Wellington Arms, Axbridge

A no frills boozer located on the main A38, this is surprisingly small inside with perhaps the much of the building being given over to private living accommodation. First impressions are quite good with a small porch consisting of exposed stone walling, hinting at a cosy old pub beyond. Internally though, it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. It consists of a small bar at the front, perhaps more geared up for eating although this is certainly not a gastro-pub by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that all of the handful of tables that were in there were laid up with blue place mats which matched the blue velvet cushions on the chairs. This is I suppose cosy enough with a few small black beams on the ceiling, although the Artex that covered both the walls (in a salmon colour) and the ceiling (in white) wasn’t great. The flooring was dark laminate whilst a small brick fire-place was off to one side. The pub opened up a bit at the rear with a longer room running parallel with the bar counter. This looked to be more of a public bar with a TV screen showing the football and a couple of fruit machines, although there was also a large stone chimney breast and a wood burning stove. Food is offered to some extent, although we didn’t see any menus other than a breakfast menu tacked on the wall that offered six items for £4 or ten for £6. A couple of punters were extolling the virtues of their steaks, however. Beers on tap were Doom Bar and Tribute, whilst ciders were well represented with four from Thatcher’s – Dry, Gold, Hazy and Heritage. Overall, this is a solid enough local boozer with friendly landlord and punters sat at the bar, but it’s unlikely to be somewhere I’d make a special journey to get to.

No longer a pub, but DSS supported accommodation.

This pub was closed for several years but has reopened again (sept 2007)small one bar local with new dinning room, Bass and Butcombe real ales on at my last visit.