The New Inn, Wedmore

After a visit to the nearby Wilkins Cider Farm, which I would definitely recommend, I arrived in the village of Wedmore to try on the this pretty village's pubs. The pub was packed and I was lucky to have been given a stool to perch on near the entrance. Live Six Nations rugby was on the TV, with all areas busy and tables reserved. An outdoor seating area at the rear with another TV was empty. Toilets are outside too. There was also what appeared to be a sheltered smoking area adjacent to the car park. Butcombe Original & Timothy Taylor Landlord are the regular beers here. A guest beer was Timothy Taylor Golden Best. A nice village pub. But it was a bit too busy for my liking, meaning that I didn't linger for long.

A pleasant and traditional pub on the outskirts of Wedmore, it was surprisingly quiet on a recent Saturday lunchtime visit, with no other punters in there initially although a couple more did come in later. Wedmore itself is quite a busy village with it’s upmarket boutique clothes shops and delis, but presumably the two pubs that are more centrally located attract the bulk of this trade, leaving this one for the locals I suspect. The pub is divided in to three rooms running along the front – a restaurant to the right, a lounge bar in the middle and a public bar to the left. The latter had a flagstone floor, wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and plenty of black beams on the ceiling. A small stone fire-place was off to one side, although the fire within is now gas unfortunately. A plasma screen and a darts board were on the wall and there was a trophy cabinet in the corner as well as a community notice board. The restaurant and lounge area are a little cosier with carpet on the floor and exposed stone walling at the front. Plenty of beer mats tacked on to the beams and numerous Camra publications hinted at a decent beer range, but all that I could see on this occasion was Butcombe. There were two further pumps that appeared unused and even a barrel racked up on some stillage at the end of the bar, but this had no identification or branding on so I’m not sure if it was in use or not. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold and Aspall’s Suffolk.