The Half Moon Inn, Stoke-Sub-Hamdon

A former coaching inn built from hamstone from the nearby Ham Hill quarry, this pub is moribund. It doesn’t have its own car park but there is a free public car park a few yards up the hill. You enter through the old coach gate, which is unsigned and appears rather daunting, which, in keeping with the rest of the unkempt exterior, gives the impression that the pub is closed. There is a skittle alley on the left as you enter, and the bar, formed from three original rooms, is on the right. The original chimneys are still present, as these are structural, but they’ve been knocked through to heat both sides. Part of the bar floor is at a lower level, and there is a pool table in this area. The dart board is at the top end, and there is a TV which is usually used for sports but on this occasion was showing a nature programme. The interior is a filthy mess, with litter everywhere, stained walls, broken 1970s tiles on the floor, gaps at the bottom of the wall plaster where skirting boards have been ripped off and there is an air of decay. The barman was friendly enough but he didn’t have much to say. Two pool trophies are collecting dust on a high shelf. Three handpumps on the bar but none of them serving ale – the barman explained that ‘it just goes off too quickly’. We settled for bottles of Bass, which were, to be fair, cheap. Locals no longer use this pub – they just go to the village club which is opposite. I don’t blame them, especially as opening times are highly unpredictable. Not so much a half moon as a waning crescent or, if you prefer, flies undone but trousers not dropped.