Cross Guns Avoncliff — Restaurant in England

Terrible experience. Finally a spring day - with lovely sunshine. So set off as a family on the canal walk from Bradford on Avon to the cross guns. We sat down at one of the tables at the river front. Smell of sewage drifting by every so often which was unpleasant, possibly something to do with how full the river is?? Not sure - but not a nice welcome to a pub really. Picked up a menu. Very very limited menu !! And extremely overpriced. Only one meal option for vegetarians - a vegan burger at £16! Kind of ridiculous for a pub. We ordered some chips (we did want cheesy chips but £2 extra for a bit of cheese is just crazy if you ask me so we just stuck to plain chips). As far as we could tell, there was no childrens menu at all. Which is really unusual for a pub with that sort of typically family-orientated location. The options for beer on tap were minimal and disappointing. No decent premium lager on tap at all. There was a very noisy big party of people right next to us, very rowdy and seemed totally unaware of others around them. A few of them let their dogs off the lead and so my children couldn’t even leave the table - as they feel a bit unsure around jumpy excitable unleashed dogs. There really needs to be some signage instructing customers to keep dogs on leads. Honestly it was chaos. The chips were undercooked, and just typical Wetherspoon quality chips. We did actually order skinny fries! These were definitely NOT skinny fries. So maybe they just don’t do skinny fries anymore? And haven’t bothered to update the menu? At £4 per portion it’s all just woefully unacceptable really. Overall - the experience was dismal and disappointing; sewage smell that comes and goes depending on direction of wind, limited overpriced unaccommodating menu, rowdy customers with dogs off leads, substandard food. 1 pint of Tunnel Vision, 1 apple Frobishers (tasted a bit off to be honest! Not sure if it had been stored incorrectly?), 3 portions chips, 3 mini tubs of marshfield ice cream = £28. Seems extortionate for the overall experience and quality (lack thereof!). Plastic cutlery packaged in plastic packaging - Very very odd for a pub! Not sure what the owners are thinking with this.

It is all a real shame because the location and setting is so lovely, but clearly the owners just rely on the location alone for attracting customers rather than an actual decent customer experience. Resting on their laurels! It could and should be one of the best pubs around. Such a lot of wasted potential. We certainly will not be back unless drastic...

Whilst it's improved in outlook, with a make over of the out doors eating tables and general layout. There remain issues with this place.

Food ordering is at the bar. Thus a long queue forms.

People wishing to have a drink or food or both have that long queue to sustain.

Their kitchen is small and is not able to deliver promptly at busy times.

All food orders, no matter how simple, are all made up in line. Thus yesterday we had a 40 minute wait for just a portion of chips.

The prices have gone up and a small portion of chips, delivered with little perfunctory apology is £3.

The out doors toilets are dull, dark, small and smell.

The additional hut serving coffee and baked items is a useful addition, but we did not look at their prices.

Whilst the location is great, this great old pub may have lost it's way in trying to extract as much cash as it can from it's customers.

If cycling towards Bradford on Avon, my suggestion to cyclists or walkers is to keep on walking / cycling for another 15 minutes and upon arrival at Bradford on Avon there are a string of good value eating and drinking places.

We have been comming here for over 5 years, however, here on in, we won't eat here again; poor service, perfunctory apology for long wait and premium prices for...

I've lived in Bradford for 10 years and have only just gotten around to visiting the Cross Guns. Came a couple of weeks ago just for a drink and was very impressed with the covid safety measures put in place. Went on a bike ride with my son today and we stopped at the Cross Guns for lunch. Very limited menu (no bad thing imo) of fish and chips, pie or a spelt salad. I had the pie and my son had fish and chips. Both were delicious. I've seen a few reviews kicking around about how the pies are obviously pukka pies. NO THEY ARE NOT!! They are clearly homemade pies, very big and deep filled. I had the steak and ale pie and it was hands down one of the best pies I've ever had. And the chips were amazing. The staff are very friendly, especially the chef (think he was Spanish), who was very keen for me to come and tell him what I thought of the food, which of course I did. Very pretty location down by the river. All in all a lovely visit, a million times better than that train wreck down the towpath (Lock Inn - avoid...