The Great Western Arms, Banbury

Official site of The Great Western Arms - www.greatwesternarms.co.uk

Official site of The Great Western Arms - www.greatwesternarms.co.uk

Much extended old pub which is very definitely more of a restaurant, although having passed the rather terse 'welcome' of the maitre d' we were tolerated at the bar for some pleasant pints of Hook Norton ale. While appreciating the high demand from diners, a great shame they could find a space somewhere for drinkers.

We went into The Great Western whilst on a boating holiday on the canal, I will not be returning. On entering it was immediately clear that this was a pub which did meals with the occasional drink. Every table was set for dining and when we enquired if there was anywhere we could sit for a drink the waitress didn't think there was. Even the bar stools were being reserved for a couple who had gone outside for a smoke. Needless to say we left without having a drink.

The Great Western is a nice loking pub that has got quite a lot of ivy growing on its front,the pub is situated well away from the village of Aynho and it is in a nice setting next to the Oxford canal. Once inside there was a seperate dining room to the right with tables laid out ready for diners,the main bar area was split into two halfs with a large open fire seperating the two areas,the bar area had a stone floor and a few tables and chairs,the other side of the fire also had tables laid out which i thought let the pub down by having too many tables for diners and not enough for drinkers. There was a nice looking courtyard to the rear of the pub. This pub is a Hook Norton tied house and there were three real ales on the bar i had a drink of Hookey bitter and this was a decent drink the other beers were Old Hookey and a guest beer which was York Terrier. This could have been a fairly nice pub but it was badly let down by the lack of seating for normal drinkers. Pub visited 19/5/2012