The Star Inn, Bath

This is almost everything a good pub should be. I don't know how I had missed it on previous visits to the city. Last week on my visit to Bath, I was in the Old Green Tree (another truly great pub), and one of the locals suggested i try The Star. I did and was very pleased to have been directed there.

The landlord was really welcoming and informative. There was an interesting mix of people, and it was easy to strike up conversations. And not least, the beer was wonderful: it has been a long time since I saw Bass dispensed from a gravity barrel into a jug, and then decanted into pint glasses. The Bass was in absolutely excellent condition; the range of other ales also seemed interesting. On my next visit to Bath, I shall certainly explore the options. And the building is a gem; the exterior is somewhat uninspiring, and might even be seen as uninviting, but on entry you are in a world of three small perfectly preserved wood-panel rooms - almost evocative of a proper rural Irish pub.

I also noted that this was an Abbey Ales pub - a local brewery with just three or four pubs. Earlier in the day, I had been in another Abbey Ales pub - the Coeur de Lion - which used to be a favourite halt for me in Bath; it seemed to have gone absolutely downhill (I have made a separate posting on that issue). The management of Abbey Ales clearly needs to apply some degree of consistent quality control across its outlets.

5 Aug 2009 11:40

The Old Green Tree, Bath

Whenever I come to Bath - about five times a year to see my daughter - the Old Green Tree just seems to get better and better. I was there late afternoon, early evening, and there was a really nice mix of people. The landlord is great, and I think I was served by the much lauded "Somerset lass", and I concur with all that has been said.

As always, the Pitchfork beer was in excellent form.

The Old Green Tree is a real oasis. The oasis-like qualities were much accentuated for me this time, as I had had a rather unfortunate and unpleasant experience in what used to be another favourite of mine, the Coeur de Lion. In future I'll stick to the Old Green Tree.

4 Aug 2009 11:12

The Coeur de Lion, Bath

Worrying times at the Coeur de Lion!

I regularly come to Bath for a few days visiting my daughter. The Coeur de Lion, together with the Old Green Tree, has long been one of my favourites. On previous visits, I always found it to have a certain bohemian charm about it: an eclectic mix of interesting locals and visitors. Conversation was frequently stimulating, and intellectually challenging. The pub was also a rich centre for the bookcrossing.com movement - the free exchange of books, and while without creating a literary salon atmosphere (quite!), one could get into mildly bookish conversations.

On my recent visit to Bath, I went to the Coeur de Lion on two different afternoons, and discovered a very changed scenario. I can only describe a certain air of faint menace in the pub. Early afternoon, and the bar area seemed mainly populated (and it does not take much to populate the city's smallest pub) by rather drunk unpleasant (subjective I know, but nonetheless my perception) people, swearing in very loud terms - I lost count of the number of times I heard exchanges liberally puntuated with fxxx and cxxx. It felt like I had stepped into a living-room version of the Lamb and Lion - a Bath pub I once had the unluck to enter.

Until I hear, or read that things have changed, or that my experience was anomolous, I will not be returning.

I hope the owners/managers can turn this around, as this pub at its best was a gem.

4 Aug 2009 10:58