ReviewIn the heart of the Lakeside town of Bowness on Windermere is The New Hall Inn, seemingly better known to all and sundry ( and referred to as such in most guide books ) as The Hole in t’Wall, situated down a side road off the main road, but nevertheless easy to find.
As we approach, we see, high up on the external wall by the entrance, a fascia board telling us that it dates back to 1612 and that “it’s the oldest tavern in Bowness, frequented by Charles Dickens”. One wonders how long it took the said Mr Dickens to get here from London, without the benefit of the fast cars and the motorway network that we take for granted nowadays. We also see advertised “Hartleys finest draught ale as brewed since 1780”, which is of course not the case anymore. We learn that one Thomas Longmire, a champion wrestler of his time, was landlord between 1852 and 1862.
The entrance features a triangular entrance porch, akin to entering a church and similar gothic style features are noticeable inside – namely some woodwork forming part of the bar counter and a strikingly decorative ceiling just inside on the right.
The main bar area is traditionally furnished with a collection of chamber pots suspended from the ceiling, stuffed animal heads, a fine ornate fireplace and a comfortable, cosy, slightly old fashioned feel. It’s quite narrow in places directly in front of the bar. Reflecting this, people are discouraged from bringing buggies and prams in. Pleasingly, and definitely unusual in my experience to date of The Lake District, dogs have to remain outside.
Down a few steps on the right hand side is The Old Smithy Bar, featuring dark black beams, boarded wood panelling, a collection of plates on a high shelf, stone flagged floors, some old settles and red velour bar stools. Above a fireplace, we see an inscription in old style lettering telling us that “The blacksmith he did sweat in here and slake his thirst on Hartleys Beer”. This part of the pub was a former smithy which subsequently became part of the pub premises. The name “Hole in t’wall” refers to just that – a gap in the dividing wall through which the landlord would pass drinks to the smithy as he toiled away. This room also features a couple of fine large old style black and white photos of an elderly, distinguished looking couple, unnamed anywhere, but who I presume would have been Mr Smithy and his missus. Some old equipment hangs down from the ceiling. This room has a very small curved bar counter in one corner of the room, but, perhaps surprisingly, this remained unstaffed during my several recent mid – September visits, necessitating people to use the main bar to get drinks and place food orders. The Old Smithy Bar is the much nicer room of the two, but I got the distinct impression that management preferred people to use the larger, main, top bar.
There’s a fine seating area outside at the front, inevitably popular in the better weather.
Like most Lake District pubs that I visited during my September 2014 trip to the area, a major part of the trade is catering for the hordes of visitors and holidaymakers to the area – this means meals ( both lunchtime and evening ) with drinkers very much secondary. Had I rigorously applied my strict 3 minute service standard, I doubt that I would have successfully managed to get a drink in this pub. As we all know, it’s very frustrating waiting for people to finish placing food orders, particularly when half of them don’t appear to have made their mind up what they want. If you’re not dining, a more enjoyable visit can be had if you visit later ( generally 9.30 pm onwards ) when food orders have finished and the locals start to come into their own. Reflecting this, the pub was advertising live music on Fridays at 9pm. Sundays, between 12 and 5 pm sees the appearance of “Stan the Man “, who, was described to me as something of a local celebrity, and, who, is apparently “unmissable”. I did miss him as I was elsewhere on Sunday.
A former Hartleys pub, it’s now of course a Robinsons outlet. Beers on were Unicorn, Dizzy Blonde, Double Hop and Hartleys XB, of which the latter - £ 3.35p – was pretty good, and seemed to outsell the other beers.
This is a fine, characterful pub, which, despite my uncharacteristic grumblings above, I very much enjoyed visiting. Well worth seeking out when in the area
