Old Elm, Gloucester

Large family-friendly pub in a residential area of suburban Gloucester. As you enter, signs request that you be seated with table service still in operation. However, I did notice one guy stood at the bar with his pint when we arrived. As such, I attempted to order at the bar, only to be directed to a table. The whole experience reminded me of how I hated some of the practices we had to endure during Covid. I'd selected my drink having already perused what was on offer and the waitress came over to us quite quickly to take our order. However, our drinks were prepared but then sat on the bar for quite a while before being brought over to us. I asked to pay on receipt of the drinks, but was told that they had set up a tab for me. No problem, I would pay for the tab now! This seem to flummox them slightly. Having settled the "tab", we could enjoy our drinks knowing that we could leave as and when we were ready, rather than faffing around with a bill. But the whole process is a bit tedious and not really appropriate to current times. Also, it must add to a publican's overall costs, as more staff are required than are really necessary. I could see why many of the locals were sat out of the way outside on a patio overlooking the car park. Although, I've no idea how they could attract anybody's attention to get a beer! The interior is quite a large affair with one large room advertising various food deals and events. Menus can be found on each table, whilst there is also a smaller lounge-type area with sofas and more comfortable seating to the side of the bar. Boards above the bar were boasting that the pub serves a good range of local ales. However, I would describe them more as regional, given that there was only actually one from Gloucestershire. The choice was Wye Valley HPA, Sharp's Doom Bar, Butcombe Original, Bath Gem & Goff's Cheltenham Gold. In addition, they also had Weston's Old Rosie on handpull. It confirmed how out-of-date CAMRA's Whatpub website is, given the first 2 pubs I'd been to in Gloucestershire were supposed to serve real cider but didn't, whilst the Old Elm did have a real cider, when it wasn't supposed to! The presence of a cider helps me score this pub a little higher, but table service is really something which should be reserved for restaurants.

A substantial and imposing brick built pub in the centre of what was presumably at one time a village, but is now more or less a suburb of Gloucester, it consists of a number of different rooms internally, as well as gardens at both the front and rear, a large car park and accommodation. The main bar area is to the right of the pub, and this was a large room with varnished wooden boards around the floor and a fitted black carpet in the middle. Paintwork was mostly a shade of pale brown with a feature wall in deep salmon at one end, whilst cream wood panelling was on the lower part of the walls. A large black and white photograph of the old village covered much of the end wall, whilst there were a number of smaller photographs dotted around of the pub and it’s customers. A large pile of board games were piled up on a table in the corner and a board advertised various events such as a pub quiz. The central bar was a little smaller and cosier and this had sanded wooden boards on the floor, grey wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and the bar counter, and a small brick fireplace at one end. A pile of books were on the window sill and numerous beer mats tacked to the beams suggested an ever changing beer selection. A sign advertised BT and Sky Sports and a rolled up projector screen was above the chimney breast. A further room to the left was fully carpeted and looked as though it may be more intended for dining. The menu looked to offer a decent enough selection of “pub grub” dishes such as fish & chips, a couple of pies, sausage & mash, casseroles and so on, and these were mostly priced around the £10 mark. Beers on tap were Sharp’s Atlantic, Doom Bar, Tribute, Wickwar Bob and Stroud’s Tom Long, whilst a pump for Ruddles Best appeared to have run out. Ciders too were well represented with Old Rosie, Stowford Press, Thatcher’s Gold and Strongbow Dark Fruit.