The Black Swan, Langport

Re-opened as the Black Swan again, the front bar at the front was quite loud, partly due to road noise and partly due to a group of middle aged men torturing some poor defenceless guitars. The rear L-shaped bar is also noisy, partly because of the echoes caused by the wooden floor, and partly because of the children running around like flip-flop shod elephants. The front bar has a dartboard and a few low tables, plus some bar stools, while the rear bar has dining tables on the long leg and some heavy-duty high tables for the more robust diners and drinkers. The pub was originally a coaching inn, and the old courtyard now has a garden area at the bottom, while most of it is a paved car park. Food was basic and reasonable value. Two ales on, Teignworthy's Golden Sands, which was over-gassed but otherwise fine, and Will's Neck, which was OK. The locals were friendly enough, but the staff looked a bit miserable. It's a decent enough local, OK to drop in if passing.

Now called Lou Lous Wine Bar with Thai Tum restaurant, this used to be The Black Swan. A small bar at the front of the building serves as the pub whilst the large restaurant and funtion room behind now serves as the Thai Tum restaurant. The thai food is really good, authentically cooked with none of tehat MSG style cloyness associated with Chinese food. No real ale - beer is served from Bag in Box pins behind the bar and Yeovil Star Gazer and POSH IPA were avaialble. These boxes are a great idea, while not as good as hand pumped beer it at least ensures a pint in good condition. So a high score for food and low for lack of real beer - but still not bad, especially for Langport.