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The Fire Station, Cheltenham
Cheltenham
GL50 3PU
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Fire Station
Quirky conversion of a fire station. 2 real ales and food.
On 12th March 2020
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Fire Station
Three ales on handpump West Berkshire Good Old Boy, Prescott Winter Ale and Purity Mad Goose. The main feature is original fire engine shed, which has been converted into the main bar area, along with the original bare brick walls and an added rustic looking timber boarded floor. The curved shaped timber bar counter also added interest, along with the high shelved back bar and the sliding brass and timber ladder. The staff were friendly and helpful. The Purity Mad Goose was in excellent condition.
On 1st March 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Fire Station
A somewhat unusual venue, located, as it’s name suggests, in an old fire station, the right hand part of the pub is the former engine house with the large arched doors still in place at the front, and this looks to have been joined on to an older town house next door by means of a glass building and thus the pub now consists of three parts. The central glass section had an upstairs seating area which must be a pleasant spot in the warmer weather, whilst the older section to the left looked a little more elegant.
We opted for the old engine shed as that looked to be the main part of the pub and also had the most character. In many ways it has probably changed little from when it was used for housing fire engines, with exposed brick walling and an arched wooden roof which had been painted white, although clearly the wood strip floor is new. A long bar counter was off to the right and this included a ladder to access the large array of spirits stored at the top. A shelf running along the back of the pub housed an extensive array of pot plants. Seating was a mixture of padded benches around much of the perimeter as well as high tables and chairs.
The menu offered a decent enough looking selection of dishes, perhaps a step or two up from your normal pub grub, although still including options such as a burger or fish & chips as well as some more adventurous options. I went for the smoked haddock fish cakes topped with a poached egg and served on a bed of spinach. This was, as far as I could tell, perfectly ok, although the large quantity of spinach really over shadowed the fish cake, so it was a little difficult to tell what it was like. What I could tell is that a side order of chips tasted quite stale, whether they had just been hanging around a long time or cooked in old oil I’m not sure, but they were well past their best. Prices seemed not unreasonable at first glance with the fish cakes coming in at £10.50 for example, but by the time you’ve included the side order of chips and a 12½% service charge (really?) it came to over £15, which was way too much for what we got.
Despite four hand pumps on the bar, one appeared unused and the Prescott Season’s Best had run out, leaving just Purity and West Berkshire’s Yule Fuel. The solitary cider meanwhile was Symonds Founders Reserve. I really wanted to like this pub due to it’s quirky setting, but other than the friendly staff I can find few other positives. Certainly, the food, prices and disappointing drinks selection all conspired against it and I won’t be in any rush to revisit.
On 1st January 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Komakino . left this review about The Fire Station
A funky bar conversion of (surprise, surprise) a former fire station, and is all exposed brick and wooden floorboards internally. I was actually quite impressed with this place: outside of Cheltenham's main centre streets, packed on an early Friday evening with Cheltenham's beautiful people and with a pretty decent range of ales - Gloucester Cascade, West Berks Mr Swift's Pale Ale, Hillside Legless Cow and Purity's Mad Goose. There's also some keg stuff on tap (the Fourpure Oatmeal Stout was decent) and some crafty bottles in the fridge as you would expect on both counts. Although there are spirits behind the bar, some of their rarer cousins are located on two shelves high above the bar, which are accessed via a librarian's rolling ladder - bet that pisses them off when it's busy. They also do food, and as you'd expect it's all rather poncey. Worth a visit, but image-wise, probably one to leave the rucksack at home for.
On 30th July 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1074 recommendations about 1074 pubs]