Canal Tavern — Restaurant in England

My wife booked a family lunch at The Canal Tavern (Bradford on Avon) on 25th October 2025. We arrived on time and were greeted warmly by a friendly barmaid who provided excellent initial service. Unfortunately, everything after that went downhill.

It took 30 minutes after ordering to be told my chosen dish (scampi) wasn’t available as there wasn't enough for a single portion, despite our being the only table in the pub when we arrived at 12.30. The replacement meal — an all-day breakfast — was poorly presented, with cold toast, reheated beans, and missing items. The rest of the food although fairly tasty, was served in disjointed stages, with some of our party finishing before others had even been served.

We had ordered garlic bread, Our “garlic bread” turned out to be toasted burger buns with cheese, as they didn't have any off that either — sent out without checking if this was acceptable. When issues were raised, the waitress/supervisor repeatedly blamed the kitchen, and management made no effort to apologise or resolve anything that was raised.

The worst part came at payment: as I arrived at the bar to pay the supervisor immediately left and hid in the kitchen, leaving the young barmaid that greeted us to handle the situation alone. Totally unprofessional and lacking in basic leadership. I made sure that I apologised to the young barmaid and made it clear that she should not have been left to deal with a situation a manager should off had the courage to do so.

A lovely venue let down by chaotic service, poor food quality, and absent management. One of the most disappointing dining experiences we’ve...

Turned up hoping for some proper pub comfort food. First choice was sausage and mash – classic, right? Wrong. Apparently, the chef had declared war on mashed potatoes that day, so it was “sausage and roasties only.” A pub without mash is like a pub without beer – unacceptable.

So I switched to mac and cheese. What arrived was… well, I’m not sure I can legally call it mac and cheese. Imagine a watery mustard soup with three bits of sad pasta floating around, desperately trying to escape. There was about as much cheese in it as there is honesty in politics. It looked like it had been made by someone who once saw a picture of mac and cheese on Google Images and thought, “Yeah, I can wing that with a packet sauce.”

The taste? If you’ve ever wondered what disappointment mixed with school canteen mustard powder feels like, this is the dish for you. The pasta was drowning, the sauce was tragic, and I left wondering if I’d accidentally been part of a hidden camera show.

Polite staff, yes. Edible food? Debatable. If I’m ever back, it’ll only be to order a drink strong enough to erase the memory of that “mac and cheese.”

⭐ out of 5. Would only recommend if your enemy asks you for a...

After a bad experience at this pub about 4 year's ago with our food order not being processed as ticket was left on the bar and didn't reach the kitchen as the female bar person was to busy being chatted up by a bloke at the bar and then when questioned about where I food was after an hour!!!! Another person came up to our table to apologize and then informed us that what we had ordered they had run out. Anyway after it was recommended by another friend it was under new management I decided to take a friend there yesterday evening for a meal although I had been informed by a friend who visited the pub a couple of weeks ago that the service was a bit slow after 45 minutes I went to the bar to check on our food order only to find the the guy that took our food and drink order forgot to take the order to the kitchen and it was sitting still on the bar! I just couldn't believe that this happened again and thought better of the pub being under new management so asked for a full refund which also took some time as a manager wasn't on site so they had to ring them before they could give me a refund. To top it all who says lightning dosent strike in the same...