please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This is more of a pub than the St George & Dragon up the road. It's an old Brakspear house and is situated in the centre of the village. Brakspear Bitter & Special were both on, alongside Ringwood Boon Doggle. The landlady was friendly and chatty and the pub has a small, but pleasant garden at the rear. Note the Wargrave & District Snooker Club opposite also serves real ales. It has a sign outside saying it is open on Saturday's. But this is incorrect - we returned later in the evening (after 7pm) to find it still closed.
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A traditional street corner local in the heart of Wargrave, the pub is arranged on a couple of levels around a bar counter and despite offering a few food options has managed to retain the feel of a pub that is designed for drinking first and foremost.
There are two main bar areas, each sharing the same bar counter which had a number of stools around it. One bar is down a couple of steps from the other and this is a pleasant, if slightly spartan room with black wooden boards on the floor, a whitewashed ceiling with plenty of black beams and there were a few more black beams on the wall as well. An exposed stone wall was at one end a low stone wall along one side. There were numerous old black and white photo’s and the obligatory horse brasses dotted around, and a large brick fire-place with a log fire, although this was not list on a recent cold March evening which may have made it a little cosier.
A smaller room was up a couple of steps at the end and this had a more contemporary feel with lighter laminate flooring and a number of brown leather sofa’s and arm chairs. A couple of large flags were prominently displayed on one wall, and there was a small plasma up in the corner, although this was not in use. The menu offered a small selection of “pub grub” dishes such as lasagne, fish & chips, chilli con carne, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £10 mark. There was also a specials board that offered another half a dozen options. My curry of the day (Chicken Balti) was a decent enough dish and came with rice, naan bread and a poppadom as well as an enormous pot of mango chutney.
Beers on tap were Ringwood Boondoggle and Brakespear Bitter. There was also a pump for Fortyniner, although this appeared to have run out. Unfortunately the solitary cider was Strongbow. All in all this seems a decent village local with a friendly landlord and a decent food offering. If only they could sort out their appalling choice of cider, I’d say it was well worth a visit.
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On the pumps were Wychwood Hobgoblin, Wychwood Bountiful & Brakspears Bitter. The place has nice olde-worlde decor but dining room empty and barmaid resorted to sitting on public side of bar reading the paper, it was that quiet. Wychwood Bountiful was well kept but not a place with atmosphere. Real shame.
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We had am evening meal with wine and received friendly and quick service. The pub had a nice atmosphere with the period features giving a different feel to usual pub restaurants. Would recommend the Bull and would like to try it when the log fire is roaring
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Wargrave was our stop on a Twyford - Wargrave - Twyford walk so we had four pubs to choose from. The St. George and Dragon and White Hart had wine glasses on the table when we looked through the window so we felt they were not for us. We chose the Bull over the Greyhound merely on alphabetical order.
We were there fairly early on at lunchtime and it was quiet ( 2 other folk ) but it improved a little later, no mean feat in itself as Wargrave appears to be a ghost town, full of closed down shops and For Sale boards. Brakspears Bitter and Hobgoblin were available and both were fine. Half a dozen specials augmented the standard menu. We had fish and Chips, a curry (CTM) and 2 brunches and these certainly kept the wolf from the door.
We were served by a pleasant young lady with distinctive cleavage and flip flops.
The gents toilet, hidden away at the back of the pub, contains a painting of a naked lady, in fairly graphic detail. An unusual feature, but I suppose you might as well hang it here as anywhere else !
A pleasant enough hostelry, nothing outstanding but nothing rotten either. I'd happily return for a drink, but wouldn't lose any sleep if I didn't.
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We stayed for four nights prior to returning to Sydney. The room was fine apart from the mini-fridge not working and the "do no disturb" sign being ignored. The host was fine but his partner was less than friendly. Breakfast was the pits-we only tried it once and then went elsewhere or smuggled yoghurt in (to the non functioing room fridge).
Parking was non existant except at the Council car park down the road.
Dinner was on a different plateau. Wonderful!!! Beer garden was a delight.
To summarise, fix the attitudinal problem of the host's partner, fix the room fridges, fix breakfast and you'll havew a winner. 4/10.
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The other reviews on this site are out of date. The pub is now under new management. It has bags of atmosphere, wonderful old world charm and is now run by Gerry Brennan. Most definitely worth a winter visit, just to stand by the lovely fire with a warming drink!
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My last couple of visits have found the Bull to be a very quiet and souless place. The beer is very expensive for what is usually and average pint. It seems to preoccupied with making space for diners who rarely turn up. So the drinkers don't bother either.
At present, can't recommend.
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The pub is ok. Staying here most definitely isn't. The walls are paper-thin, and music wafts in from the bar and other rooms until the early hours. The service in the evening for food is appallingly bad. Breakfast is good and attentively served.
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As stated "log fires, low ceilings". Heaps of atmosphere. Friendly staff. Wonderful walled garden perfect for mid Autumn afternoon/pre-dinner drinks.Excellent, well-priced food.If I'd wanted sport on tv, I'd have gone elsewhere.Liked it so much, we stayed in the excellent up-stairs accommodation.Will be back!
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As stated "log fires, low. Ceilings", great staff
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The quality of the one ale available on Saturday (Brakspear Ordinary) was good and the pub itself is clean and tidy which shows off the history well - quite like an old ladies front room.
Not sure about the (lack of) atmosphere though, or the choice what sounded like the Waikiki Beach Boys in the stereo. Most odd.
Worth a stop for a half but didn't find much to keep me beyond that.
Barman looks like Andy Abrahams from X Factor.
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Walking into this pub is like walking into someone's living room - and with three interesting ales on you felt like staying most of the afternoon.
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I really liked this pub, didn't have anything to eat but the menu looked interesting and not too pricey for the area. The Brakspear's Oxford Gold was in fine form and the pub oozed charm and character.
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Pub has a "To Let" notice up.
So if you're looking for a job...
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Unfortunately the organic Brakspear Oxford Gold had run out ystdy, leaving a choice of Hobgoblin & Brakspear bitter (�2.90!). Genuinely old, with low beamed ceilings in the main bar area and a huge open fireplace burning logs. I could imagine this being a very good drinking environment for locals but it seems to be aiming beyond that, and the commercial radio in the bar and the young staff sit a little incongruously with the 15c image.
Also, could whoever writes the bar notices please learn that changing a singular into a plural does not require an apostrophe! So it�s bills, customers etc�, not bill�s, customer�s� Sorry, but why is this basic grammatical error becoming so common these days?
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lovely old pub, proof that going gastro doesn`t mean you have to rip the character out of a pub
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Disappointed to find that people are allowed to smoke at the bar in this pub. That's just not acceptable nowadays.
Having said that, good pint of Brakspear's in excellent surroundings.
anonymous - 21 Dec 2006 16:15 |
Log fires, low ceilings and the best Sunday roast in the area.
PsychO
anonymous - 25 Jan 2005 19:36 |
