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Robert Raikes's House, Gloucester
Gloucester
GL1 2DR
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about Robert Raikes's House
Ticks all the Sam Smith’s boxes proper old style pub multi roomed & an outdoor seating area. A must visit if in area.
On 20th October 2022
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about Robert Raikes's House
10/10 for the architecture - a tudor merchants house, with all wooden paneling and little alcoves.
Sam Smiths tied house. So you know exactly what you are getting.
On 28th September 2020
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Robert Raikes's House
not your usual pub, but a lovely place - rather like drinking on a National Trust stately home, very civilised though it doesn’t quite feel right. Very friendly helpful staff though. A bit spartan in the bar with all furniture removed but the many other rooms are as majestic as ever. Sam Smiths beers, the extra stout was £3.40 for a pint. Food being served though most were drinking.
On 8th August 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Robert Raikes's House
A multi roomed pub consisting of two front rooms, a central room on the left, which was the bar area. There was another room opposite on the right and to finish a further small back room, plus a good sized lounge on the left, so a total of six rooms in all.
We took our drinks and sat in the rear lounge on the left, which had lots of painted wall panelling, painted in a Heritage red colour. The main feature in here for me was the very elaborate oak staircase leading up to the next level, which looked like a newer addition to the building, must have cost a bomb.
On 26th March 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Robert Raikes's House
An impressive looking old timbered building towards the end of Gloucester’s pedestrianised High Street, it certainly looks appealing and doesn’t disappoint once you get inside either – or at least, not perhaps until you get to the bar and find that this is a Sam Smith’s pub, with a very limited range of drinks available.
Internally it’s divided in to four smallish rooms, all broadly similar in terms of décor. Flooring was a mixture of pale coloured flagstones and sanded wooden boards, with plenty of wooden beams on the ceiling. Further supporting timberwork was inlaid in to the walls, and the leaded windows set in to stone walls at the front of the pub was an attractive feature. A large stone fireplace was off to one side, and this had a few logs blazing away in the hearth which was a welcome touch on a cold December evening. Many of the chairs were quite elaborate with ornate carved wooden back rests.
The menu looked to offer a good selection of “pub grub” dishes and was divided in to section such as pies, sandwiches, burgers, pub classics and so on, with the latter category including dishes such as lasagne, sausage & mash, scampi & chips, hunter’s chicken, and so on. Most of the main courses looked to be priced somewhere around the £8 - £9 mark.
The solitary cask ale on tap was their own Old Brewery Bitter, although there was a second pump that had it’s clip reversed. The solitary cider meanwhile was their own Reserve. Overall, a lovely pub certainly, but with the limited drinks selection, possibly not somewhere to linger for too long.
On 13th December 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Robert Raikes's House
Impressive looking (half-timbered Tudor three storey building) and obviously aged from the outside, this multi-room Sam's outlet has obviously been refurbed recently and although done sympathetically it did feel quite ‘new’. A quasi gentlemen's club feel inside with a large (if characterless) courtyard beer garden. The usual plethora of Tadcaster labelled produce including cask OBB (in so-so nick). To the rear is a large barren courtyard. It’s a decent addition to a Gloucester crawl for the novelty value.
On 14th July 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Helen Iwanczuk left this review about Robert Raikes's House
I remember visiting this place when it used to be called The Golden Cross, it was a very different place then - a favourite student haunt. Since those times, the pub has undergone a splendid restoration, I can't believe that my partner and I have only just rediscovered the place.
The food is very tasty and well presented, we intend to try every dish on the menu if we can. Every visit to Robert Raikes House is a special treat and I can't wait for the next one.
On 11th January 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 256 recommendations about 196 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Robert Raikes's House
Very impressive building, beautifully restored by Sam Smiths with quite a bit of money being donated by the National Trust. It's a bit like wandering through a museum and it was just as quiet. We called in on a Thursday evening around 8 and it was dead as a post. I had a pint of the bitter and it was well over £2, that makes it the most expensive pint of Sam Smiths I've ever had. Admittedly it's still very cheap for central Gloucester. We sat down in the front room and watched the world go by, they certainly went by rather than stopped off though. We finished our drinks and went across the road to Cafe Rene which was packed and where the beer is over £3 a pint. I don't know what that proves, but a pub needs some atmosphere to get the punters in and this place just didn't have any.
On 7th December 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Robert Raikes's House
More than adequately described by Soup Dragon and Old Boots below, so I'll just confine myself to the beer. It's disappointing that there's no real ale available here, but the Sam Smiths range of keg beers is better than tolerable. The landlord kindly pointed out that my half of Dark MILD was only £1, to which I could only reply that the last such drink I'd had in a Sam Smiths pub had set me back all of 67p. He correctly surmised that I must be from Yorkshire. I wouldn't mind a pub like this on my doorstep in Sheffield - it's like being in a museum or picture gallery, and worth every penny of the extra 33p.
On 1st November 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3746 recommendations about 3483 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about Robert Raikes's House
This is a terraced Sam Smith's pub, with patio at the back. It was the home of Sunday School founder, Robert Raikes. It is a triple gabled and triple jettied Tudor house (much altered), in white and wood. The pub has at least 6 small rooms, all with wood flooring, off a central corridor, along with a stairwell area. The first room is in red, with some red patterned sofas and comfy chairs, along with and a small fireplace and prints on the walls. The second is predominantly in wood panel, again with prints and a small fireplace. The third has the serving bar, which is in green, with prints on the walls. There is a room in red an beam walls, with samples of old wallpaper in, which has a flag floor. The front two are in green and beams, with a Tudor style brick and stone fireplace in each and have wood settles and furniture, with flag floor. There is no TV and no music. They do food at reasonable prices - we ate here and it was perfectly fine. The service was friendly and the clientele mixed - it was busy. Beer, a full range of Sam Smith's with the Dark MILD (Light MILD available at the Old Crown), which was excellent, as well as the stout. Also has bottle drinks. A nice place to visit, and worthy of doing so even if you are not a Sam Smith fan.
On 31st October 2013
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]