Much has been said about the remarkable transformation of this Grade II listed building in Bradford-on-Avon, from its former life as an unloved old boozer to homely freehouse pub. Refusing to describe itself as a gastropub, there is no book ahead policy here. It remains notoriously busy in the evenings – the night we ate there was teeming – but the atmosphere is a convivial one and diners mingle happily with those propping up the bar.
Design and detail have not been overlooked. The stylish interior is the kind of place that would easily lend itself to one of those glossy lifestyle spreads in the weekend supplements. There are flagstone floors, fireplaces to sidle up to and a sturdy mahogany bar counter; a mounted gazelle’s head and sepia-tinted photographs of distinguished old dudes adorn the walls. Channel 4’s Relocation, Relocation team were filming in the back room as we arrived and the place has just been given a very favourable once-over by The Guardian. Add in a buzzy ambience, dimmed lighting and a decent smattering of good-time folk, and The Castle – like a funky old gentlemen’s club, given a contemporary twist – certainly feels like the place to be.
There’s an excellent selection of wines, spirits and locally-brewed beers, including Flatcapper’s own hoppy house ale (1.40, £2.80 for a pint) and dark, velvety stout (£1.45, £2.90 for a pint), brewed in nearby Pewsey. We supped a more-ish half-pint of each, before switching to a rich glass of 2007 Castillo Viento Rioja Joven Tinto (£4.25 per glass), packed with fruity essence of plums.
The range of food on the menu isn’t overly fussy, but there’s enough variety to satisfy full-on foodies and nibblers alike. My girlfriend’s sticky lemon chicken fillet skewers (£2.75, from the Grazing menu) were tasty and pleasingly charred, despite being drenched in honey. A self-confessed chicken liver fiend, the pan-fried versions (£6.25) already had my name on them. Salty strips of bacon mingled with juicy, herb-scented livers full of savoury zing.
Having eaten here a number of times, the only quibble I’d have is over the generally static menu. I still hanker after the succulent portion of gamey rabbit I enjoyed over a year ago. Instead, my main was a simply-prepared pan-fried fillet of sea bass from the specials menu (£10.50), elegantly served with fondant potatoes, purple-sprouting broccoli and lemon parsley butter sauce; well-seasoned, fleshy fish arrived with nicely blistered skin, zesty sauce and earthy perfectly-cooked broccoli.
By comparison, my girlfriend’s Gloucester Old Spot pork chop (£9.25) was rather hit and miss. The meat was under-seasoned and a touch dry, but the accompanying braised red cabbage, full of berry-hued mulled spices, and the croquettes – crunchy, golden brown exterior yielding to fluffy potato – were delicious, as was the distinctly-flavoured Stowford Press cider cream sauce.
They don’t skimp on portion size here; my girlfriend only managed half of her brick-sized chocolate hazelnut brownie with vanilla ice-cream (£5.50), but declared its fudgy, chocolate-rich moistness a winning combo. My indulgent winter berry trifle (£5.50) – slathered with cream, custard and tart fruit – could have been a little sweeter, but was manfully polished off nevertheless.
Minor niggles with the food apart, The Castle has much going for it. Hardened to looking after hordes of peckish diners, tripping out plate upon plate of food, the staff are hugely friendly; if they were hassled, they never showed it. As Bradford-on-Avon’s default location for a night out, the locals here know they’re on to a good thing. Given its recent national exposure, it surely won’t be long before the town’s best kept secret attracts a wider audience.
Velimir Ilic - Make Me Neon - April 2010.
The Castle Inn sits on the crest of a hill at a busy junction above the ancient Wiltshire town of Bradford on Avon. Cars are two deep on the pub forecourt. Golly, it must be popular. It's 5pm on Sunday.
I push open the heavy old door. From the hall, I can see the bar off to my left, and another room, equally busy with drinkers and diners, to my right. Cutlery clatters on plates, elbows jostle on wooden tables and the place is roaring – an unexpected horde has descended after a local half-marathon.
Upstairs, four double rooms. Two are already occupied and I've booked two – my friend D is still en route. "Take Room Three, it has the best view," says the manager. Next thing, I'm gazing across cottage rooftops, smoke rising from their chimneys, and steeply terraced gardens, towards Salisbury Plain. In the pinkish dusk, I can just make out the White Horse of Westbury.
The room's a restful shade of sage, with a bed 6ft wide and tiled wet room. The brown carpet's very 70s and furniture throughout the building is the reassuringly solid kind that had a former life in banks or offices. There is plenty of studded and worn leather, and that's no bad thing in a pub. It's clear there has been a refurb, but a sensitive one.
Marathon men and women are now replaced by locals out for a pint. I wait for D downstairs, by a log fire, with a drink and the Sunday papers. Bliss. D arrives, dumps her bag upstairs ("Nice room") and plonks herself at the table.
