The Great Western — Restaurant in England

In recent years, this place has changed from a small local Pub with lots of storage space and a large garden, to a larger Pub & café with a good-sized carpark and a riverside-feel Beer garden, except the river is a railway cutting. They absolutely do not claim a river - it just feels like that sort of setting.

The café part has a separate entrance, at the back on a lower level, opening into the carpark, and it's open much earlier than the bar. Both parts are connected internally, in an open-plan layout. The café entrance has quite an extensive porch, good for sheltering from the rain under, which is how I noticed it. I wasn't originally planning to go in, waiting instead for a lift to a large walking group. Then rain stopped play, and they all joined me instead.

There are several different seating areas; one very cosy & internal, one like a conservatory, as well as the ones surrounding the bar upstairs.

It's good for both large and small groups, and the acoustics are better than many places, in that you can still carry on nearby conversations without being drowned out by hubbub.

One thing which did strike me, was the hot drinks are not served burning hot, so they're drinkable immediately: You don't have the thing where you order a fancy espresso variant, then have to let it sit for half an hour for it to cool down. This happens so often in other places, I've started carrying a little bottle of water around with me, to force-cool drinks. I didn't have to use it here. They'll also happily serve a normal white/black Coffee, without insisting on calling it a flat white...

Unfortunately, this place seems to have gone badly downhill. The food was fine, it's good "pub-grub". Service was poor at times. Staff were often sitting out the front instead of manning the bar. The worst thing is the clientele, "Club 18 -30's," plus unsupervised kids. Loud and foul language. There were very young children running, screaming between bars and outside, even out the front by the busy road. Overall, this was not a pleasant experience. I did not enjoy my meal with the noisy kids and bad language. It's such a shame the current landlord has let this place become what it is. A rough Weatherspoons without the cheap beer.

I was pleased to visit again after hearing there had been a complete change in management. The new managers are really welcoming and friendly. There was no sign of the "bad eggs," the customers that made a visit so unpleasant. The kitchen was undergoing a refurb, so I can't comment, other than they have a good selection of behind the bar snacks. So nice to see this lovely pub in...

We popped down to The Great Western for a surprise 90th Birthday meal for Mother in law.Havnt been since it was under the old management. Bobby was happy to fit us in and was very friendly as was the chef.We took along a cake which they were more than happy to sort at the end of the meal.After a major dip the Pub is at the top of its game again friendly and welcoming and the food is excellent quality and very reasonably priced food drinks and few starters along with the mains for under £100.We were all happy with the quality of the food and presentation and no one left hungry.I would highly recommend a visit to The Great Western in my old home town it has improved immeasurably we will definitely be back .Thanks to all for a great...