When I ate at: The Rolleston (Swindon)

The Rolleston pub is a true favourite. For many years I would spend my weekends there jamming up the jukebox with a mixture of requests including The Only Living Boy in New Cross, Sweet Child of Mine and Love Cats. The live bands and being next to Swindon’s only alternative night club is what it’s mostly known for. But you just can’t beat its food as it’s easily the best pub food in Swindon and yet probably not a lot of people’s first thought to go to. Time after time the Rollie will serve you proper, homemade, fresh food for a fraction of the price you pay for the vacuum packed ‘tikka plus dead poppadom’ affair that its laminated menu-afflicted quantity over quality competitiors will slop onto you.

Needless to say, I have a lot of love for the Rollie already, but for the purposes of being a useful guide to others, I will not let that interfere with how I felt they dealt with a food intolerance. I would pit a Rollie roast dinner against any other you care to mention. Years ago I had a friend whose mum used to plate up four or five roasts in the fridge for handy help-yourself-when-you–feel- like-a-roast eating. At the time I thought this was heaven. But not even those come close to a Rollie roast. It’s only £8.95 (roughly the same as you’d pay at a Toby Carvery) and you get what I can only describe as a wallop of juicy meat (usually mouth-wateringly cooked with something else, like pork in sherry or beef in guiness), which is surrounded by these joyful clumps of different types of veg and topped with a giant yorkshire pudding before being kissed to life by the most extraordinary silkly, lovely gravy of meatiness. Again, no offence to anyone’s family roasts but this gravy is serious.

As far as their attitude towards dairy intolerance goes, to their credit they are totally calm when asked to make adjustments to the roast. A request goes into the kitchen and out floats a truly stunning plate of food, with considerate vegetable replacements which don’t make me stare longingly at my partner’s plate wishing I had his. The only thing they can’t do much about is the Yorkshire pudding, but when I’m nicely settled with my meat and gravy I can’t say that I miss it. You might think they’ve had an easyish ride as roasts are made up of components which are easier to adjust. However, I’ve eaten at other times and always had the same no fuss experience whether I’m ordering a chilli and jacket potato or full blown meal. Happily, they exceed my expectations everytime. If ever there was a reason for every day to be Sunday, then Rollie roasts are it. They have dedicated vegetarian options too if you need them.

Strong as an ox Rollie, strong as an ox.

Stand out moment: Their laid back approach to dietary concerns means you can tuck in without a care in the world, awesome.

Things to improve: The menu doesn’t make it clear as to what contains what, though the fact that they are so happy to sort things for you means this doesn’t become a big problem.