The Stoke, Bristol

Prominent stone built pub situated on the main road through the village. Many years ago this was a good pub with a decent food offering, but then seemed to lose it's way a bit, and, quite frankly, was a bit rough. However, there's now a board outside advertising a new chef and menu, and it seems to have been spruced up a bit, so hopefully all that is behind it. The lounge bar is quite attractive in a homely sort of way with a slate tiled floor, some art on the walls and a couple of old leather sofa's. It's not a big bar and the seating is actually fairly limited, but there is a separate restaurant area if you're eating. The public bar is a little more rough and ready with a TV on the wall, a couple of fruit machines, quiz machine, darts board and table skittles. This is more popular with the locals which is great in that they've got somewhere to go for a pint and watch the football or whatever, whereas the lounge perhaps is more appealing to people from outside the village who want to pop out to a country pub. That said, the locals in the bar all seemed very friendly, greeting us as we went in, and saying goodbye as we left. fat_beer_badger will also be pleased to know that they still have a cute barmaid! There's a small courtyard garden out the back, and a decent looking menu. There's a few “pub grub” dishes such as burger, ham egg & chips, etc. and we found these to be good quality and value. There's also a more adventurous selection of more expensive dishes, although they still looked reasonable value. Beers on this occasion were Butcombe and Gem. Ciders were Ashton Press, Blackthorn and Thatcher's Gold.