Brewhouse & Kitchen, Cheltenham

This branch of Brewhouse & Kitchen is situated in the lively Brewery Quarter area of town. This large retail/entertainment area is on the site of the former Flowers/Whitbread brewery. The pub/restaurant enjoys a prominent corner location and despite the cold weather, there were a few people sat outside where there is a good view of the area's comings and goings. It's certainly a lively area on a Saturday evening. Once inside, there is a podium in front of you. We stated that we only wanted a drink and were directed to sit at some high stools next to some beer barrels. Our only other alternative was to sit oustide. Just why we couldn't sit at any of the unoccupied tables was unclear to me, especially as they remained unoccupied throughout our visit and when other drinkers were occupying similar tables. At the bar, 4 handpulls were all clipped, but 3 of them were "coming soon". The solitary real ale was therefore their Project Cask: Juicy Pale. In fairness, it was probably the best Brewhouse & Kitchen beer I have tasted. Although my experiences have generally been fairly poor. I thought it was particularly ironic that a couple of people were undergoing a tasting session with one of the "brewers". How you can do a tasting session when they only have 1 beer on for a Saturday evening is beyond me. However, on closer inspection, I could see that the brewer was dispensing keg beers for his subjects. CAMRA discounts used to be offered at this chain. When I enquired, the barmaid didn't know. She asked another guy who told her that they didn't. Whether it is just this branch that has stopped, whether the chain has stopped them completely or whether (more likely) I was being fobbed off, I'm not entirely sure. Real cider also appears to have been discontinued in all brances. The location of this Brewhouse & Kitchen will always attract many customers. Unfortunately, this means that the staff really don't seem to give two hoots, as there will always be a turnover of people ordering food and drinks and the place will probably remain profitable. However, with such lackadaisical service, I wouldn't include this in any future crawls of Cheltenham.

A very pleasant smell of beer being brewed on our visit and it was also interesting to watch a couple of brewers in their important work. I have visited a few of these outlets now and I find the beer to be very consistent and full of flavour. I went for the Colonel Jack & Tinman, which was excellent. There are now 18 Brewhouse & kitchen outlets around the country.

A new build premises in the recently developed Brewery Quarter, it’s a good sized corner plot with large windows all the way around to make the most of the somewhat limited outlook. As is the case in the company’s other outlets, the brew kit features prominently and there were a number of large copper vessels lined up in the window. Being a new build, it follows the usual rather formulaic style having an open ceiling with all the services such as cable trays and air conditioning ducting clearly on display, although there is a small section of exposed brickwork in one corner – it looks a bit of a token effort though, to be honest. An open fire pit with a copper chimney hood above was an interesting feature, and a number of pieces of pipework and gauges were dotted around, although these were decorative rather than functional I’m sure despite the presence of the brewery onsite. Flooring was mostly wood strip with some chequered tiling by the bar counter, and a number of old drinks bottles had bene pressed in to use as lamp shades. A mezzanine level was at one end which could apparently be used for private functions, and below this was a large hatch in to the kitchen. A number of board games were stacked on a shelf, as well as a selection of earthenware pots, and so on. Seating was a mixture of high tables and stools, regular tables and chairs and padded benches in booths. Beers on tap were all their own and on this occasion included Winter Warmer, Badas, Landed Eagle, Brillig, Colonel Jack, Tin Man and Crystal Rock. There were also a few further keg options, and although I didn’t note all these they did include Wild Beer, Beavertown and Sam Adams. Ciders meanwhile were Aspall’s Suffolk, Orchard Pig Reveller and Orchard Pig Ginger & Chilli. Although not your traditional style pub, I thought this was a decent enough spot for a pint and although we didn’t eat on this occasion, I have done so in both their Bristol and Gloucester outlets and always found it to be pretty good.