please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
You used to be able to find an unusual ale or two on handpull but nowadays the regular ales are Fuller's London Pride, St Austell Tribute and Timothy Taylor Landlord with Doom Bar on last night too. I tried the Pride and Landlord which were both average. Now operated by the neighbouring Bistrot Pierre restaurant and feels much more like a hotel bar than the freehouse it describes itself as.
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A favourite of the local CAMRA brigade but I've never been sure that the best beer in town is to be found here. My pint of North Cotswold Blitzen was agreeable but I'd have tried something different had I been staying for a second pint. NC's Winter Solstice, Butty Bach, Purity Saddle Black and Old Hooky were also on sale yesterday afternoon.
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Nice selection of beers - Butty Bach, HPA and Hobgoblin available, plus a Bird's Brewery Stout that I enjoyed. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere - enjoyed the visit
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The beer selection on our stay was dominated by Green King and Hook Norton although the GK offerings were not the standard ones. The House beer from North Cotswold was fine. The best by far was HPA from Wye Valley. Bar food was ok. Very busy with locals. On the Thursday night one of the bar staff seemed to be having a competition to see how many glasses she could smash in the most spectacular fashion. Both the bar and restaurant are outsourced and need to bring in hands on management.
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Service was slightly apathetic last night, 5 people behind the bar all faffing around and just one actually doing any visible serving. Fortunately, the queue to be served was virtually non-existent. Only the Bird's Nightjar and Greene King Brasilia were new to me, the others were a little mainstream (e.g. 2 from Wye Valley, Marstons EPA etc). I tried the Nightjar which was £3.30 (standard Bear price) and in very good condition.
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Superb choice of ales, lovely location overlooking the river
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If I was looking for a hotel in Stratford, I think I'd look to stay here. The hotel is part of a chain. The bar was very much a locals' haunt. Other than the New Bull's Head, it was the only one we found that wasn't overrun with tourists. Live football was being shown. This was also the only pub where we found the Sunday match being shown. The bar was so popular that patrons were spilling over to the hotel lobby. The beer range was also good - North Cotswold The Bear, Castle Rock Harvest Pale & Most Haunted Pumpkin Porter, Wychwood Hobgoblin, Sadlers Cerberus, Westgate Gangly Ghoul & Wye Valley Butty Bach. I enjoyed the Pumpkin Porter I had and am not surprised this is CAMRA's Warwickshire pub of the year. It was our favourite of the day too. A real cider would have been nice though.
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A re-vist to the Bear confirms my opinion that it's one of the best pubs for beer in SoA, 8 real ales on offer, all on good form and not overpriced, unlike some pubs in the town. A well deserved Good Beer Guide listing.
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The Shakespeare Branch of CAMRA has awarded the title of “Shakespeare Pub of the Year 2013 (Warwickshire region)” to the Bear.
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Probably the better of the two ale pubs if nothing more than it feels more like a pub (even if the plasma screen has an ornate frame around it). had the Bear ale which was okay.
anonymous - 26 Feb 2013 16:34 |
Byatt's Bag o’ Weasels (new to me) was one of the 4 guest ales on offer tonight (in addition to the 4 "resident" ales) and I think I might have been a bit harsh last time when assessing the range on offer. After all, there is nowhere else in Stratford where you will find anywhere near as many cask ales.
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8 ales available, like previous reviewers I didn't find the range that exciting, included their "own" Best Bitter, 2 from local North Cotswold Brewery, Butty Bach, Marston's EPA, Hooky Diamond Reserve and Church End Grave Digger which was rather nice (and one of the cheapest at �2.95). Still, at least there were some local brews to enjoy. More people there to watch the England rugby rather than Holland v. Denmark it seemed.
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Pleasantly surprised to find a selection of 7 real ales on offer, sadly only time for a couple of pints of Purity Mad Goose, which was excellent.
Top marks to the bar staff too, topped up my pint without being prompted, after serving it with an inch of head on it.
The Bear is part of the Swan's Nest Hotel/Bistrot Pierre complex and it would be easy to pass it by if you were just looking for somewhere for a few beers. Thanks to BITE I didn't pass it by, but it really should be listed under Stratford upon Avon!
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Good pub, variety on (Shakespeare Bitter, The Bear Bitter, Old Hooky, Everard's Tiger), albeit nothing majorly exciting. Good condition and value. Brasserie is good next door too.
TMSE9 - 15 May 2011 20:50 |
This was tricky to find on this site, obviously should be under Stratford upon Avon. Not just tricky on the site, tricky to get in to for the newbie as well, it looks like you are entering a brasserie, through a revolving door, but immediately turn left. Inside, there is a large bar with a good array of hand pumps and very willing bar staff. The actual range of beers was a little staid in our opinion, if we were to have a free house with an unlimited choice, there would at least be a couple of exciting, unusual beers. However; this is not the case in here, I had a perfectly acceptable Hobson's Mild, but I would like to have chosen something much more interesting. This follows in to the pub, it's a hotel lounge really with a couple of tellies, last night showing Golf (yawn). It was quite full with drinkers and it is quite comfy, but it, along with the beer range, is fairly dull.
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The best pub in Stratford upon Avon. 6 real ales... with an emphasis on local brews. Cracking food, top class service and a lovely ambience. Great for watching sport or sitting outside watching the river flow by.
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