The Old Prison — Restaurant in Cotswold District

We had such high hopes of this place having seeing it at Christmas when we were staying nearby. It was closed for refurbishment at the time.

We stopped here in preference to a very good Bistro/coffee shop in Northleach as we were so intruiged by the look of the building.

The main issue was the lack of interest from the young people serving. The lack of attention continued to the outside garden area which had the potential to be really good. It looked as though a coach party had just been there as the table and chairs were in disarray and there was used crockery on the tables. The staff inside the cafe/restaurant made no effort whatsoever to clear the tables and replace the chairs.

I looked at the snack and, as I am dairy free, asked what they had that I could have. Again the response was lacklustre. Even so I chose a flapjack and it was very good.

Lastly, the coffee, tea and one flapjack were VERY expensive - probably the most expensive I've ever experienced.

Regarding the displays around the garden, it was unclear that they had to do with a prison (more on that shortly) as it seemed to be farming and blacksmith displays.

Regarding it being a prison, I would say that originally this was more likely a Courthouse with maybe 2 or 3 cells. It's far too small to.have been a prison and there's little evidence of the security that would be necessary in a prison - even at that time in the past.

A very disappointing experience. Oh and the gent's toilet was out of action with a sign to use the women's facility.

Needs interested and committed staff as a...

Just visited and I had to check out other customers reviews to see if I was being picky or this place is as poor as I experienced. On entry we were completely ignored and it wasn’t clear how to order or where to get a menu from. When we eventually sat down and got a menu from the counter the menu looked good for breakfast with numerous options. I placed our order at the counter for a farmers breakfast and poached egg and avocado and a side order of bacon. We had 2 latte’s which arrived which were cold. At this point I didn’t want to complain as they were free lattes for signing up to the web site. We had one of the vibrating devices to alert us to when our food was ready to collect. Ironically the lady behind the counter half heartedly announced our breakfast was sitting waiting to collected from the pass. What the purpose of the vibrating thing was I don’t know as it didn’t vibrate to tell us the breakfast was ready. I collected the food from the counter and my wife noticed she hadn’t got Avocado as she ordered. She went to enquire and was told that despite ordering avocado it wasn’t part of the order ? Very confusing. Both breakfasts must have sat for a while as both were cold. It’s a real shame as the food quality was good but the service and attention to detail was really poor. Very disappointed and reading others peoples reviews we weren’t alone in our dissatisfaction. A proper overhaul of the team is needed to get this place up to a...

The single worst experience I have ever had at a cafe. Went in and ordered two full English, a toastie, and drinks. Waited about 15 minutes for drinks to arrive, which were warm at best. Waited another 15 minutes for food… only the toastie arrived, which is great. Everyone wants to eat at different times in a group, right!? We then waited about 30 minutes for the full English, but nothing arrived. When we questioned it the chef said he didn’t have any order with full English - he did, he just hadn’t been given it. We then watched on as he did anything but make a start on our breakfast. By this point we’d been there over an hour and watched numerous tables complain or request a refund. We decided enough was enough and asked for a refund. The money was quite literally chucked at me by the young bloke serving. It is beyond disgraceful how this once great cafe is now being run. To top things off, the gent’s loo was out of order so we had to use the disabled toilet. No issue with that, other than the fact it was dirty and messy, including cleaning products being left out all over the place such as a spray bottle left on the sink. There were about 8-10 tables occupied whilst we were there, and I would say at least 4-5 of these complained or requested refunds. Genuinely, please stay away from this place until the owners pull their fingers out - it is a genuine disgrace! If I could give this a real review it would...