The Crown at Wells, Wells

Well described by others, below, this former coaching inn feels like something is missing. On entering we were functionally shepherded to a table rather than being allowed to order at the bar, the staff seeing us more as an inconvenience than as customers. Two taps on the bar were dispensing Tall Tales Pale Ale and a keg cider. Ales appeared from elsewhere; these were Potholer from Cheddar, Doombar and Butcombe Original. I had the Potholer, which was in poor condition and took a long time to arrive at the table. It feels more like a cheap café than a pub, certainly not an enjoyable place to spend any time

Arguably Wells’ most prominent pub thanks to its location on the Market Square, this is a very large, rambling traditional inn with many different rooms to explore. You enter via a central passageway which leads you past the hotel reception desk and what appeared to be a bar or maybe hotel restaurant through a doorway to the right. Pub goers are directed to the far end of the passageway, where another door leads you into a rear room which was already full when we arrived, resulting in us turning left where several more seating areas can be found. The first of these is a rather nice, relaxed feeling dining space with bare boards and a grand fireplace on the end wall, all furnished with simple tables and chairs. From here you can head back towards the front of the building, where you’ll find the main bar area, with the servery on the back wall and long banquettes with dated upholstery around the perimeter, including in the large front bay windows. The walls are fairly plain, with some odd bits of breweriana providing most of the visual distraction, although there is also a framed stab-vest on display, which is a prop from the movie Hot Fuzz. The Crown was used as a filming location for this movie – a fact that is further attested to by a photo of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright all stood behind the bar. The servery has a modern tongue and groove panelled counter and well stocked, mirrored bar back and moves through to the front central section of this side of the pub, accessed via a single step down into this stone-floored space. Comfy tub chairs and more banquettes are available, but it’s otherwise a fairly open plan and uninteresting spot which was the last area to fill up on our mid-week evening visit. Steps over to the left take you up into a raised side room of sorts with rough stonework walls and some standard table and chair seating, although the Covid restrictions in place at the time of my visit prevented me from having a proper look around this side of the pub. Music played quietly in the background during our time here and the pub slowly filled up as the evening progressed, despite the chatty barmaid’s frustrations at having had several pre-booked parties not turn up (to her credit, she was quick to give these reserved tables to other punters rather than turning good custom away). The fact that the pub is still drawing good crowds meant they were able to keep four ales on the bar – Sharps Doom Bar, Cheddar Ales Crown & Glory, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Butcombe Original. I tried the Original which was in excellent shape and the Crown & Glory which was very tasty and also in good nick. We also enjoyed some food here and found generous, high quality portions of some pub classics. This is an interesting pub which really needs more flexibility to be able to properly explore all the various rooms than is afforded by the present Covid protocols. I found some of the rooms were quite cosy whilst others were a little devoid of character and perhaps the place relies a little too heavily on its prime location for passing trade rather than establishing a genuine reputation. Having said that, the food and beer we tried was all very good and I’d put this high on my list for a revisit if intended to dine out in Wells again.