Sandford Park Alehouse, Cheltenham

A former gay nightclub, this was converted in to a pub a few years back and went on to win Camra’s 2015 Pub of the Year award. Clearly quite some achievement, and consequently I felt obligated to check it out whilst in the area. It’s a fair sized pub internally, divided in to a few different areas, but with the bulk of the space being an L-shaped room with the bar counter on the left and some doors leading out to a garden area. Flooring was a mixture of carpet and laminate, whilst the colour scheme was a mixture of salmon and cream. Other than a good selection of good beer guides on a shelf in the corner, the décor and accessories were fairly minimalist. A second room off to one side housed a billiards table, and a smaller snug at the front included a brick fireplace and wood burning stove. The barman was helpful and friendly, and quite willing to chat about our preferred ale styles and offer samples to try. Beers on this occasion were Church End Stout Coffin, Brass Castle Invisible Ink, Wye Valley Butty Bach, Mad Goose Purity, Church End Red Shirt Blues, North Cotswold Tumbling Jack, Oakham Citra, Roosters Italian Job and Saltaire Decennium Pale Ale. Ciders meanwhile were Ross-on-Wye Medium Dry, Devon Mist and Devon Gold. There were a further 16 keg taps behind the bar, although these included cider and lager as well as beer. I didn’t make a note of these, although I did spot a couple from Bristol’s Arbor Ales.

I came, like many others, to see if it was worthy of the prize. National pub of the year 2015. I'm sure it was the Salutation in Ham, so we can only assume that the panel live in Gloucestershire. Thriving, much beer choice but far to brightly lit for my liking. Exceptional beer. Excellent Purity Ubu was chosen. Photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2d1vJ0u

My favorite pub on my short visit to Cheltenham , very friendly staff and locals with a huge selection of bottled beers , 16 craft kegs taps and 10 hand pulls with a good selection of ales , i tried Glouster Citra , Severn Vale Gold , Glastonbury Sour Power and BBF Milk Stout all in great shape . Well worth a visit and reasonably priced for the area

New-style ale house, albeit with much lighter decor than one might expect. Apart from a snug, there is otherwise quite a limited amount of seating inside but a decent rear beer garden. Bar billiards. Real ale from ten handpumps, with a fine selection including Purple Moose Myrtle Bog Ale (£3.20) plus 16 craft keg taps. Local Camra pub of the year, and you can see why. Well worth seeking out.

Very impressed with this bar today and the sheer variety of ales on offer. We had Malvern Hills Feel Good and GWB Hambrook Pale Ale, and there were also 2 Oakham Ales, a Kelham Island Stout, a Bristol Beer Factory beer and one from Downton. Behaind the bar is a clean tidy set of taps, loads of them, similar set up as seen in Euston Tap, London. There are fridges full of foreign bottled beer, and the glasses for them are set up along the front of the bar. Baps with a variety of fillings were brought out at £1.80. Should do well. Good description below.

Official site of Sandford Park Alehouse - www.spalehouse.co.uk