Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Cavern of the Curious Gnome, Chester
Chester
CH1 1NW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
Not easy to find,head up the steps to the gallery level Paysan wine bar,enter then go up their stairs to the pub section set in a baronial hall type room with a very high ceiling.Bar stools are of mushroom design and the large model of the Gnome has an illuminated critique of Putin !The vibe is Belgian beer house and there is a rank of church pew benches opposite the long bar.High on the wall is the beer and ale list ,which looks permanent but maybe can be cleverly altered as bews change.
Rock soundtrack but not too loud,juke box which is tempermental,candles give atmosphere and if you order a Belgium beer with a rare and expensive glass from the locked cabinet you will be asked to deposit a shoe in a wicker basket which is then hoist up to the celing to stop you doing a runner with the glass.All very Ghent !
On my trip the ale selection Was Twisted Wheel No Mikey No Chocolate Milk Stout (NBSS 4),Ossett White Rat,Chapter Taller than a House and Buxton SPA.There are 13 kegs beers,mainly Belgian and continental and a vast bottle menu of over 100,the trappist selection was not quite Bruges standard but interesting.Downstairs the Paysan wine list is also very strong.
Most likely a haunt of the craft keg brigade but the ale selection was strong enough to both justify the 2023 GBG listed and lead me to conclude this is a must visit when in Chester,dont miss out.
On 12th August 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
Up on one of the rows is Paysan wine bar, if you go through there you'll find some stairs leading up to this place. A very eclectic place, with all sorts of seating options available including toadstools. A decent jukebox and also a decent range of cask ales on the four handpumps. There's also a big sign reading "F*ck Putin". We called in here both nights of our latest visit to Chester. Sadly on the second night we decided to eat here. We shared a cheeseboard and a ham hock terrine with "gnomemade bread". It tasted fine, but we both suffered overnight with upset stomachs. As the food came up from Paysan I can't really dock points for this place. We'll call in again next time we're in Chester, but we definitely won't be eating.
Paysan isn't on this site, but as it's the same place really and shares both kitchen and toilets with here, I can't see any point in adding it as a separate entry.
On 1st November 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3223 recommendations about 3134 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rob Hunter left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
Visited on a recent Saturday evening. 4 cask + 14 keg beers to choose from. The beer list is projected onto a wall behind the bar so nice and easy to see. There are games available on the windowsill. Very busy at the time of our visit but no issues getting served and we managed to find a corner to loiter in with our drinks.
Once you realise that access is through Paysan then no issues finding the place, though it did confuse me when I was first having a mooch round Chester a few years ago trying to find it!
There is a large gnome keeping a watchful eye over the bar, and I do wonder whether the gnome came first and that's how the place got its name, or whether the name came first and the gnome was a later purchase to continue the theme! Toadstool type stools at the bar, as others have observed in previous reviews.
I like this place and would be happy to return.
On 16th March 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
a CAMRA man’s dream above a rubbish wine bar - it is indeed a nightmare to find if you haven’t been before. Four real ales were Titanic Cappuccino Stout. Beatnikz Republic 2am Poet, Oakham Citra and Anarchy Brew Co Invaders Dream (very nice). Shitloads of foreign bottles catalogued in their beer menu from countries including Austria, Norway and three pages of Belgium. i propped up the bar on a toadstool and quite took to this place despite my initial reservations about the name sounding like a terrible prog rock album.
On 1st February 2020
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
A bugger to find at the first attempt due to the 'Cavern' bit of its name. Its situated above a cafe place and even then it is above something else called Paysan, which is a cafe/wine bar thingy. Anyway you have to go into the Paysan place and up the stairs at the rear which makes this 'cavern' on the 3rd floor! Once here it is actually a decent little place. Very wooden and the bar has 4 handpulls for real ale. Beers from Titanic, Mobberley, Peerless and Salopian on on my visit. Reasonably priced and enjoyable. The bar seating consists of toadstools.
On 16th May 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
As stated by Mr Hurdle, enter through the Paysan restaurant on the first floor of the Row then upstairs at the back, look for the fancy bracket sign on the outside to guide you from street level. The reclaimed wood counter has four hand pulls, as well as a selection of founts with better European and a couple of British beers, naturally there’s an outstanding array of bottles, all is listed in a comprehensive beer menu. One wall decorated with old masters and a scary mural, the bar stools are toadstools of course. A large gnome surveys the scene from above the staircase.
On 6th May 2019
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3230 recommendations about 2939 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Hurdle left this review about The Cavern of the Curious Gnome
A new bar in the Bridge Street Rows. Mainly Belgian beers plus others from UK and other European Countries.
Above (and connected to) Paysan Wine Bar.
Enter via Paysan and go upstairs.
Three handpumps serve ales mainly from local micros.
In here they do the old custom of taking your shoe as surety when you buy a Kwak beer and raising it up to the ceiling in a basket until you return your Kwak stand.
On 14th December 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 707 recommendations about 645 pubs]