The Old Thatch Tavern, Stratford Central, Stratford-Upon-Avon

This Fullers pub is well positioned on a prominent street corner in a lovely 16th century timber framed building which, as the name suggests, boasts a thatched roof – the last remaining one in town. It has a fairly compact two room interior, with the bar at the front and a dining room to the rear. The bar has a quarry stone floor with a lot of dark wood beams and pillars, white walls with dark panels on the lower half and a short bar counter and small servery on the left hand wall. Standard tables and chairs fill most of the space in this room, but there is also a button backed sofa and chair in front of the brick fireplace on the front wall. There are a lot of unusual ornaments and antique type items dotted around the place, as well as some potted plants which combine to give the room quite a homely feel. Past the bar, a doorway leads to the wooden floored dining room which has standard seating arrangements throughout and similar décor to the bar including another brick fireplace, a large dresser displaying a collection of plates and an impressive tapestry on the end wall. The dining room gives access to the outdoor seating area and the toilets, with the gents having a number of framed front pages from old comics on the walls. There were three beers on the bar in the shape of London Pride, HSB and Seafarers. I tried the HSB, which was sublime and unfortunately the locals seemed to share my opinion as it ran out after my first pint. Thankfully the Pride was on top form as well. We arrived at 21:45 on a Friday evening, so the majority of people had finished eating which meant the place was mainly full of drinkers and didn’t feel too much like a restaurant. In fact, I thought the main bar was a really nice place to enjoy a beer or two and could have spent much longer here had time not been called at the bar. I would say this place is worth visiting if you find yourself in Stratford. It struck me as a comfortable place to settle down in a lovely old building with very well kept beer and friendly staff – a good combination in my book.

An ancient pub, beams, low ceilings and the like, and the first pub you reach if you come to Stratford by train & walk into the town, not that a lot of visitors would probably do this. Because its old and full of character and in Stratford it seems to get very busy and seating is limited. Also it ends up as a tourist trap and with people eating, but thats the price you pay I guess. It is a lovely old building. A Fullers pub, with 2x Fullers beers and 2x Gales, including HSB

Yes, it is thatched. It is actually quite a small white painted brick and timber framed corner pub and eatery. It is in the GBG 2010. The interior is a single room that is open plan with the dining area up the far end of the place, and the bar/lounge area by the entrance, with the serving bar being on the left. The décor is white and wood panel, with some red, stone flag floor and white ceiling with beams. There is a nice brick fireplace in the bar/lounge with a mock Victorian post box for some reason. There are some nice prints on the walls and several clocks, as well as a bust of Shakey. In the dining area there is a dresser, with plates. There are a few red and buff leather sofas which take up a lot of room, as well as several tables. The service was fine, the clientele mixed and it was busy. There was no TV and the background music was general and a decent level. Beer; tap stuff with Purity Mad Goose, Ubu and Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale on handpull. All were simply OK. A nice enough place, but with sofas and dining I can imagine it getting very crowded. Not sure the beer was at its best at my visit, but it was still drinkable and I would return.

Good boozer for Real Ale fans.

This place is a thatched pub of course as you would expect from the name, in fact it’s the only thatched building left in central Stratford. It’s a flag floors and low beams kind of place that is mainly food led with the whole of the back room reserved for diners only. Unfortunately this only leaves a small bar area for the drinkers, however it does have some decent leather sofas and a couple of tables and chairs with interesting red lights on them. There are chintzy curtains at the windows that give it the feel of someone’s front room. A bright red VR pillar box is next to the fireplace and there are some good pictures on the walls. It provides newspapers for the punters as well. 3 handpumps on the bar selling Purity UBU and Mad Goose plus Wye Valley bitter. The Mad Goose and the Wye Valley were very well kept. It’s not one to spend all night in but we popped in for one on both evenings of our stay. It would be a decent pub anywhere, but in a pub desert like Stratford it’s great