The Rose & Crown (Eli's), Langport

Official site of The Rose & Crown (Eli's) - www.elisroseandcrown.co.uk

Official site of The Rose & Crown (Eli's) - www.elisroseandcrown.co.uk

A 17th Century thatched roadside inn, a freehouse which has been run by the same family for several generations. The layout inside is well described below, especially the taproom which is unusual and very convenient, meaning you feel more like a guest than a customer. The snug with the gas fire, the piano and the plethora of dogs meandering around add further to the homely feel. Ales on this time were Cheddar's Gorge Best, Otter Bright and Teignworthy Reel Ale, all in perfect condition, complemented nicely by a variety of ciders, most local. I really enjoyed it here, both for the warm reception and the excellent ale quality which fully justifies the regular GBG entries. Highly recommended, by me anyway.

One of those classic “must do” pubs, the most unusual feature here is the lack of any bar counter. Instead the drinks are served from a small room at the centre of the pub, with the bar staff simply standing next to the pumps and mingling with the customers. You can’t help but wonder if you’ve somehow strayed in to the “staff only” part of the pub and don’t really know quite where to stand! Besides the central serving room, there are a number of other small rooms all around. Decor wise it’s fairy traditional with either flagstones or slate on the floors and a mixture of exposed stonework and pale lemon plaster on the walls. A snug at the front had a wood burning stove in an old fire-place, and attractive arched windows set in to the stone wall that looked somewhat church like. A few old photos of the locale were on the walls. A larger central room also had a brick fire-place and was full to capacity with diners on our recent mid-week lunchtime visit – something to do with the MG car rally being held in the adjacent field I suspect. A longer room at the rear was more of a public bar, with a quarry tiled floor, pool table, juke box and a couple of fruit machines. We didn’t inspect the menu, but the food looked to be decent and hearty from what we saw coming out. Beers on tap offered slightly less choice than I expected perhaps and on this occasion were Teignworthy Santa’s Tale and Reel Ale along with Hop Back Entire Stout. One pump appeared unused whilst another had it’s clip reversed, so perhaps I caught them on a bad day. There were also a couple of barrels racked up opposite the hand pulls, but as far as I could make out these were purely decorative. Ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Haze, Stowford Press and Burrow Hill Farmhouse. All in all though, a great pub and well worth a visit.