The Terrace @ Walton Park Hotel, Clevedon

Although part of a hotel, the bar is nonetheless open to non-residents and has it’s own branding and entrance at the opposite end of the building from the main hotel entrance. Calling it a Terrace Bar suggests, to me at least, that there would be some sort of outside seating at the rear, but unfortunately this was not the case, or at least, nothing that was directly accessible from the bar. The main bar room is at the rear of the building and the large bay windows give great views across the estuary to Wales. The room itself is a good size with high ceilings, but is rather drab in appearance, with pretty much everything apart from the wooden boards on the floor and a couple of old brown leather sofas being a shade of grey. There was light grey paint on the walls, darker grey paint on the timberwork, a grey bar counter, grey chairs and even grey lamp shades. The only minimal splashes of colour were a couple of troughs of foliage and a small green glass candle holder on each table. There was really very little of any note, with not even a picture on the wall to brighten it up a little. A smaller room at the front looked to be broadly similar in terms of décor, although this also included a fireplace with a TV screen mounted above it. Whilst there is a small wooden veranda and a beer garden, neither was directly accessible from the bar. You’d either have to navigate your way to the other end of the hotel (although I’m not even sure this would be possible, as the veranda looked to be only accessible via a closed off function room) or else go out the front of the bar, walk all along the pavement to the other end of the building, round the back and down a slope to get to it. Despite two pumps on the bar, the only real ale offering was Doom Bar, along with Sharp’s Atlantic on keg. Even worse, the solitary cider was Aspall’s Suffolk. Why on earth not showcase some of the excellent local brews to their out of town guests? All in all, I can see little reason to visit here. A more accessible outside area might have gained it a few points for the view, but without that I really can’t think why I might return.

Official site of Walton Park Hotel (The Terrace) - www.bestwestern.co.uk

Official site of Walton Park Hotel (The Terrace) - www.bestwestern.co.uk

Having being undecided on adding this a few years ago the local CAMRA branch went on a town tour and fully embraced this as a pub that's open to the public especially as this end of town is bereft of any places to drink. The Terrace allows members of the public to enter without encountering anything awkward or hotel related. As per website lovely views across the Estuary to Wales. There is also more public bars within the building it seems so maybe need to return and visit the sports bar section of the Terrace which I clearly missed today.