BITE user comments - smithy384
Comments by smithy384
The Rose and Portcullis, Butleigh
Returned after an absence of more than 2 years. The place has been transformed! All the carpets stripped out, the horrible thatched 'beach bar' roof been removed and a fresh coat of paint applied to the walls. It has just been taken over by a chap who was involved with both the Halfway House at Pitney and The Red Lion at Babcary. At the time of writing he has been there for two weeks and had 10 different ales in that time. Definately on the up !
8 Nov 2011 15:06
The Seymour Arms, Witham Friary
A marvellous unspoilt example of a rural Alehouse. I've been told that the family of the present landlord might not continue after he has retired - that would be a terrible shame. Well worth a visit.
18 Jun 2011 15:29
Visited on a monday lunch. Fairly busy, good crowd of locals and friendly atmosphere. Had couple of pints of Butts - excellent condition and reasonably priced. Good old fashioned pub, civilised erudite landlord - well worth a visit !
18 Jun 2011 15:06
The Spread Eagle Inn, Stourton
Re-visited last week. Whilst family roamed around garden had a quick pint - �3.45 for a 3.9% session beer! This is too much! Price list tucked in alcove behind crisp display. Felt a wee bit disgruntled, get the impression most people eat and pay bill at the end. Perfect opportunity to hike price of drinks without customers realising. As a consequence have given lower score.
18 Jun 2011 15:02
The Barton Inn, Barton St David
Visited recently on a Sunday afternoon for first time in several months - still eccentric and wacky! Crop Circle in great nick. Mad game of spoof taking place in one corner, lunch party in another corner consuming vats of wine - great atmosphere ! Still one of the best boozers in the area.
18 Jun 2011 14:47
Visited recently with some chums who had never been to The Star before. Fairly quiet monday lunch, not too busy, good opportunity to check out all the nooks and crannys. Had a pint of Draught Bass for first time in several years - v good. Everyone well impressed. One of the South West's finest!
18 Jun 2011 14:40
Yet another reason to visit Bath for a crawl. Always a descent selection of beers, centrally located and fat-boy pies if one feels a bit peckish.
18 Jun 2011 14:33
Visited on a recent weekday lunchtime, whilst celebrating my birthday. Several interesting brews, charming lass behind bar, couple of pints quaffed, both in first rate condition - damned good boozer!
18 Jun 2011 14:27
I visited the Anchor on a rainy saturday in July, the first visit for 10 years! It is a very nice pub, it is in an amazing location, it serves very good beer,it has so many plus points - but a few things let it down!
Firstly, the large "no muddy boots" sign ! Entirely appropriate at a restaurant or a smart pub - but at the seaside, next to a beach, on a major costal path, in a place frequented by fishermen! And then there is the hideous patterned carpet inside, taken no doubt from the ACME pub interior catalogue. Surely this pub should have an interior in keeping with its location, not one which makes it indistinguishable from a bog standard Punch Tavern!
Apart from those two minor niggles I still think that it's a nice little pub!
23 Jul 2009 15:05
Heard about it several times. This was my first visit - absolute gem!
23 Jul 2009 14:41
The Coach and Horses Inn, Chepstow
Passing through Chepstow recently, I checked in CAMRA's GBG and spotted the Coach and Horses. Cracking little pub - old fashioned traditional family run pub of yesteryear. Friendly staff, good pint of Brains bitter, big public car park close by - very good!
20 Jun 2009 10:13
Gentlemen, gentlemen - best of order please!! let's try and remember why we contribute to these kind of websites - not to score personal points but to pass on genuine comments to genuine pub goers. Whilst many people wouldn't wear a fu manchu beard and sport an earring, it's not a sound basis on which to judge a pub. Also, every pub has a couple of pub bores, it's one of the many attributes that make English pubs great.
However, with the greatest of respect, it would take a huge leap of imagination to call the place "a nasty dive" or describe the landlord as "..the most unpleasant person in Somerset" ( You haven't met my mother-in-law! ) In fact I had lunch there last week and it was ok, plus the beer was in pretty good nick. In my humble opinion in deserves a better score than most of the other pubs in Street.
