The Boat Inn, Gloucester

This is one that’s been on my list to track down for a long time, and take a bit of tracking down it did, being down a long windy dead end lane. In fact even on arrival it was not at all obvious that there was actually a pub there, and the car park is very small so most punters had to resort to parking in the lane outside. It’s set in an idyllic location on the banks of the Severn, and a couple of boats did make an attempt at stopping during our visit, but it would seem that the landing point was waterlogged and extremely muddy, so both attempts were abandoned! Internally it consists of a few interconnected rooms, with one of the rear ones housing the bar counter. This was quite small with a few black beams on the ceiling, hops hanging above the bar, wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and a number of pictures of boats and the river on the walls. Seating was wooden pews around the perimeter, although in practice the room was pretty much filled with punters waiting to be served, and so would be impractical as a place to sit and drink. The other room at the back included a mobile carvery counter obscuring a small brick fireplace, quarry tiles on the floor and a collection of beer mats in a framed display case. A further room at the front was probably the cosiest with a larger fireplace, some attractive flagstones on the floor and wood panelling all down one side, although the fluorescent strip light on the ceiling jarred somewhat. The remaining room looked a little dated perhaps with carpet on the floor and numerous old arm chairs. The menu offered a decent selection of sandwiches, burgers and basket meals, and we opted for the chicken, bacon and mayo baguette with a side order of chips. This took an inordinately long time to arrive, but was at least a decent enough portion when it did and quite tasty, although there was far too much mayo used in the baguette. Stock keeping seemed a bit haphazard with the majority of taps being covered, although the friendly barman explained that they were in the process of changing suppliers. Beers on tap were all from the Lakehouse Brewery with their Cherry Chocolate Porter, Amber Session Ale and Citrus Pale Ale. With the Iford and Mortimer’s Orchard pumps covered up, Stowford Press was the only cider on tap, although ciders really are the star of the show here and there was an extensive selection available from boxes racked up in a small room behind the bar. On this occasion, they included Dry, Mango, Strawberry & Lime, Pomegranate & Orange and Perry from Fishers, Hornblower and Muscle Mary from the Cotswold Cider Co., Millwhite’s Strawberry, Hartland’s Traditional Farmhouse, Out of the Orchard Medium, Dry and Perry and finally Medium and Dry from Severn Cider. Overall, a great pub, fantastic setting and a brilliant cider choice, although I certainly wouldn’t bother with the food again.