The Sword Inn, Gloucester

Nice old exterior but an interior that could do with a refurb. No real ale on my visit.

Official site of The Sword Inn - www.craftunionpubs.com

Official site of The Sword Inn - www.craftunionpubs.com

A traditional looking old pub in one of Gloucester’s pedestrianised shopping streets, it retains many original features internally, although it has presumably been opened out and renovated at some point which has resulted in the loss of any real cosy charm which I suspect it may have once had. Internally it’s now a single, L-shaped room with the wider area at the front and a longer room running down the left hand side. There were plenty of old black beams on the ceiling as well as some inlaid timberwork in the walls, and the bar counter contained some quite intricately carved woodwork. The flooring was largely a mixture of generic patterned carpet and sanded wooden boards, along with a small amount of mottled tiling elsewhere whilst the paintwork was mostly the usual Farrow & Ball shades of green and brown. A few wooden pew style benches formed booth seating areas to the right, whilst a number of TV screens were dotted around showing sports channels. A couple of darts boards were at the rear, and a number of rugby flags were affixed to the ceiling. The only two real ales on tap were Doom Bar and Timothy Taylor Landlord, although there was also John Smith’s Extra Smooth Crap and Worthington Creamflow on keg if that’s more your thing. Ciders were Strongbow, Strongbow Dark Fruit and Stowford Press. Overall, whilst the décor was reasonably attractive in some places, I found the rather blokey atmosphere, miserable landlady and rather pronounced smell of urine when I was stood at the bar all rather off putting, and it’s not somewhere I’ll be in any rush to return to.