Crossways Inn, Highbridge

Located on the main A38 just south of Highbridge, it’s a pleasant enough looking pub although certainly nothing remarkable, and I have driven past on numerous occasions without ever venturing in. Inside it’s essentially all one open-plan, ‘L’ shape room, although divided in to several different sections that would quite evidently have been different rooms at one time. Décor wise it’s quite traditional with black timber beams on the ceiling, cream plasterwork on the upper part of the walls, and a sort of khaki green down below. Much of the pub had tartan carpet on the floor, with some slate tiling to the rear. A snug to the left had dark wood panelling on the lower part of the walls, as well as some unusual rails on the ceiling that had plenty of beer mats affixed to them. There were a couple of old brick fireplace about, one clearly disused with a church style pew inset in to it, but another with a wood burning stove which it appeared was incumbent upon the customers to keep topped up. A guitar was in one corner and there was a small trophy cabinet on the wall, as well as a number of pictures dotted around and several Camra awards. The rear section seemed to be more of a bar area which had a TV screen showing the rugby. The volume was very low so this was not too intrusive, although it’s a shame that the same couldn’t be said for some of the shrieking women watching it. The menu offered a decent selection of pub grub dishes such as a burger, fish & chips, gammon & chips, macaroni cheese, etc., as well as a few specials on a board. Most of the mains were priced somewhere around the £12 - £15 mark. I went for the New York style chicken topped with bacon, melted cheese and a barbecue sauce, and this was decent enough, if nothing spectacular. Beers on tap were Howling Hops’ We Buy Teeth, Quantock’s Intergalactic Space Cow, Bristol Beer Factory’s Independence, Pitchfork’s Hanging Judge, St Austell’s Anthem and Salcombe Gold whilst a further pump appeared to have run out. Ciders were well represented with Cornish Rattler and a trio from Thatcher’s – Dry, Gold and Rascal. All in all, a very pleasant pub and well worth popping in.

Official site of Crossways Inn - www.thecrosswaysinn.com

Official site of Crossways Inn - www.thecrosswaysinn.com