Most pub grub has always been pretty awful, but there were some gems. One of the problems now is that most pubs are owned by chains, and offer standard menus and serve standard food prepared in huge volumes and microwaved or boiled on-site - uniformly poor or at best bland, in other words.
You can quite often find pubs that are still independently owned or part of a small chain, where owners and and their staff may take a much greater interest and pride in what their kitchens turn out - can't think of any easy way of finding them, other than Googling the pubs themselves.