Quite a few of the pubs and cafes in and around Marlborough are doing a range of takeaways during lockdown.

The Marlborough - which is more of an upscale a pub/restaurant - is amongst them. They do, or did in recent times past, possibly the best bloody mary in Christendom, and I reckon they would have rustled me one up, had I asked.

They really are very good, especially for a Sunday brunch, if you know what I mean. Note to self. Mention this to the editor as a possible review idea. I digress.

The Marlborough has been going, under its current ownership for about seven years, and usually services some pretty decent food. They told me when I rang to place my takeaway order that they had been doing takeaways since lockdown seven days a week.

I'm not surprised it is popular and the menu is comfortingly Marlborough - it has things the jus and aioli rather than gravy or mayonnaise - so we know where we are.

The menu is also varied and is very well priced. Everything on the mains is a tenner, and there is a bit more to choose from too than the usual burger and chips and fish and chips.

They have macaroni and cheese, prawn twisters with bloody mary sauce, (a waste of bloody mary in my view!) crispy salmon, fillet steak, skinny fries & red wine jus (that has a £10 supplement), chorizo croquettes with saffron aioli.

Also, a nice selection of side orders, two puddings and even a range of kids choices like chicken nuggets and fries.

So let's get down to it. We ordered Ramsbury Gold battered fish, skinny fries, peas and tartare sauce and pan fried salmon and crispy new potatoes with a side order of seasonal vegetables.

I got a time slot, and turned up at the door to be greeted by a cheery young girl keen to beat her mum to the contactless payment.

The portions were very generous and both the battered fish and the pan fried fish were perfectly cooked and utterly delicious. The mushy peas had a hint of mint and my crispy new potatoes were just lovely. What a good idea.

But I have to say the side dish of brocolli stole the show. It was delicious. An odd thing to say about broccoli really, but it was beautifully cooked - a little bit firm, but seasoned and buttery, whilst still being piping hot.

My broccoli cooking usually results in either some kind of woody stick or conversly something limp, wing wammy and pond like. So this was great. I'd go back just for that.

The food was, as expected, still up to restaurant standard and very pleasing. We also ordered pudding. Chocolate brownie and those churro things, with chocolate.

The brownie was the size of a tennis court - and easily enough for two less greedy people. Crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Yum.

The churros are like deep fried long doughnuts sprinkled in cinamon and covered in chocolate sauce. Just looking at them made my arteries tighten, and I had a fleeting thought that perhaps I should eat these sitting next to a defibrillator.

Deep fried, sugar coated, cinamon dusted, chocolate covered heaven ensued.

I lived to tell the tale, and recommend The Marlborough takeaway wholeheartedly.

And see if they will do you a bloody mary. Our food came to a total of £33.