Update: The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Newport was one of this site's earliest reviews so Matt and Cat decided to revisit the venue. The original review, from 4 August 2006, is below the update.

During the week, Matt and Cat regularly meet for lunch in Newport. A light snack of local produce at the excellent Island Images usually suffices although sometimes they only have time to snatch a coffee at the Quay Arts Centre or Olivo. On this particular day, M&C were looking for a place to eat and duck out of the rain - along with most of the lunchtime crowd. And so it was that they ended up outside the doors of the Wheatsheaf - one of three so-named hostelries on the Island*.

Shaking off the droplets as they entered the bar, Matt and Cat were pleased to see that the place had lost none of its charm. Although the patrons were mostly men, The Wheatsheaf had a far more genteel atmosphere than a rowdy sports bar. Pleasingly, there was no sign of a TV; only the faint warble of an eclectic selection of piped music - possibly megamixed by DJ Anachronistic, as Avril Lavigne's Sk8r Boi was segued into some twaddle by The Beatles.

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Visit the website: http://www.wheatsheaf-iow.co.uk/

Years ago, Cat used to work in a department store. In a comparison to the fictional Grace Brothers of ‘Are You Being Served’ fame, she was not the perky sales assistant Miss Brahms, played with cockney aplomb by the late Wendy Richard.

Nor was she the blousy Mrs Slocombe, nor even ‘young’ Mr Grace’s buxom nurse. If there had been such a character in AYBS, Cat would have been the printer, sitting in a shack on the roof with a hypochondriac hippy and a leathery lothario producing price tags – ‘Big girls’ blouse £16.99’. Good times.

Of course, this was on the mainland – they do things bigger over there. At a more human scale is Newport’s smallest department store, Beavis in Upper St James Street. A vertical chamber, on the ground floor of which can be found all manner of unusual trinkets, from ceramic unicorns to lenticular bookmarks. The centrepiece of the first floor is Chapel Coffee Lounge, an intimate mezzanine where one can have a light meal or tea and cake.

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The fortunes of the Joe's franchise have flowed and ebbed. Its glory days were in the early noughties when it was the place for The Beautiful People to hang out flicking through Sunday supplements over a frothy coffee. Alas, like many other businesses in these economically depressed times, the Newport and Ryde branches have suffered - being recently in administration. However, Union Street's Joe's is back on its feet under new management, and Matt and Cat can confirm that its trajectory looks promisingly upward.

Like its coastal sister in Ryde, the Newport branch of Joe's faded; Christmas 2007 saw the most dismal service at Matt and Cat's office Christmas lunch and the writing was on the wall. However, things have changed. Both venues are in new hands, with Newport's bar now being managed by Mr and Mrs Tredwell - veterans of many of the Island's big eating-houses. With a sprinkling of modification, the vast venue has re-opened as the rather unnecessarily-suffixed Mill Bay II. Cat visited recently and can confirm that the place is now back on its feet and getting ready for another incarnation.

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As regular readers of this site will know, Matt and Cat sometimes like to 'stress-test' a venue. This usually means visiting during peak times, often with some children in tow. Another high-intensity eating out experience is the works Christmas dinner. Having already had a civilised lunch at Burrs the day before, Cat once again donned her novelty antlers and, with her scrubbed up colleagues, went for an evening meal at the newly opened William Coppin (Lloyds No 1) bar in Newport.

Those of you with memories will know that this latest in the Wetherspoons portfolio used to be another chain pub - the Chicago Rock Cafe. Matt and Cat ate at this previous incarnation as a prelude to trips to Cineworld. However, as the service got more haphazard and the film-watching experience was frequently ruined by fidgety mobile phone-obsessed teens with bladders the size of peas, they gave up going to both venues. But that was then and this is now.

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Having fortified themselves with the most delicate and sumptuous Robert Thompson canapés, plus the ever-scrummy Isle of Wight cheese and Garlic Farm tasties at the WightLife photography competition exhibition, Matt and Cat stumbled out into the dark streets of Newport. Did the grazing satisfy or could the duo go another round? On Cat's gentle enquiry, Matt beat his manly chest and bellowed "more nammit!".

Encouraged by a friend to try the new pizza parlour in St James Street, they headed west. Alas, on arriving at Turner's, they were disappointed to discover that it was take-out only. Tempting as it was to have a pizza to go, the nearest place to sit and eat it would be the bus station. A pleasant enough place during the day - if you can ignore its anachronistic architecture - in fact, quite a functional interchange. However, at night, it takes on a different character as Cat discovered recently. Soggy children sit wedged in the library's niches out of their gourds on cheap hooch. Harmless to passers by but not really a desirable place for dinner. Matt and Cat moved on.

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