Greyfriars Hotel, Colchester

This is very much a hotel bar rather than your traditional pub, although it is nonetheless open to non-residents. There is a terrace at the rear which is a pleasant enough spot, although much of the outlook is of the car park. The main bar is quite an elegant room with a polished wood floor, blue patterned wallpaper and cornice work around the top of the walls. A stone fireplace was off to one side with a large oil painting hung above it. Seating was predominantly Chesterfield style arm chairs with a few high chairs at the bar. Slightly smaller drawing rooms were off to either side, broadly similar in terms of décor although one of them had burnt orange paintwork and a TV screen. Unfortunately there were no ales on tap, real or otherwise. First impressions suggest that there was no draught drinks at all, but there were in fact a couple of taps hidden behind the bar counter dispensing Peroni and Meantime London lager. Not being inclined to try either of these, we opted for cocktails and of the six we sampled between us (on two separate visits!), all were pretty good, especially the Fish House Punch and Orange Sevilla. This is certainly not going to appeal to the pub aficionado, but if you fancy a cocktail or some spirits in more refined surroundings, I’d definitely give it a go. We also stayed here and can recommend both the hotel and the restaurant.