Café René, Gloucester

Can be hard to find as it is down a passageway but when you do find it you will be pleasantly surprised.The pub is split into 2 areas with a well in the middle of one of them.There are a couple of real ales direct from the cask and a couple of ciders.Well woth a visit.

This was an unexpected pleasure. Café René is in a small courtyard beside the church of St Mary de Crypt in the heart of Gloucester. The approach is through a phalanx of pub bench/tables which suggests that it can get busy in the high tourist season, as there is plenty of room inside. There are two rooms: the bar at the front, which is interrupted by an unexpected circular construction of brick with a small fountain, which turns out to be a well; and a dining room at the back. The bar is lengthy and sports numerous fonts serving a variety of continental lagers. To the left are a few barrels in cooling jackets, containing real ales and ciders. Wine and other bottles line the walls like books in a library, and in the dining room the ceiling is similarly adorned. I didn't take a close look, but these appeared to be empty and purely for decorative purposes. Other décor included street name plates, possibly of Parisian or even Belgian origin, dotted randomly about. The beers were limited to two: Otley O1 and Arbor Transatlantic Pale. I had a half of the latter, which although not being to my taste was in good condition. There was piped music playing, which I normally decry, but in this instance it was a slightly eccentric in-your-face jazz/funk/soul selection that was played at the volume that says "music matters - it is not to be used as wallpaper", so I was OK with it. There were posters and fliers advertising regular music events - bands play on Wednesdays and Fridays, admission free before 11.