The Blue Boar Inn, Frome

A Craft Union pub with a couple of hand pumps, one of them bearing a London Pride pump clip. This was the meeting point for a pub research trip, for which most of us had travelled quite a long way, but when we arrived from a delayed train we found earlier arrivals had moved on, while several others had been on even later trains than ours. We went for halves of the Pride, which was good enough, though nothing special (£5/pint), service was pleasant and after a quick look around we moved on. The interior of this pub has not been opened out too much, and retains narrow passageways between the two rooms, the toilets and the small back garden (though the room on the right has certainly been knocked through). We got a cheerful thank you for bringing our glasses back to the bar.

Official site of The Blue Boar Inn - www.craftunionpubs.com

Official site of The Blue Boar Inn - www.craftunionpubs.com

A busy traditional town centre pub on the Market Place, no frills and little by way of charm despite being refurbished and reopened last year. The front is right on the street, so no outside seating at the front, but there is a small paved garden at the rear. There are two bars. The smaller public bar on the left as you enter has a pool table, dart board and large TV screen, while the longer saloon on the right stretches the full width of the building; this also has a large TV screen and a bank of gaming machines. The floors are mostly laminated, with some tiled areas around the bar counter and fireplace. The noise from the public bar permeates throughout, and it’s neither a restful nor a friendly place. There isn’t really a local cadre, the barman albeit busy, was both functional and barely competent, showing difficulty in pulling a full pint and in basic arithmetic, while some of the drinkers hogging the bar made us feel we should keep our hands on our wallets. Two ales on draft, Hobgoblin Gold and Pride, both in average condition. Also on were Carling, Peroni, Cruzcampo, Thatcher’s Gold and Haze, Guinness, John Smith’s, Foster’s, Moretti and Inch’s Cider. It’s great to see a town centre pub reopening, but it’s not somewhere I feel I need to revisit.