Red Lion Hotel, Atherstone

This is a fair sized hotel where the bar area consists of a very long corridor that has areas off either side. The bar counter and hotel reception are to the left and what looked like a conservatory area to the rear. It's all quite modern and there are quite a few glass panes above which on a hot sunny day meant the heat was building up. The bar has three hand pumps which had one unused, Doom Bore and Church End Goat's Milk. I went for the Goat's Milk which was an expensive £3.95 and hazy but tasted OK. This is the sort of place that attracts old men wearing shorts and baseball caps and who don't realise how ridiculous they look. It's more of a hotel bar than a pub so I doubt that I would return.

The Red Lion is a very large pub / hotel which is painted white on the outside. Once inside a very long corridor runs to the rear of the pub with rooms off it,the front left is an Italian type bistro,the room to the front right looked quite smart with mainly normal tables and chairs,this room is called the Kings Library,i went into the main bar area which is in the middle of the pub with the corridor running through it,this room looked quite smart with the bar on the left side,there were some normal tables and chairs in the middle area which had a stone floor,the right side is carpeted and had normal tables and chairs and some bench seating,there are two more rooms to the rear. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Church End Goats Milk which was quite a nice drink,the other beer was GK Abbot. The pub was quite busy on my Saturday afternoon visit with a good mix of mainly drinkers. I thought this was a comfortable pub,the sort of place to take your wife of girlfriend to. Pub visited 25/10/2014

Official site of the Red Lion Hotel - www.atherstoneredlion.co.uk

This is a large corner hotel, restaurant, Italian brasserie and bar. It is in a mock-Tudor style, with the central gable-ended frontage flanked by projecting gable-ended wings. The windows are Tudor at the front, but give way to sash at the sides. The place is in white render at the front, but has unrendered brick at the back. There is a rear conservatory and patio area. The interior - well, it is a nesting of rooms all served off a central corridor which was the old coach entrance bi-secting the hotel. The first room to the left is a modern Italian brasserie, called Cappellos. Opposite this is the King's Library, a self contained room with comfy chairs and dining tables for the Red Lion. The bar element is really is confined to tables in the passage way and a small lounge that faces the serving bar part way down - indeed, the hotel reception is adjacent. There is another room, the Lady Godiva room, which is for private dining. The corridor area is in cream with cream wood panel and is lit up by a glass roof/sky lighting. There is mainly stone flag floor, with some patterned carpet (in the lounge bit). The lounge is in cream and wood panel, with a brick fake Victorian 'kitchen' range. There are pennants from thos that fought at Bosworth juxtaposed with Jack Vettriano styled prints. There was Sky TV in the lounge. The service was fine and the clientele mixed, but mainly eating, from families to the loud business suited guy on his mobile that wanted us all to here his profanity laced conversation. Beer; the usual tap stuff with Wooden Hand Cornish Buccaneer and a reasonable Davenports Irish Whiskey Ale. It is a hotel and is mainly food orientated, so there is no traditional pub feel here. I have plenty of sympathy with the report of the Captain, below. Saying that, it did sell a couple of real ales. The kind of place i would pass through on a bit of a crawl, not aim for in itself.

Official site of the Red Lion Hotel - www.atherstoneredlion.co.uk