Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel, Warwick

Within sight of the racecourse,this pub will be popular on meets and the hotel rooms will be equally popular.The interior has a modern ,antiseptic feel,with a front section and the bar running down the left wall further back. There is a faux flagstone flooring,a mix of comfy chairs and trad furniture,while down a step is quite a large ,laid for service dining room before doors to the beer garden. There is a lounge feel to the place,rather than a boozer and the horsey crowd were braying loudly.I visited on the strength of its 2024 GBG listing and on my trip the ale options were Hook Norton Hooky,Vale Wychert,Church Farm Session IPA,Hobson's Spire,Holdens Black Country Mild and Wilde Child Dutiful Supremacy (NBSS 3,a dull brew however).This ale line up was dominated by low ABV brews ,with little of interest and so this proved a one pint visit.Quite a few local and regional beers but nothing tempting a session,all rather dull and safe.Not a patch on the nearby Old Post Office micro.

The entrance of the Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel leads to a front seating area with banquette seating under the front windows. Steps lead up to the bar area with a counter up the left-hand wall that faces seating and a hotel check in desk up the right. Steps at the rear lead down to a large dining area that was full during a recent Sunday afternoon visit. Out the back is a courtyard with seating. Premium and craft keg were available alongside Carling and I counted six hand pumps that were drawing Hook Norton Brewery’s Hooky, Church Farm Brewery’s Grave Digger’s Ale and Session IPA, Abbeydale’s Daily Bread, Hobson’s Green Hop and Parkway Brewing’s A Game of Two Halves. A large collection of old pump clips are amassing around the beams in the ceiling so the friendly governor has a passion for the ale. Yes the pub is foody, and a hotel, but the layout means that the front of the building is a pub and I would return for another decent pint.

Good Beer Guide 2023 (and historically) entry. Decent enough beer quality and choice - an unusual Hobsons Postmans Plum Porter. Food was decent too. Decor is kind of identikit, privately owned hotel style. Little to stick in the mind but I remember a bottom drinking area, a long thin bar up some steps and a formal dining area at the far end.

I didn't even equate this as a hotel bar as to me it was more pubby. Sadly there were only the 3 real ales on and the place seemed a bit down in the mouth. Probably just worth a visit.

Official site of Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel - www.4pennyhotel.com

Official site of Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel - www.4pennyhotel.com