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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
Halfway House, Langport
Pitney
Postal town: Langport
TA10 9AB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Pub SignMan left this review about Halfway House
I was very pleased ro discover that my drive to North Devon took me within touching distance of this classic two room rural pub, which has a great reputation for its ale but is seemimgly just as popular for its food now, making it a perfect lunch time pit-stop. You enter to the main front bar area with whitewashed walls and a low ceiling.a couple of large tables stand either side of the entrance, but there's also loads of standing room around the servery, which is positioned in the centre of the back wall. The bar has a nice counter with a traditional bar back that has a door through to the taproom in the centre and a very helpful beer board to one side. There's a large fireplace to the left and lots of traditional decor plus a load of CAMRA certificates and a local notice board on the walls. A single step leads down to a quarry stone floored back room with its own hop lined bar access to the right. Five large tables with a mix of chairs, pews and backless benches are not all that practical if you're alone or as a couple, but we managed to squeeze around the end of one table with no objections for the loacls. A raised fireplace under a huge beam dominates the far left end of the room and had a lit stove inside. Local maps, old photos and the like was on display along with an old Summer Lightning advert and some plain mirrors. There's a tidy garden space out the front with an information board about the village, and some nice seating options. The pub's ale reputation extends back for many years, so I was a little surprised to find a sign in the gents toilet proclaiming the pub's 1995 CAMRA Pub of the Year award - why this great achievement was relegated to the bogs, I'm not quite sure.
The ale range shows no sign of diminishing in these post-Covid times, and I was accordingly faced with a near impossible choice from Teignworthy Reel, Bristol Beer Factory Vibe Lake and This Side of Paradise, Otter Beech and Bright, RCH PG Steam, Hopback Summer Lightning and Parkway Jailbird at £4.70 a pint. The Jailbird was in good nick and a half of the Vibe Lake was even better, so beer quality doesn't appear to be an issue with such an extensive selection. The staff were all very friendly and whilst the food was a bit pricey, it was still delicious and I didnt feel particularly hard done by. There was a good lunchtime crowd here on my Friday afternoon visit, almost all of whom were eating - the modern rural pub dilemma encapsulated.
I thought this was a great pub that definitely merits a bit of a diversion to go and check out. The ale range alone would be a big draw, especially as they seem to know how to keep the beer well, but it's also just a great place to spend some time and I suppose my only real reservation is that it can feel a bit too food-led at times, but that's a minor gripe in the main scheme of things.
Date of visit - 1st March 2024
On 4th August 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about Halfway House
An outstanding GBG pub. On a main road, it looks rather uninviting and scruffy from outside. There is a large car park, which due to the battered pub sign and general area is easy to miss if coming from the East. That is not a bad thing as it helps keep the grockles out. On entering there is no real sign of the pub's true nature – no handpumps on the bar, as the ales are gravity dispensed from casks in the cellar at the back. The floor is flagstone, there is an open fire at one end, and there is a smaller, cosier bar at the rear. Dogs are welcome, treats are sold for them in packets, bratty children are not encouraged, no treats for them. Food is locally sourced, freshly cooked and very good value for money. The bar staff were enthusiastic, helpful and engaging. There is an annual beer festival in June. Eight ales on: Teignworthy Reel Ale and Neaptide, Goff's Black Night and Spring IPA, Otter Bright, Butcombe's Gold, Dark Star American IPA and Summer Lightning from Hopback. Six real ciders and 13 bottled foreign beers completed the line-up. This is everything a pub should be, and I'll be back. Often.
On 26th July 2017
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3516 recommendations about 3480 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Halfway House
A traditional stone-built pub that was presumably a cottage or two at one time, it is one of those “must visit” places for the pub aficionado and has won countless awards and accolades over the years including Camra’s National Pub of the Year, albeit almost twenty years ago now. There are a few tables and benches in the garden at the front which seem designed to encourage sharing and conversation, and there is also a long beer garden off to the side, although this seemed somewhat less popular. Although not a food led pub by any means, a few traditional meals are offered, and a quick glance at the blackboard showed that these included scampi & chips, burger and a Ploughman’s.
Inside it consists of two rooms, both similar in terms of decor. The larger of the two runs along the front of the pub and includes the bar servery. Old flagstones are on the floor and there are a couple of old stone fire-places at each end along with piles of logs ready for the colder weather. Seating is a mixture of church pews and benches along with a Chesterfield sofa or two. The size of the tables again seems designed to encourage communal drinking. A few hops were trailed around the top of the bar and there were some black and white cartoon drawing on the walls. Numerous maps and travel guides were also in evidence.
Besides the busy garden at the front, the side garden was split in to two and had a slightly ramshackle appearance. The half nearest the pub had some trellis work covering a seating area, an old mangle and a sand area that was perhaps used for boules or something similar at one time. There was also a smoke house (for food, not cigarettes!). Beyond this were a few more picnic benches and a slider and swing for the kids.
The beer choice was all chalked up on a board next to the bar and on this occasion included Adam Henson’s Rare Breed, Teignworthy Red, North Yorkshire’s Hunny Bunny, Otter Bright, Quantock Stout, Dark Star American Pale Ale and Hopback Summer Lightning. Ciders were Ashton Press, Thatcher’s Gold and Mallets, which is a new one on me. All in all, well worth a visit.
On 8th June 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2060 recommendations about 1962 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brew Guru left this review about Halfway House
If you were to define a typical English country pub this would be it. Yes it attracts weekenders parking their 4x4s over the car park and road, but it also serves as a local as well. As you enter the front door is plastered with all its awards, including CAMRA National pub of the Year in the 1996, it hasn't changed much since then but why would it need to?
As you enter the servery is straight in front, a rectangular protrusion into the room. A blackboard above the rear opening into the servery lists the real ales on - 8 in total. 2 from Teignworthy, 2 from Otter, Hop Back Summer Lightening, Glastonbury Spring Loaded, Cheddar Totty Pot Porter and Titanic Iceberg. Never have had a bad one yet. You have to ask for lager as there isn't any on show.
On an evening the only source of light are the log fires, some low level wall lamps and candles which add to the atmosphere. Food is excellent as well.
On 19th May 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 116 recommendations about 101 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Paris Hilton left this review about Halfway House
Visited for the first time this weekend as the Halfway House has just been voted Somerset CAMRA pub of the year for 2011.
Was not disappointed. Proper old fashioned pub with wooden benches, stone floors, log fires, beer and thats about it. My other half commented that it was noisy, but the noise was conversation, people talking rather than tvs, music and fruit machines, the sign of a good pub I told her.
8 real ales on offer staright from the barrels which are stored in a cellar, back room rather than sitting in the warm bar. The Exmoor Fox and Cheddar Tooty Pot Porter were excellent and reasonably priced.
The only negative is the Hooray Henrys, all green wellies, flat caps and range rovers I'm afraid. They clutter up the bar and doorways and won't let you by; it's very rude.
On 28th March 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 78 recommendations about 62 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
graham dunbavan left this review about Halfway House
Brillant traditional freehouse good beer and food. Somerset CAMRA pub of the year 2008 has also won this award in 1997,2001,2003 and National CAMRA pub of the year 1996
On 13th February 2008
- rating: 8
[User has posted 78 recommendations about 77 pubs]