The Clive Arms, Ludlow

Tris C left this review about The Clive Arms

I don’t know how old the pub is, but it was in existence by 1831 when as the Black Lion, it was renamed as a homage to local landowning aristocracy the Windsor-Clive family, relatives of Clive of India, whose statue on Whitehall has recently attracted attention due to his colonial activities.
The main part of the pub was rebuilt in 1895 making it late Victorian rather than Georgian, the whole having been thoroughly modernised, the product of a refurbishment from 2019, which includes all-important piped music to the khazis. Unsurprisingly, the interior resembles to country club-cum-hotel, with white walls, a modern bar back with scaffold and navy blue shiny ceramic tiles; it’s a multi-roomed affair, the rear snug looking more authentic and inviting than the rest, with a cast iron railway train sign above the fireplace from a locomotive called The Earl of Plymouth (Windsor-Clive is the family name of the Earls of Plymouth). Furniture is modern and in the dining room, trendy stuff (see photo), with a pale boarded floor, décor in the form of trendy floral prints. What wasn’t so trendy were the discarded children’s menus and crayons on the table next to us which persisted for quite a while and that’s not to mention the food and item of cutlery on the floor to the left of the grey chair (see photo), which was in residence for the entirety of our stay of a recent Thursday at 7.00pm. Due to the pub’s close proximity to the Ludlow Golf Club – closer still to the south of Ludlow Racecourse – customers were unsurprisingly either of golfist Argyle jumper and Rupert Bear-wearing persuasion, or typical acolytes of the Brough Scott naff hat-toting classes.
Cask amounted to Wye Valley HPA, Ludlow Gold and Best, a pint rather than the requested half served to our table by an inattentive though utterly charming barmaid/waitress; it was in decent shape though.
As mentioned, this is really a rather sterile corporate affair, though despite the lack of a river view, I marginally preferred it to the Charlton Arms, a mile away in south Ludlow.

On 11^th October 2025 - rating: 5
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