Royal Union, Cheltenham

I believe this pub has had a change of landlord and an internal makeover since the last review. The skittle alley has gone, turned into a dining room and there is now a definite emphasis on food. However the beer range remains good with eight handpumps on the bar. Alongside the mainstream Sharps Doom Bar & Cornish Coaster and St Austell Proper Job there was Hobsons Twisted Spire, Oxfordshire Pride of Oxford, Gloucester Breweries Dockside Dark, Cheddar Ales Gorge Best and Potholer, and the couple we tried were well kept. The main bar area and lounge section as you enter from the street remains fairly traditional with stone and wooden flooring , open fireplace and good selection of different comfortable seating with a few screened areas to separate it. Then to one end of the pub is the reasonably sized dining room that was made from the skittle Alley. It may just be me but this seemed a strange soul less conversion and a bit out of keeping with the rest of the pub. Food menu looked OK and seemed to be aimed at that space between standard pub fare and Gastro, but can’t comment on it as we were only here for a pint. I found it a reasonable enough pub with a better than average ale offering and if I lived in the area or were staying nearby I would not hesitate to utilise it. But if you are staying to the North of the Town centre and only have time to do one pub in Montpellier I would not suggest its worth walking the extra distance past the Jolly Brewmaster.

A very nice backstreet corner pub about half mile from Cheltenham station, this is one of our favourite pubs in Cheltenham. There are various drinking areas inside along with a traditional skittle alley. The range of ales was also very good with the hard to find Prescott brewery ales and also Severn Brewery ales being amongst those available.