White Hart Hotel, Wells

An attractive looking Tudor style pub located just a short stroll from the Market Place, a sign behind the bar dates the building to 1497, and whilst it isn’t as “olde worlde” internally as you might expect, it’s nonetheless pleasant enough. It consists of two rooms along the front of the pub, the larger of the two including the bar counter to the left, and a smaller room to the right, which I may have perhaps described as a snug were it not for the TV screen on the wall showing the Grand Prix. The main bar has old wooden boards on the floor, a couple of chunky old beams on the ceiling and plain white plasterwork on the top part of the walls, with green wood panelling don below. An old fireplace was off to one side, and above this was an unusual collection of round, mirror like objects. The smaller room to the right was quite cosy other than the TV, with a brick fireplace, dark blue paintwork on the walls and a couple of bookshelves. Another room at the rear was a little lacking in atmosphere perhaps, with another TV screen on the wall and a couple of kids running around. There was an extensive selection of beers on tap, with the current choice being listed on noticeboards at either side of the bar, and a number of beer mats affixed to the wall hinting at a regular changing selection. That said, the majority were keg, despite five hand pulls on the bar the only two options currently were Lost Pier’s Lost in Strata and Uley Old Spot, with Goff’s Black Knight apparently coming soon. Keg options meanwhile were Only with Love’s Three Phase, Indie Rabble’s Brain Science and Weaponised Chaos, Uley Taverner Premium, Bristol Beer Factory Black Gates, Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropica, Lost Pier’s Wave Breaker, Arbor Mega Mosaic and Apex Cruise Control. Ciders meanwhile were Jack’s along with Sheppy’s Classic Draught and Farmhouse Medium. Unusually both ⅓ and ⅔ measures were available, as well as the more usual ½ and pint.

So it looks like this one has taken on a fairly recent new guise, as hinted at by the reviewer below. It’s an attractive old building with a Tudor-esque exterior. The interior, despite obviously being a bit ‘new’ is pleasingly basic on the whole. Greeted at the bar by a friendly twentysomething who had gone full 80’s mullet-and-‘tache combo who seemed switched-on and was happy to chat about beer, pubs and the general locale during a fairly quiet 45 minutes of trading. It has gone fairly beer-heavy in here now, with 12 keg and four cask available; my slurps of the Arbor Stout (NBSS 4) and the New Bristol Cinder Toffee (3.5) were mighty impressive and this definitely has GBG potential – according to the barman it is run by the same people (Scarlet Pubs) who have the Strand in Cheltenham and the Volly in central Bristol. Shove h'appeny board spotted. I’d recommend you do this one. 8.5

Official site of The White Hart - www.whitehartwells.com

Official site of The White Hart - www.whitehartwells.com