Country pub with all the potential to become something special, but not there yet.

When teaandbiscuits opens its own pub, where better to buy than somewhere like The Lighthouse. What a location - beautiful views down to the Glamorgan coast - and a magnificent free-standing building.

Some things wouldn't change inside either. Welcoming your guests with cheddar and pickled onions on the bar is a great touch, and beers of the quality of Hereford Pale and Cwrw Hâf. There's a great local feel to the place, and even if the look is straight out of the seventies we can forgive them a few errors of decorative judgement

So far so good, but now for a little chat with the kitchen staff and there's definitely tension in the air. Admittedly the menu's promising - a nice mix of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes - but it's when the food arrives that things start to go wrong.

First: who are these big mamas who plonk the plates down with almost enough momentum to break through the tables? And how about the occasional smile? You'll be lucky.

Then there's the food. It's ambitious: duck breast on a Sunday lunch menu is not easy to bring off. This chef doesn't. Sure, the meat's nice, but why is there a slab of Yorkshire Pudding looking like a bread recipe that went wrong on my plate?

More importantly, I was under the impression that salad consisted of cold green vegetable matter. Not at The Lighthouse. No bed of lettuce here but instead a bed of, er, roast potatoes. Nice roast potatoes admittedly but this is insane. I might invite Gordon Ramsay here one day just for fun. As for dessert, I have to confess we didn't try it in case our treacle sponge came with gravy.