Quiet Corners - Reviews of places without piped music

I had the good fortune to stumble on this place whilst out in London with a friend. I didn’t ask them about whether they had a policy on playing music, however when we were there there wasn’t any, or at least it was so low that you couldn’t really hear it.

The restaurant does a nice range of standard Italian fare, with a range of pizzas and vegetarian options. Not particularly expensive, a good alternative to pizza hut\pizza express etc.

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We really enjoyed our post-Christmas lunch at Age & Sons. Upstairs in the restaurant, the food was delicious, the service attentive and the original art attractive. Above all, THERE WAS NO MUSIC in this tastefully converted Victorian warehouse, formerly used by local wine merchants Page & Sons (the "P" tile fell off, it seems).

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The Queen’s Head, FyField is primarily a village pub, however the upstairs dining area has a distinct restaurant feel. Indeed, there was a lot of nouvelle cuisine on the menu, as well as some traditional pub grub.
Our main meals were pretty small, so we ordered the truffled fried chips, which turned out to be enormous (as well as very tasty).

Location

The restaurant is in an open plan area of the hotel which also contains the bar (with a traditional pub feel).
Good selection of local produce.
Plenty of parking nearby when I went on a Sunday evening. Leave a few minutes to find the place as it doesn't seem to be on a named road.

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Large, popular Italian restuarant on Manningtree High Street.
Plenty of parking on the High Street when I went on a Sunday evening.

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A small, traditional English restuarant in a village near Cambridge.
Good parking.

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Berkeley Arms, 59, Main Street, Wymondham, Leicestershire www.theberkelyarms.co.uk

Neil & Louise Hitchen took over this village pub in January and have made a big difference to it. Out went the piped music for starters. It serves bar meals, and has a small restaurant and the food is excellent. I was most impressed by the fact that the bars were quite full when we arrived for a meal and was very busy when we left (no need for piped music)

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Vegetarians should not be put off by the name - its not just chops! They source their food locally as far as possible, and what we ate had real flavour and was imaginatively prepared, which is as important for a vegetable platter as it is for steak tartare. The waiting staff were helpful and friendly and the bentwood chairs set the chop-house atmosphere. Calling this a quiet corner is somewhat of a misnomer - the place fills up after 6 pm and the hubbub of happy-hour City types would make any music inaudible.

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Superb food served in "The Gannet" Restaurant. Local seafood a speciality.
Scottish Island Hotel of the Year 2008 and 2009.
Scottish National Hotel Restaurant of the Year 2009.

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My brother and I called in at this pub after walking to Winchester from Alresford on a Friday in August 2009. We were very struck by the relaxed nature of the place, and the fact that there was NO MUSIC OF ANY SORT (Hallelujah!). Also of interest was that there were at least 3 dogs quietly snoozing on the floor (very rare site in any pubs I have visited in the last few years) and that the mix of people was refreshingly varied as regards age and (apparent) backgrounds. Thoroughly recommend: we noted it down immediately as 'must come back again' and 'must tell friends'.

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