Pub News: May 2007
- Crown & Anchor, Weston High Street, Bath
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Recently refurbished and now has an Indian restaurant upstairs.
- Dark Horse, Northampton Street, Bath
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This pub has recently closed and is boarded up. The rumour is that it will be converted into flats. We believe that the landlord has moved on to the Anchor & Hope in Trowbridge.
- Griffin, Monmouth Street, Bath
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This pub has also recently closed. It is believed that the building will be converted into offices.
- King of Wessex, James Street West, Bath
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A two-week long Wetherspoon’s style beer festival was held from Monday 23 April to Monday 7 May. Third-pint glasses were used. Range, which included beers from Belgium and Germany, sounds interesting. More details of beer range available on www.bathpubs.co.uk.
- Longacre Tavern, London Road, Bath
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This Wadworth’s owned pub is, we believe, likely to be added to Camra’s National Inventory of Pub Interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest, as it is one of the few remaining unaltered examples of a pub of 1960’s design.
- Salamander, John Street, Bath
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We understand a new manager has been appointed at this pub.
- Slug & Lettuce, George Street, Bath
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This is old news. Discovered that last summer this establishment, which had earlier closed, re-opened on what had been the site of former RSVP bar in Edgar Buildings.
- Barge, Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon
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Correction to what was stated in earlier branch meeting notes with regard to the beer festival of the weekend of Friday 31 March. Sixteen beers were indeed available but it was not, as I had implied, a £15-ticket-only-for-free-beer event. It was possible, as Dave B can testify, to buy beers on a pint-by-pint basis. The £15 ticket allowed the purchaser to drink at the rate of £1 per half with possibly some food thrown in for good measure. Dave thought it excellent. Perhaps we should consider a visit to the next one.
- Beehive, Trowbridge Road, Bradford-on-Avon
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Look out for the pub’s own corporate van. I saw it, a gleaming bright red vehicle with the pub’s details advertised in large lettering, at the Asda car park in Trowbridge last week.
- Swan, Bradford-on-Avon
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The Swan closed around Christmas for an extensive refurbishment. It has recently re-opened. Stourhead Hotels took on the Grade II listed building last October. It has been re-wired, re-plumbed and totally revamped. The Swan now comprises two dining and drinking areas and a private function room. Stouhead’s proprietor Stephen Ross says: “We do not want people to think this some grand expensive hotel. We want local people to be able to have a pint of beer and some good food here.” Rumours about the improvement in beer range at this pub prove to be unfounded.
- Milk Street Brewery, Frome
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This year has seen the introduction of a series of monthly special beers. March Madness gave way in April to Bloomin Marvellous, which in its turn has been superseded by Lazy Mazy.
- Mill at Rode
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The Mill at Rode has been named as one of the most family friendly pubs in the UK after a nationwide hunt. The pub, run by John Foreman, has won the Abbot Ale Perfect Family Pub prize for the west-country region in the Abbot Ale Perfect Pub 2007 Awards.
- Anchor & Hope, Frome Road, Trowbridge
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Under new management. The new landlord is thought to be the ex of the recently closed Dark Horse in Bath. Take-over overshadowed by homophobic comment on menu board outside pub, which featured on the front page of a recent Wiltshire Times, and was probably a reference to the former openly gay landlords.
- Masons Arms, East Street, Warminster
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Paranormal experts have been called in after weeks of unexplained phenomena have left the pub’s new management terrified. Jackie Mansell and her daughter have experienced a series of bizarre occurrences including slashes down a newly refurbished wall, music emanating from no apparent source, cold patches, curious smells, orbs of light, doors unlocking of their own accord and crisp boxes flying off shelves. On one occasion new tenant Jackie was grabbed whilst in the shower.
- Yew Tree, Boreham Road, Warminster
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The fortunes of this pub, which had become very down-at-heel before the sudden disappearance of its last landlord in January, are now starting to revive. The new landlords have smartened the place up. Cooked food is now available during the afternoons. The Yew Tree also offers accommodation.
- Westbury Hotel, Market Place, Westbury
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This attractive town square hotel is shortly to revert to its former name of the Lopes Arms. The hotel is first recorded in the sixteenth century as a coaching inn known as the George & Dragon. It was renamed the Lord Abingdon Arms in 1745. Its namesake held large estates in the area. Much of the original building was destroyed by fire in 1808. Sir Manasseh Massy Lopes, a Jew of Portuguese extraction, who was a local magistrate and town recorder, rebuilt the inn the following year. It became the Westbury Hotel only in around the late 1980s during which time it was extensively refurbished. Paul Morris, who took over the hotel earlier this year, said that it was important to Westbury’s heritage to restore the inn’s original name.