We pick a grazing platter starter to share ("Very Jamie Oliver," D says), with sticky lemon chicken skewers, stuffed vine leaves (from a deli?) and corn fritters. Next, D is fulsome in her praise of pan-fried chicken on warm salad of puy lentils and butternut squash. My potato pancake with goat's cheese and beetroot tastes good.
We remove to a snug, across the hallway, to lounge on worn sofas. Oil paintings and prints on the chocolate-coloured walls are illuminated by candles and lamplight.
Down in the bar at breakfast a straightforward menu is served from 8.30am until noon – in other words, breakfast continues seamlessly until lunch. It seems so obvious – but how many places do this? Very few.
"Enjoying breakfast in a pub would have been unthinkable pre-smoking ban," D muses over "nice, crisp bacon". We really like this modern rendition of a traditional watering hole. It feels like an old pub, but with things like baby changing, and without the grunge.
Sally Shalam - The Guardian - April 2010.
The Castle's comfy retro chic interior is the perfect match for the warming English food on the winter menu.
When I moved to Bradford on Avon front London, more than 20 years ago, The Castle was one of those run-down small town pubs where your feet stuck to the carpet and locals turned to stare if a stranger walked through the door, especially if they were ill-advised enough to ask for a glass of dry white wine. But the building - an 18th century inn with a superb stone porch and spectacular views across to Salisbury Plain - was a little gem.
Fast forward to 2007, when Bristol-based Flatcappers bought the building and set about transforming that rough diamond into exactly what Bradford needed: a proper pub serving real ale and farmhouse cider, an excellent range of wines, an inordinate number of spirits, unpretentious but Imaginative food, good coffee - all in the most deliciously comfortable surroundings. The decor is an eclectic mix of English gentlemen's club, farmhouse kitchen and New Orleans bordello - eccentric, but it works. When it's cold outside and the log fire's lit in the front bar, there aren't many places I'd rather spend a long and lazy Saturday.
As part of its 'proper pub' ethos, The Castle doesn't take bookings, so we turned up early on a Tuesday evening to make sure of a table. It was already busy, but we staked our claim and spent the next half hour making inroads into a beautifully chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc and considering the menu.
It was jolly hard to choose: the starters include such lovely treats as pan-fried chicken livers and smoked bacon served in a red wine sauce, and ham hock terrine. But we decided on a bowl of River Exe mussels to share - and it was a great choice: a bowl of juicy mussels (5.86), in a classic mariniere sauce, served with crusty bread. One bowl between two was plenty - and it would make a fine lunch dish too.
On to the main courses, where the choice is always tempting - I can heartily recommend the toad-in-the-hole (8.75), gammon, egg and chips (L10.50) and the faggots with bubble and squeak (8.25). Much of the food is locally sourced, and almost always seasonal. We thought about just going for one of our favourites, but, in the interests of research, we decided to choose outside the comfort zone.
Ms R's pan-fried chicken breast on a warm puy lentil and butternut squash salad (8.25) was delightfully presented and beautifully cooked. But she felt it could have done with just a little bit more oomph: a sauce rather than herb dressing maybe? My braised beef (10.95), on the other hand, had oomph enough for two: meltingly well cooked, in a dark, rich gravy, it was served with silky celeriac and potato puree and perfectly al dente Brussels sprouts. Gorgeous - and enough to feed a small village.
After all that, we didn't have room for dessert, although I'm going back for the marmalade bread and butter pudding - with custard - because apparently it's as heavenly as it sounds.
For hearty food and cosy, laid-back ambience, The Castle can't be beaten. And the unfailingly cheerful and helpful bar staff will even make you the best fresh lime presse you've ever tasted. If you ask really nicely!
The Bath Magazine - February 2010
Run by Pierre Woodford, who once ran Terence Conran’s Bibendum restaurant in London, The Castle is a successful fusion of comfort, class and English pub grub.
Since its impressive makeover in 2007, the Flatcappers chain has turned the 18th century pub into the place to be. Split into two dining rooms with space for 90 people, one featuring plush leather sofas, the pub’s interior is warm and welcoming, with pillar church candles on the tables and warm chocolate-coloured décor.
You can’t book, and arriving at 8.30pm on a Thursday we found the place buzzing with only two spare tables.
There is an impressive wine list, ranging from a Chilean El Viento chardonnay or merlot at £12.95, up to a Uruguayan Boyjo Albarino white at £27 or the red Vina Boscania Reserve rioja alta at £31.95 a bottle.
For starters I opted for smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives on crostini with a salad (£5.50) – a perfectly sized starter which stimulates the tastebuds but doesn’t dampen the hunger.
Tim went for summer vegetable broth with toasted ciabatta (£4.50). For mains, I chose a grilled chicken, bacon and brie club sandwich on a malted bloomer with salad and fries (£8.95), and found it so packed with salad and meat it could only be eaten by hand.
Tim chose Wiltshire cured ham with two eggs, chunky chips and swapped the mixed salad for veg (£10.25). The vegetables included asparagus and sweet potato – an imaginative combination which sets the pub’s food apart from many others.
