The Ale House, Stroud

Official site of The Ale House - www.thealehousestroud.com

Official site of The Ale House - www.thealehousestroud.com

I'm quite happy to return my glass to the bar, both on returning for another round and on leaving, but this is the first time I've encountered a notice on the table asking me to do so. Staffing seems to be a problem here, so maybe that's behind the polite notice. The Ale House opened late due to a staff shortage (so I was glad I'd passed by earlier and got the tip-off). Inside, there's a couple of big, echoey rooms with high ceilings, and it's clearly the big draw in town in terms of beer choice. There's numerous pumps on the bar: Burning Sky Plateau seems to be the House ale, with 2 clips, one of the pumps being drawn through. Local brewer Tiley's were also available and I had a couple - very good they were, too. Overall, it's calm and relaxing (at least shortly after 5pm on a Friday) and undoubtedly classy, though slightly sterile and in need of a bit of atmosphere, and it could hardly be more different to the manic Spoons around the corner.