Blue Hayes

The Blue Hayes is one of our favourite local restaurants and my wife and I have been going there regularly for lunch or dinner, every two/​thee months, for about four years (since the current owners took over). We have been there when they have been quiet and very busy and have always had an excellent meal and service. We have certainly never left there hungry, in fact the reverse is normally the case, where having a lunch time meal there usually means that tea time at home has to be somewhat later than usual!
Consequently we are at a loss to make any sense of the very negative Valentine’s Night review. It is a great pity that a complaint was not made at the time, as we would have done if we had felt there was a problem, as it would have at least given the management a reasonable chance to put things right.

I have an unreasoning affection for Blue Hayes as I rented it as a cottage for my last year at university with two friends — with whom I returned yesterday for a reunion lunch. It has grown a bit: there is a large extension at the back which must be for a kitchen and ‘other offices’; and there seems to be a swimming pool in the garden and a much improved gravel parking area. And what was once the sitting room and three bedrooms is now a bar and a beamed and surprisingly spacious dining area. But the thatch and whitewashed stucco remain, as does the fine open fireplace where we once toasted our feet and occasionally contemplated attending lectures.
Owing to the nature of our gathering — there were five of us, including a blameless local solicitor and a London estate agent who had been fellow students of ours — we are unable to give a detailed report on the meal, but I can say without reservation that the food was very good and the service excellent and friendly. I can recall very decent goat’s cheese salad but not a lot else (we had preciently hired a 6-​seater to accompany us) apart from from some very good New Zealand sauvignon and some tasty Rijoja.
Amusingly, a group of ladies who lunch all over Hampshire and report on their experiences — The Ladies Who Lunch in Hampshire — had chosen that day to try out Blue Hayes and were seated in what used to be one of my friends’ bedroom. They found themselves the object of some attention as we tried to explain the history of the restaurant and our presence in it — and we can fortunately suggest that you rely more on their assessment of it when published on their website at
than anything you learn from this review