Therefore this review is only based on my local Litten Tree (Blackpool) as I can't comment on other ones.

** The Bar **

Let's start off with the most important aspect of course! There is a wide variety of drinks available, all types of Beer/Lager such as Fosters, Carling, Export for example, all of the most popular brands of wine, Jacobs Creek, Blossom Hill etc a wide selection of alcopops, VK, WKD, Reef, Spirits, because we just can't get drunk without them, Vodka, Malibu, Amaretto and my favourites … COCKTAILS!! Yey!! Available in pitchers and pints and anyway you like *Big Grin*.
I won't list every single drink available as it would take me forever but to sum it up, whatever you want they got it, basically.
Around the bar are different bottle displays showing what they have to offer, and point of sale displays litter the bar area with offers to tempt you. Apparently, there is a different offer every week.

** The Food **

Once we were happily seated with our drinks we perused the menu's, mouths open, drool everywhere. Everything sounded glorious! It's not just your average pub food, it all sounds very sophisticated. There are panini's, rustic baguettes, stuffed mushrooms, Steak Diane, but this uniqueness is not reflected in their prices.
Of course, there are some of the old pub classics like fish n chips and steak and ale pie.
I had a tuna and red onion panini served with seasoned potato wedges. Normally I find that the tuna in pubs comes heavily mixed with mayonnaise which overpowers the taste but not with this one. The red onion was fresh and crunchy giving the panini that extra bit to separate it from an ordinary sandwich. The bread was obviously freshly toasted rather than microwaved like other pubs I know have taken a shine to doing. Why? I don't know because it's just as quick to toast!
My partner had a Big Burger Stack which is another pub classic and basically consists of a beef burger, a chicken burger, cheese, bacon and 2 onion rings all sat between a barm cake (or bap as we call em up North) and is served with chips. He seemed to really enjoy the challenge of trying to get it all in his mouth at once for a bite, but failed and had to eventually separate it. Not being a huge fan of greasy food I have to say that this wasn't actually greasy at all, it looked like a really good quality burger and was well presented and I was really tempted to bite it! But didn't.

** The Service **

The Litten Tree is made up of two different components, The Bar and The Restaurant and although it's all mixed together in one place you get two very different atmospheres depending on where you are sat. Around the bar is the typical pubby, night on the town atmosphere with smoke, booze and people getting jolly. Then literally taking a foot to your right and you're in the restaurant area with big comfy armchairs for seating.
The two different areas has their own staff so the restaurant is still waiter service rather than having to order at the bar. The few times I have visited the Litten tree either for a drink at the bar or for a bite to eat, the staff have been friendly and polite and willing to help.
On this particular occasion we were being served by a girl who admitted she was fairly new, so she wasn't the most attentive or helpful but we let her off and still gave her a nice big tip for trying. We all start somewhere after all!

** Prices **

As I've already mentioned the prices on food are surprisingly low for such good quality meals. With the extra sophisticated atmosphere that comes from the place you would expect to have to pay the price, but not at all. If anything, I've found the prices to be slightly better than an ordinary pub.
The drink prices are typical of bars and pubs in Blackpool normally around £2.50 for a pint, about £2.20 for a bottle and about £1.50 for your standard soft drink. Expensive I know! That's what you get for living in a tourist area. I'm not a fan.

** Opening Times **

Food is served all day from 12-9 and so is available for brunch, lunch, dinner and tea, all of which I would happily eat there if I, by some miracle won the lottery. The dance floor and live entertainment if applicable starts at 9pm and the place shuts at 4am.

** Overall Atmosphere **

The overall atmosphere of the Litten Tree is a kind of wine-bar feel. The type of place you'd feel comfortable nipping into for a glass of wine on the way home in your office attire. Ooh! Very posh, Suit you sir! He he.
It's a very relaxed atmosphere during the day and then gets more and more energetic the later it gets, to the point where all of the seating is removed and a dance floor appears. Cheeky! It's a popular place to go to get a little bit tipsy before moving onto the main club.

** Entertainment **

There are several wide screen plasma TV's dotted around the whole place, perfect for watching footie matches etc and in between games on regulars days, the TV's are used for customer entertainment and play music videos. Occasionally, live bands perform music at night which definitely adds charm to the place in my opinion!
The seating areas are all removed at around 9pm to make way for the dance floor and the lights are dimmed, this is when it starts to get really busy with parties making their way through this section of their pub crawl. Fair play I say!

** Recommendation **

I certainly recommend visiting a Litten Tree Pub if you have one near by, or even come visit the one in Blackpool if it's not too far. It's a superb pub with a variety of uses, whether it's just a quiet drink at lunch time or a night on the town, it has a fantastic atmosphere and caters for parties of all ages, young and not so young, anyone's welcome. Although be warned if you're TOO young as there are often doormen on a Friday and Saturday and yes, they are strict! But they are there for a good reason so don't hate, you're day will come all too quickly…and then you'll wish it hadn't!

Just for good measure …

** Hangover Cure **

The one and only way to prevent a hangover … yes it is possible is to drink 2 large glasses of water before you collapse on your bed and I promise you will not know the difference in the morning, right as rain is what you'll be. Drink Sensibly (or not, maybe I should take my own advice hmm.)

** Thanks for reading **
 

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