Café René, Gloucester

Café Rene is located through a small passageway in Southgate Street opposite the Robert Raikes House. Despite being a historic part of the city with several buildings and the adjacent church dating back to the 12th Century, the Café Rene is a more recent structure dating from the 1980’s. Prior to that there was a courtyard that contained a roman well, now preserved within the pub that was built around it making it a remarkable and unusual centerpiece. The building is accessed through a large entrance porch that leads to the L shaped interior. The main bar is off to the left beyond the aforementioned well whilst in front is a larger restaurant area. As the name suggests, the place has more of a wine bar cum restaurant feel but this shouldn’t deter anyone just looking for a few beers and seems quite drinker friendly. Much of the wallspace is taken up by racks of used wine bottles and be sure to take a peek at the incredible bottle ceiling in the restaurant section. Seating is quite conventional with a few pews and some old barrels doubling up for tables. There is also a cellar bar with a programme of regular live music and seating in the passageway outside which can be a bit of a sun trap. On the beer front there are no hand pumps but a series of casks laid out across the far section if the bar. 3 ales (Moles Rucking Mole, Freeminer Speculation and Wickwar Bob) as well as Black Rat and Cheddar Valley ciders and a couple of perry’s (Broadoak KB and Black Rat Perry). The ales I tried were a bit flat (a regular problem with direct from the cask servings) but tasted fine. Prices were very good ranging from £2.70 to £3.50 for the 7.5% perry. Although I didn’t have any, the food looked good and was also reasonably priced. The name is a bit offputting if you are just doing the rounds in the pubs but I like dthe charcter of the place and would certainly put it on my shortlists for future visits to the city.