The King William, Bath

Official site of The King William - www.kingwilliambath.com

Official site of The King William - www.kingwilliambath.com

Now just King William, having lost its 'IV', this impressive Georgian former coaching inn wasn't what we expected to find in a very ordinary Bath suburb. The front is entered through a small car park, up some steep steps and through a paved outside seating area. Alternatively, the rear entrance is through the old equestrian portal and through the stone paved courtyard. Once inside, the main bar area is L-shaped, formed from two smaller rooms, there is a separate comfortable lounge area and there is a dining room. The bar is recently decorated to a high standard, there are a couple of dining tables and several Chesterfields. There is also a larger dinign room in the basement. There is also B&B, so it's more of a bijou hotel than a back street boozer. This is reinforced by the beer arrangements: two handpumps on the bar dispensing Butcombe Original and Midford Cider. There was also a box of Honey Cider and a coffee machine on the bar. An array of taps on the wall behind the bar counter served an interesting variety of craft beers and more real cider - Wiper and True's Milkshake Stout, Severn Valley Chug, Kettlesmith Wheelhouse Bitter, Iford's Wildjuice, Pheasant Plucker Cider, Keller Pils, Electric Bear's Tondo and two from Lost and Grounded - Wanna Go To The Sun and Really Nice Lager. The staff were very pleasant and welcoming, there didn't seem to be any locals in, and most of the customers were tourists. I quite liked it here, though it's not cheap. Worth a visit and possibly an overnight stay.