The Swan Inn, Winscombe

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Blackthorn _ left this review about The Swan Inn

A somewhat tucked away country inn, but nonetheless only a minute or two’s drive from the A38, this has recently re-opened after a major refurbishment but has fortunately managed to retain much of it’s charm, although perhaps in a slightly more contemporary way.

Internally it’s a U-shaped pub wrapped around a central bar counter, although this has now been divided in to one L-shape room and a separate leg off to the right. The smaller room to the right seems to be more the bar area, although there were a number of people eating here. It has attractive slate tiles on the floor and much exposed stone walling, with just a little white plasterwork in places. A large stone fireplace was off to one side, although it looked to be disused containing just a couple of large candles and a mechanical contraption of indeterminate use. Many of the smaller ceiling beams had been painted over which I’m not usually a fan off, but the larger ones had been left in contrasting black and the overall effect worked well enough. Seating was a mixture of regular tables and chairs, high tables and stools and even a couple of long padded benches. A couple of old photos of the village were on the wall, but on the whole the style was fairly minimalist. The larger L-shape room had a mixture of dark laminate flooring and carpet, more exposed stonework and some animal print wallpaper. Tables here were quite tightly packed in and whilst it might not be a designated dining room as such it was pretty much filled with diners on our recent visit.

Food wise, the menu offered a decent enough selection of pub staples such as a burger or fish & chips as well as a few more adventurous dishes. Prices were mostly around the £12 - £13 mark, so slightly above your normal pub prices perhaps. My ham, egg & chips was pretty good, with tasty slices of ham and a very tangy piccalilli, although it could certainly have done with less chips and more ham, especially in light of the £12.50 charged.

Beers on tap were Liberation IPA, Butcombe Invader and Butcombe Original, so all house brews now that Butcombe have been bought by Liberation. Ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Haze, Ashton Press, Harry’s Haymaker and Harry’s original. Overall I quite liked this, I thought they’d done a sympathetic refurbishment of an old pub, staff were friendly and the food was good. With a better beer choice and a few tweaks to the pricing, they could be on to a real winner.

On 1^st September 2017 - rating: 8
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