The Fountain Inn, Gloucester

Official site of The Fountain Inn - thefountaininngloucester.com

Official site of The Fountain Inn - thefountaininngloucester.com

An attractive looking pub set down an alleyway away from the main road, it has a pleasant outside courtyard and all together looks very inviting. It was perhaps then a slight disappointment on getting inside, to find not quite the old world charm that I had expected. There was nothing at all wrong with it, and many of the ingredients were there, but overall but just seemed a little bit tired looking. The pub is divided in to two halves with the main bar being an L-shaped room. There were a few black beams on the ceiling with the obligatory horse brasses tucked on to them and a large, and ornate, stone fireplace, although all that it contained these days was a rather feeble looking wood burning stove. Red patterned carpet was on much of the floor, and there was a large free-standing brick chimney breast with some sort of open fire within it, although this was not lit on my visit. The paint on the walls was some sort of off brown colour and the papered ceiling had that nicotine colour that one saw in many pubs years ago but has rather gone out of fashion of late. Seating was a mixture of wooden pews around the perimeter along with conventional chairs and a few red leather arm chairs. The second room was perhaps a little more geared up for dining with rows of tables and chairs, and this had a bit more of a contemporary look with light wooden laminate on the floor, although it too somehow managed to look a little shabby. I didn’t inspect the menu, but a couple of boards on the wall highlighted a wrap of the week, various steak options and several dishes that all ended with “and chips” – scampi, beef burger, sausage, and so on. These were all priced at £5. There was a good choice of beers on tap which on this occasion were Legend of Hillside, Butcombe, Gloucester Gold, Tribute, Dartmoor Jail Ale along with Independence and Nova from the Bristol Beer Factory. A smaller bar counter in the other room added Wickwar Star to the line-up. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold and Stowford Press.