19 Jun 2009 23:45
The Greyhound is closed. The miserable old bugger who has run it for the past 20 years has simply closed the doors and stopped trading. It is said locally that he has turned down several offers to sell and is planning to obtain change of use and build houses in the car park!
8 Jun 2009 12:20
The Spread Eagle Inn, Stourton
Just had a very pleasant lunch there. My missus who is v fussy declared that the fish pie was excellent. There were four cask ales on offer - I sampled 3, all very good ! Prices for food were a little above average and being an NT place it will be very busy at peak times. All that said it wasn't half bad and better than many.
4 May 2009 17:42
The Inn on the Chase, Cashmoor
I'm definately in the negative camp. Only been there a couple of times, beer choice is limited with at least one choice not being available. Young staff more interested in watching tv and turning music up to ear splitting levels. Not impressed at all. Could do a lot better.
4 May 2009 11:49
I do agree with the points that tootall made, though I couldn't comment on the young south african bloke. We always find that the food is very good despite being expensive and we always go in the pub bit not the restaurant. Since the tall older bloke who used to run the bar has gone, the staff aren't quite as on the ball and the beer is not quite as good. However, overall it's still one of the best foodie/gastro pubs for absolutely miles.
4 May 2009 11:41
Great pub, a veritable institution - not to be missed on any trip to Bath. Does get a bit crowded and some of foreign staff sometimes appear a bit dopey, however those minor points aside it's bloody marvellous (pardon my french).
4 May 2009 11:16
In the same way that The Halfway House at Pitney breaks all the conventional business rules concerning how to design and run a pub; the Crown (on which the Halfway was vaguely based) does it even better! Long may it continue. One of the best half dozen pubs in this green and pleasant land.
4 May 2009 11:08
The Rose and Portcullis, Butleigh
"Good hearty roast dinners do not make a proper English pub." This pub demonstrates that the Pubco business model does not work. Very high rent, overworked landlord and family with little money to invest in amenities, trying to make ends meet. The place is scruffy, run down with appalling toilets. Very few local residents go there for these reasons; not the fault of the Landlord I must stress - all the fault of the Pubco that owns the place! In a rapidly diminishing pub market if this place gets no investment it is doomed. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but look at The Greyhound in Charlton and the Old Castles in Keinton.
4 May 2009 10:56
I tend to agree with 'alehouses' - only been there once, an uninspiring interior plus both pints I had were woefully short of the full measure! The landlord wasn't there so I guess the staff do not know/care.
3 May 2009 12:32
I used to be a regular before I moved away; however despite the new owners changing emphasis to "Gastro", it's still not a bad boozer. There's an eclectic bunch of regulars 3 real ales and apparently the previous landlord occasionally pops-in to check the beer quality. I do think that it deserves a better score than the present 4.5 - so I'm going to boost it with a score of 7.
3 May 2009 12:23
The Barton Inn, Barton St David
Great, old fashioned rustic country boozer! Beer quality varies but pub makes up in proper down-to-earth atmosphere. Not for chattering class foodie wine bar wallies! Genuine pub for genuine people!!
3 May 2009 12:10
I've been visiting the "Halfway" on-and-off for 16 years. It is still a quirky,idiosyncratic pub despite the face changes behind the bar. In the early days there was a young chap called Simon who ran the place superbly; then there was Tom and now a new company has taken over! I hope it remains one of the best handful of beer pubs in the country!
3 May 2009 11:55
The Rose and Portcullis, Butleigh
Another visit to Rose & Portcullis almost 2 years since the last. Busy friday evening and the place is heaving. Absolutely rammed with cross section of eaters, drinkers, families and others. Garden benches all full up with people drinking. Five real ales on offer - they've had over 200 different beers since they opened in october 2011. Well worth a visit.
1 Sep 2013 21:22