The Plough Inn, Cheltenham

Official site of The Plough Inn - www.theploughprestbury.co.uk

Official site of The Plough Inn - www.theploughprestbury.co.uk

Characterful pub with a large outdoor area serving 3 real ales on my visit.

A very attractive, thatched pub located right opposite the church in this pleasant village, it is apparently several hundred years old and was originally the village bakery before the owner branched out in to brewing and selling beer (a natural progression due to the amount of surplus yeast from the baking process, according to the sign outside which gave a brief history of the pub). A good sized and pleasant beer garden is at the rear, and this was a popular spot on a recent Sunday afternoon visit although there were perhaps a few too many small children running around to make it really relaxing. A fenced off children’s play area in one corner no doubt encouraged this. Internally it consists of two fairly small rooms, with a cosy old snug to the left and another room with a small bar counter in the corner to the right. The snug had some sandy colour tiles on the floor, a low beamed ceiling and a large fire place with an open grate dominated one end. A couple of copper pots and pans were hung above this and there was a grandfather clock next to it. Dark wooden panelling was on the much of the walls with cream plasterwork above. A few farming implements and horse brasses were dotted around as well as a couple of prints of country scenes such as horses ploughing a field. The other bar was broadly similar in style although with carpet on the floor and a smaller brick fireplace. Unusually there were no beer pumps on the bar with all the beer being served from barrels racked up on stillage behind the bar counter. The choice was fairly concise with Doom Bar, Wye Valley HPA and Wadworth’s 6X being available when I visited. This does though seem to be more of a cider pub, and besides Stowford Press and Strongbow Cloudy Apple on tap, there were a number of boxes stacked up which included Weston’s Rosie’s Pig, Friels, Stan’s Cheddar Valley, Stan’s Original and Killer. There also appeared to be a few more options from Weston’s, although I didn’t note them all down. All in all, a great pub and well worth seeking out.