I’D not eaten at the Black Horse for quite some time, our last foray there being for a family Sunday lunch.

Setting up a rendezvous with a friend, the request was for ‘somewhere in Trowbridge that does good topped chips’.

A bit of a browse round the internet revealed that this Greene King house not only does topped chips in several varieties, but also reminded me that someone else had recommended their extra cheesy toasties, so the choice was made.

I reckoned booking a table for a weekday lunchtime would be unnecessary and so it proved, for although the sports bar section of the pub was quite full there were plenty of seats in the other, more dining-orientated section.

We grabbed a nice table in a window and settled down to catch up on each other’s news, appreciating the fact that the footie on the TV wasn’t blasting out at full volume, meaning we could chat comfortably.

The décor at the Black Horse has not changed much over the years, being fairly traditional pub style – horse brasses, hunting prints, copper jugs and so on.

The bar looks to stock a good range of gins, which is new: gin-drinking is, I understand, the latest thing. Personally I think they all taste and smell like perfume, but each to his own.

A look at the extensive menu revealed that the promised topped chips came in several flavours, all at £2.59, ranging from Hot, Hot, Hot with piri piri sauce and jalapenos through Char Sui, peppercorn sauce with cheese, Hunter’s with bacon, cheese and BBQ sauce to Curried (chip shop curry sauce and, curiously, crushed poppadum).

Looking at the Extra Cheesy Toasties, we decided on one of these apiece and an order of topped chips to share just to complete the carb overload.

I went for the Beef Burnt Ends Toastie with BBQ sauce, £5.89, swayed by the delicious looking picture of a toastie filled with the crisp charred outside bits from a beef roast and the memory of having enjoyed the roast beef last time we’d been in.

My companion opted for the Ham Toastie, £4.99. We were offered a choice of white or granary bread, and chose one each – I thought white would be better with beef while he went for the healthy option in an attempt to ignore the fact that his lunch would have two protein sources in it (this is somehow bad?).

Everything arrived together, piping hot and smelling super, with the offer of extra sauces if we wanted them.

The toasties looked quite modest sized but thick on first inspection, but when you realised there was cheese and meat inside the slices of real bread, plus more toasted cheese on top, and it was all bubbling hot, it became clear this was a knife and fork job. The side salad was the standard leaves, tomato and cucumber with a nice sharp dressing.

The chips were, as promised, smothered. No danger here of getting to the bottom of the bowl and finding you had run out of topping.

And it was delicious, and went down a treat, accompanied by two halves of Thatchers. It was in fact a very substantial lunch, so it’s a good thing we had lots to talk about and ample time to do it in.

We were still talking 20 minutes after the plates were cleared, so I suggested we might share a pudding and finish off with coffee.

One sticky toffee pudding, smothered in custard (£4.59), two spoons and two cappuccinos soon arrived and were equally enjoyed. Nice toffee flavour, moist not dry pudding and the custard was thick and creamy.

We finally left, driven out by the fact that school pick-up time was approaching, and made our ways home happy. The bill, with food, drinks and coffees, came to £27.49 – I’ve added this to my list of places to return to.

ALISON PHILLIPS