The Castle Hotel, Devizes

Modernised Waddies pub. The wooden bar aside it's quite staid, if tidy, done-out in blue and white. A friendly welcome at the bar always impresses. Three Waddies standards, my 6X was ostensibly fine but lacked depth (NBSS 2.5). Crawl fodder, this one. 5.5

An hotel on the periphery of the town centre, on the main road through, which makes it susceptible to traffic noise. The hotel reception is by the main door, then the bar is to the left and has another door to the front. There is a single long servery. There is a smaller snug on the right of the main door. It is surprisingly Spartan for an hotel bar, wooden floorboards and no frills, just TV showing sports and unobtrusive background music. The hotel is a Wadworth house, so the ales on were Horizon, Henry’s and 6X, all in good condition. There was a dry pump on the bar, unclipped. Also on were Guinness, Fosters, 1664, Amstel and a Thatcher’s cider plus free treats for dogs and a coffee machine. It’ a decent enough boozer and I’d include on a crawl.