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Detail Pages
The Railway Inn, Glastonbury
Meare
Postal town: Glastonbury
BA6 9SX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Railway Inn
As described by Blackthorne, below, this remote, ramshackle pub has the outlook and feel of a shanty town watering hole, in a very positive way indeed. The road to get to it is hazardous – the surface is broken and very uneven, and it really feels like you’re entering a hillbilly town from the 1930s. There is a gravel car park and a large, uneven lawned garden with broken trucks, wooden seats and strange ornaments. There is no pretence here – it’s basic, genuine and thoroughly enjoyable. The staff and locals were very welcoming, the woodburner provided a welcome relief from the cold outside. Dogs were welcomed, children were well behaved. One ale on, Proper Job, which was in perfect condition, and another dry pump on the bar. Food was basic but reasonably priced, and it included ice cream from the fridge in the bar. If you’re not in a hurry and aren’t in a low-slung sports car it’s worth finding, but don’t stray off the road unless you are adept at playing the banjo.
On 1st March 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3285 recommendations about 3250 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Railway Inn
A traditional and unspoilt country pub located a mile or so away from the village, it’s amazing that it has managed to survive when there are so few houses in the vicinity and it has resisted the temptation to go down the gastropub route. The front of the pub faces away from the car park, and if you approach from this angle it appears to form the end of a row of whitewashed stone cottages, with a couple of them presumably having been knocked together at some point. Approaching from the car park on the other hand, it looks a little ramshackle with a lean to extension an outside toilet block. There is both a small garden at the front of the pub and a much larger one adjacent to the car park, the latter of which included a couple of unusual sculptures.
Internally the pub is an L-shape room with the bar counter at the corner to serve both halves. The cosier part is the leg facing the road, and this was quite traditional in appearance with red pattered carpet on the floor, a few beams on the ceiling and a large stone fire place with a wood burning stove blazing away and a pile of logs stacked up next to it. Plenty of horse brasses were dotted around the fireplace, as well as a few brass plates hung above it. Coloured fairly lights were draped from all the beams. To the left of the fire was a darts board, and to the right a TV screen which was showing the motor racing. I’m not normally a fan of TV’s in pubs, but in this case it somehow just emphasised the feeling that this was very much a community local’s sort of pub, with a noticeboard of local events reinforcing this.
Besides the fairy light, various other nic nacs were hanging from the beams, and these included an old oil can, leather belts and an old air horn, as well as various other indeterminate objects, perhaps farming related. A fruit machine was opposite the fire, and next to this an ice cream freezer which seemed rather unusual, but is perhaps there for the benefit of the many cyclists that that the area attracts. A couple of shelves running around the perimeter housed an extensive collection of china tea pots and chocolate branded mugs. The other half of the “L” looks as though it may perhaps be an old skittle alley, and indeed there was still a chalk score board up on the wall.
Beers on tap were Dark Vader and Cheddar Ales Potholer, whilst ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Haze, Natch and Addlestones, All in all, whilst perhaps not having quite the same cosy charm as some country pubs, I thought this was a great spot with it’s traditional and unspoilt ambience, and well worth seeking out.
On 17th November 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]