The Hole In The Wall, Colchester

I popped into the Hole in the Wall on a recent Thursday evening when the pub had been taken over by students who seemed to be running the bar. Alexa (or some such variant) was being excessively used to choose the excruciatingly loud drum & bass/grime/pop music. During my 30-minute stay I do not believe that an entire song was played before someone shouted “Alexa, play (insert mind-numbing dross)”. To be fair, everyone was very friendly, but it did feel like I’d just walked into a private 19th birthday party. The bar, facing the entrance at the front of the pub, is stocked with standard keg and one of the two hand pumps was unused which left Sharp’s Doom Bar as the lone cask ale option. There are multiple seating areas throughout, with most being at the rear where two pool tables can be found. To the right of the entrance is a dartboard and televisions are located throughout, but these were all off. I didn’t note the presence of any live sport advertisements. Built within the Roman wall there is a decked seating area out the front and a paved seating area with picnic tables at the rear. I think that this award-winning pub’s glory days may have past, unless I visited at a very random out of character time.

The choice of beer was fairly good (tho unrecorded, sorry) and condition was fine, two I recall were Theakston Lightfoot & Tribute, plus summat from Wychwood. Another beerfest is due 30Jul-02Aug (I think). My only complaint yesterday was the 'music', some noisy trash seeping from the speakers like headphone 'bleed'. A foolish barman said that they had to please the majority & offered to turn it up, rather than off, it certainly was not aimed at the few who comprised the 13:00 demographic. The barmaid, by comparison, was far more light-hearted and mentioned, as we were leaving, that our timing was good because Westlife were coming on next, hehe. 9 March 2008 Interested to visit the scene of victorian architectural vandalism – in 1843 they knocked a hole in the 2000yr old roman wall to enable patrons to view construction of the newly arrived railway to Colchester! A central bar serves a variety of satellite rooms, nice wood floor throughout, rugby on tv in one corner, cosy reading area in another (papers available nr bar), plenty of space at bar in both upper & lower (front & rear) ‘tiers', there is some outside decking where a patio extension jutts out over the wall & road and some nicely shabby peeling wooden garden-style tables & chairs. Wyre Piddle Piddler on the Roof, Caledonian 80, Deuchars Ipa, Theakstons Coopers Butt, Joseph Holts 1849, blackboard also listed Sweet Lips (Springhead?) but I didn't see that on pump. Winelist carries a few btls at less than a tenner and weekday food offers include 2 meals for £7.50. How? 8 March 2008 I'm on my way today, *** very glad I spotted that the GMAP address above is miles off! ***

A good pub that tries very hard to serve a perfect pint. The beer selection is limited but in cood condition.