I'm in with the inn crowd
By Kate Simon
I went to an interesting seminar last week, Profitable Beds, hosted by Stay In A Pub, a collection promoting quality inns with rooms, and supported by Visit Britain, the British tourist authority. The audience of publicans and other organisations gathered to hear the findings of the 2023 Pub Accommodation Report – appropriately, upstairs at Fuller’s pub with rooms the Counting House in London.
It seems the future is bright for pub stays. We punters perceive pubs with rooms as good value, characterful and atmospheric, and publicans are continuing to win us over by investing in their properties and standards of hospitality. Pubs come second only to hotels as our preferred choice of accommodation to book, and we stay in them for a variety of purposes.
So it shouldn’t take too much more persuasion to get heads on beds. But among the lessons to be learned by pubs, it seems, are higher-profile websites with more information and better images, good deals, and incentives and technology that will encourage direct bookings. These ways to tempt us in are surely positives from both the pub’s and the guest’s point of view.
I’m a fan. A top-quality pub with rooms is what I look for first when planning a road trip. Generally, they can be found in a convenient place to break a journey, with good food and drink just steps from the duvet. And, increasingly, I find that rooms in pubs can be as fancy as any comparably priced hotel and as reliable as any chain motel.
Among my favourites is the Bear’s Paw (pictured) near Sandbach in Cheshire, a short drive from Junction 17 of the M6. The restored Victorian inn is set in a quiet hamlet through which flows the River Wheelock.
Inside, the atmosphere is of a relaxed country-house library (where talking is allowed), with book-stacked shelves to browse and comfy armchairs to sink into with your chosen read. The gastropub-style menu is consistently good (check out the Paw’s renowned steak and ale pie), with local brews including Beartown. And the staff are genuinely welcoming to dogs, so a wag of the tail, too, from Diggle, our well-travelled Staffy.
The Crown & Anchor at Ham, where Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire meet, close to Junction 14 of the M4, proved another good choice when we decided to break a long drive from Pembrokeshire to London. Created from two old cottages, the pub stands at the heart of this very pretty village in the North Wessex Downs. Its cosy oak-panelled lounge is more than inviting, and Diggle quickly found a spot on the flagstone floor in front of the fire.
The bedrooms here are among the best dressed I’ve come across and reveal someone has a tasteful eye as well as an understanding of how to make guests feel truly comfortable (locally made 100 Acre Apothecary products in the bathrooms, nice touch). Choices on the menu such as venison tartare confirm the kitchen has the flair to offer more than a decent beer-battered fillet of fish.
We’ll be back. But then, the Stay In A Pub report confirms that those of us who have tried a pub are likely to return. After all, watering holes with rooms have been around since Joseph wet the baby’s head with a drop of Adam’s Ale. There’s no reason why they won’t be going strong for the next millennia or two.
Phil’s beer notes
One advantage pubs with rooms have over hotels is that the beer tends to be better. It’s not easy to get to, but one of my favourites is the Driftwood Spars in St Agnes on the north coast of Cornwall. Enthusiastically run by Louise Treseder for many years now, it’s not only in an idyllic spot with a harbour and a sandy beach, it has got its own brewery.
On the other side of the country, the Anchor at Walberswick is a fabulous place to stay, across the river from Southwold. Local brewer Adnams, naturally, provides most of the pouring beers and a brilliant bottled beer list adds another 100 choices, all expertly curated by Mark Dorber, the man who used to run the cellar at the legendary White Horse, Parsons Green.
Visiting Bronte country? It has to be the Fleece in Haworth’s cobbled high street with its flagstone floors and traditional Yorkshire atmosphere. Not forgetting the full range of Timothy Taylor ales on the hand pumps – there’s more than Landlord up here.
And if you’re down in the Smoke, you can stay with Big Smoke Brew Co at its buzzing pub in Hammersmith, the Prince of Wales, and gaze in awe at the enormous beer range on the taps. You won’t feel intimidated, though, the friendly staff are trained to help you choose.