George Inn, Wedmore

This former coaching inn is as described by others, below, and was a very welcome find given that so many other local pubs were closed or wouldn’t let dogs in when we were looking. The basic pub menu wasn’t cheap, though there was a reasonably priced children’s menu and a couple of more reasonably priced specials, and portions were large. The barman and chef were friendly and helpful, though the atmosphere was less cosy due to the overloud music in the basement bar. Ales on were Butcombe Original and Old Golden Hen, while the keg options were Old Speckled Hen, Estrella Galicia, Peroni, 1936, and ciders from Weston and Thatcher. The craft option was Level Head IPA. The food and beer were both good, and it was overall an enjoyable visit. Looking forward to returning.

A traditional, stone built pub in the heart of Wedmore, it consists of several different bars on different levels and in addition to this there are a few picnic benches out the front which is a pleasant enough spot to watch the world go by. There is a skittles alley at the back and a match was in progress on our visit. Even the bar counter itself is split across two levels with the draught ale pumps on the upper bar and everything else on the lower one. Seating in this upper bar is quite limited with just a few stools at the bar, but the lower level is an attractive room with exposed stone walls, a flagstone floor and some chunky pine tables. A number of old metal advertising signs are on the walls and there is a free standing wood burning stove in on corner surrounded by an old sofa and a couple of arm chairs. There are a few books around to peruse, some board games and a darts board in the corner. The only thing that looked somewhat out of place was some rough grey plasterwork on the lower part of the walls. Why anyone would want to obscure the natural stone in this was I’m not sure. We didn’t inspect the other bars closely, but the main one at the front looked to have more a hotel drawing room feel to it with old wooden boards on the floor, high backed black leather arm chairs and lots of black and white photos on the walls. The remaining rooms looked as though they may have been more geared up for food, with at least one of them having all the tables laid up. Food wise, the menu offered a good selection of pub grub dishes such as Burger, Fish & Chips, Ham Egg & Chips and Sausage & Mash. There were also several fish options. Prices were perhaps slightly above your usual pub prices with the most of the mains being in the £10 - £12 range, although there were a few more expensive options as well. My Beer Battered Haddock & Chips was a decent enough dish with tender, flaky chunks of fish although if I were being critical I would say that some more fish and less chips would have been good. A cold seafood platter of Smoked Salmon & Trout, Crayfish Tails, Shell on Prawns & Cornish Crab was very good, but then at £16 you could argue that it should be. Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Butcombe and Glastonbury’s Mystery Tor. The solitary cider was Thatcher’s Gold, unless you count some Raspberry concoction from Sheppy’s.

old coaching inn multi roomed split level bar, real ale straight out of the cask.