The Congresbury Arms — Restaurant in England

We stayed here before an early flight - it was great to find somewhere that did food and a place to stay for ease.

The good - The pub itself is nice - very clean and a really nice restaurant. The food is exceptional and imo very well priced for the quality and amount. The staff that served us were also really lovely and attentive and made us feel really welcome. The room itself (axbridge) was lovely, clean, personalised welcome with sweets, nuts and water and the fan was really welcome too. We didn't find the room too noisy (despite close proximity to the busy road).

The bad - We got ourselves an early night And headed to bed - at around 1130pm our door was opened, using a key, fairly forcefully, by a lady who shouted, with her key fully in the door. My husband shouted woah back, as it woke us up with a start, she fumbled, pulled the key out the lock and ran off.

The pub downstairs was locked up in darkness and there was no sign of the lady. Safe to say, with no way of locking the door from the inside, or anything to put in front of the door neither of us slept much.

We left at 430am the next day with the door to the road open, again. At this point we didn't know where the lady had gone or if she was even a guest.

The ugly I called the pub after landing for our trip later on in the day and spoke with somebody at the pub. After i explaind very briefly what happened She opened with 'oh yeah I heard about that'. I asked what she knew and she explained an 'inebriated young lady' just put the 'tip' of the key in the door and it just somehow opened. For me, it's a massive safety concern but the lady at the other end quite honestly could not have cared less. The conversation went from bad to worse - it began with the lady from the pub saying 'well fix it', to then 'we have a locksmith right now', the girl didn't mean any harm, she had had a few drinks, she didn't know which room she was meant to be in. Although the conversation was polite I did end the call feeling really concerned for safety and a little perplexed.

We did visit the pub again today on our way home, to put our minds at rest. We managed to speak to the same lady but where the same themes were repeated from the phone call and we found out the lady was a guest from another room on the other side of the pub. sadly, we feel no more confident that this issue has been resolved by the pub.

We were advised the locks had been changed and they would put a sign on the front door.

However, If different keys can open different rooms then your belongings certainly aren't safe, if the door to the street can be left open so easily, again your things and person aren't safe. It doesn't bear thinking about if that inebriated lady had let herself into the room of somebody not so nice. Or if somebody had let themselves in on her or if there were children in the room.

An apology was not easily forthcoming and wouldn't cover the situation - it felt much like speaking a different language and sadly, would discourage anybody from staying here, and that is with sadness given...

So, as a local to the pub, we have been going there for a number of years, mainly after work, we run a car sales down the road, on Saturday the 17th, we decided to go to the pub garden and have a drink which as mentioned, we do quite regularly, usually during the summer months.

We were in the queue at the outside bar, to which we were told ‘sorry chaps, someone will be out to serve you in around 5 minutes’

2 of us decided to venture into the building and order drinks to save time, the very nice lady behind the bar had started to complete our order, unbeknownst to my friends at the bar, myself and my other friend had been asked to leave due to being in ‘workwear’….before we ordered we did read the new signs that did in fact mention ‘workwear’ was not to be worn in the garden or inside the building….now I totally understand this is a nice establishment, with a nice ‘upmarket feel’

However, this is where the issue is, our ‘workwear’ is a Black Immaculate polo shirt, smart shorts and regular black trainers….arguably a lot more presentable than many of other customers that we have seen previously in the pub garden.

I do understand the reasoning behind the policy, but….if we were mechanics covered in oil, decorators covered in paint or plumbers covered in dirty horrible smelly water I wouldn’t argue….but we were essentially dressed in your ‘smart casual’ dress code….yet because we have a logo of our small local business….we were asked to leave?

Absolutely ridiculous, please give this feedback to whoever felt it was necessary to turf us out without using any...

We were visiting our daughter and stayed for two nights at the Congresbury Arms. Staff were really welcoming, and check-in was easy, with all the information you'd need, but there was a lovely personalised note in our room in case there was anything we'd forgotten. We had a large room with lounge area (Cheddar) which overlooked the main street, but it was never noisy despite being close to a main junction, which is pretty much deserted at night. There was a kettle and tea and coffee, plus biscuits, and you could get fresh milk from the bar downstairs, which came in a little flask so it would keep overnight if necessary. Because the building is so old, the floor is a little uneven, which adds to the charm, even if it took a bit of getting used to when getting out of bed! The bathroom (shower only, and very good) was modern, clean and uncluttered, with good lighting and ventilation, and very nice toiletries were provided. There's a hairdryer too. Breakfasts were a real highlight - a wide menu of cooked food, plus cereal, compote and yoghurt. The pancakes with berries were a great start to the day, and we were so impressed on the first morning that we collected our daughter early the next morning so she could experience one of the excellent cooked breakfast options too. Check-out was friendly and efficient, and we were even sent off with local bottled water for the journey home. There is reserved guest parking in the large car park, and you can walk out from the hotel to the recreation park on the neighbouring riverbank. We have already booked...