The New Inn, Cirencester

An attractive, ivy covered pub in an idyllic Cotswold village, this has many of the ingredients to be the archetypical English country inn. In practice though, it somehow doesn’t quite make the mark. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t have quite the relaxed rural charm and appeal that one might hope for. The main bar has a red tiled floor and a beamed ceiling, although unusually all the beams are painted white, as is the ceiling, so you don’t particularly notice them. A large central chimney breast splits this room in two, and this had a wood burning stove in it. The rear half has an exposed stone wall on the left and another fireplace at the rear with a large coat of arms above it. This was mostly filled with tables and chairs, compared to a number of leather armchairs in the front half. The bar counter was fairly small and seemed to be the spot for locals to congregate. This made it pretty much impossible to actually get there for service, and this was not helped by the fact that there were bar stools provided for them to sit on. Two smaller rooms at the front are more geared up for dining with wood strip flooring, burgundy and cream paintwork and upright cream and brown leather chairs. A pleasant looking beer garden completes the seating arrangements. Staff all seemed friendly and efficient, and we got a complimentary Elderflower Vodka and some “fizzy” chocolate truffles which was a nice touch. The food menu is separate for the restaurant area and the bar, and priced accordingly. We ate in the restaurant where most of the mains were definitely restaurant prices at around the £15 - £20 mark, and offered a succinct, and unusual, selection of dishes – I’ve never come across a Peanut Butter Crème Brûlée before! What we had was pretty decent though, if that’s what you’re looking for. I saw one punter in the bar being served Ham, Egg & Chips but didn’t check out what else was available on the bar menu. Beers on tap were Old Hookey, Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale and the somewhat off-putting Piddle although that turned out to be a decent enough pint, if somewhat on the warm side. The solitary cider was Stowford Press.

Official site of the New Inn - www.new-inn.co.uk

Official site of the New Inn - www.new-inn.co.uk