We were too full to try one, but the desserts at neighbouring tables looked divine.
Our meal, plus a side dish of olives and two pints of lager, came to just over £37.
Craig Evry - Wiltshire Times June '09
Hip but unpretentious, sprawling yet cosy, the Castle Inn is the latest success story from one of the clever folks behind the Lounge chain. Find a blisteringly warm welcome, good portions of tasty grub and a collection of nooks and crannies to cosy up in. Splash out and stay in one of the stylishly decorated rooms upstairs.
Best for: the bath with a view in room 4 is worth the cost of your stay alone.
Legal Life June '09
"Such flattering and suspect beauty, this city: half fairytale, half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once voluptuously blossomed, inspiring composers to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism." Okay, I'm misquoting Thomas Mann, and he was actually referring to Venice, not Bath. But having just returned from a long weekend immersed in the relentless throb of callous urbanity that is Liverpool, one can't help but feel the urge to wax lyrical on return to the pastoral peace of my adopted West Country nest. But deadlines wait for no man, and we're back on the road before I've had time to ditch the high pitched, hysterical screech that, after so many years spent being unnaturally subdued, has suddenly re-limpeted itself to my vocal chords.
But in a way, it was okay to sound like a tourist (even one that inspires an ominous sense of dread in everybody within earshot), because our little holiday wasn't over yet. We were off to Bradford on Avon to visit a venture headed up by the same team behind the Lounge chain of cafe-bars. But lovely though we all know the Lounges are, the Castle Inn isn't just another Porto/Deco/Velo. What was once, by all accounts, a rather dodgy, insalubrious dive is now a Flatcappers freehold pub, fully refurbished to very user-friendly standards (flagstones, beams, chunky furniture; a lovely beer garden overlooking toytown) with four sumptuous letting rooms upstairs. We were to lay our hats in room 4 - a luxurious little love nest decorated in richly sensual, stylish tones of dark plum and gold flock, featuring an absolutely massive bed scattered with bronze silk cushions, from which there was an uninterrupted view of the flatscreen TV. But ooooh, the bathroom! A walkthrough shower, two sinks (each with their own selection of handmade girly goodies) an antique armchair... and a freestanding, cast iron bath facing a picture window that offers views across the rooftops to Salisbury Plain, Westbury White Horse included. Now that's what I call a room with a view. On went the TV (even though he's apparently "not that interested in Euro 2008") and into that bath I dived, to emerge 40 minutes later thoroughly refreshed and with an appetite for a square meal that only four days spent living entirely on scouse party buffets can give you.
When it comes to Castle food, Lounge touches are distinctly evident on menus that feature upper-crust versions of proper pub grub at extremely wholesome prices. Our starters - a silky butternut squash risotto and a hearty bacon and mushroom salad topped with a poached egg - came in at around a fiver, and either would easily constitute a sturdy lunch or even a nice, light main course, should you be of a less gluttonous inclination than we are. For mains, Fabio Grosso defended his title as Steak King admirably, an 8ozs rib eye dripping with blue cheese butter (£12.50) making for his perfect set piece. As the only thing about me that's WAG-alike is the fake tan, I opted for a manly portion of roast lamb rump (£12.25) accompanied by roast new potatoes and asparagus - a combination that, for me, says all you need to know about the flavour of Britain in mid-June. After that, we took the remains of our bottle of wine back up to our room to watch the Italian stallions make the Gallic Gods cry before returning to the fray for a massive wedge of lemon tart and a boisterous banoffee pie, after which we yo-yoed back up the stairs for the last time to sink into an undisturbed sleep on the bed of dreams before being woken many hours later by the gentle waft of real bacon floating up from the kitchen the following morning. Did we? Oh yes we did: a perfect full English and a very imaginative veggie version (including sweetcorn fritters and bubble and squeak) set us up admirably for the 15 minute journey home.
Overall, the Castle is king of the mini-empire from which it has sprung. Even with the Cilla Black-style inflections in tow, one night there made me feel like a queen
Melissa Blease - Venue/Folio June '08
"The interior will come into its own in winter with its muted steel-grey walls, open fireplaces, flagstone floors, deep and slightly battered leather sofas and armchairs.
My friend had never come across Toulouse sausage before and loved his two sizeable specimens that were juicy, spicy and substantial. They arrived placed on a very leeky leek mash and were surrouded by a moat of flavoursome onion gravy".
Lucie Wood Metro August 2007
A Friend had been raving about an old pub in Bradford on Avon which has had, she said, THE most amazing makeover and that I really should try it. She warned me that Friday and Saturday evenings at the newly revamped Castle Inn - at the top of a hill overlooking the rooftops of the town - were very busy, so we went for a mid-week meal with two other friends, and a very jolly time we had too.
The makeover of what had been a tired looking pub, by Wiltshire brewers Flatcappers, has been astonishing. There are slate and wooden floors, muted grey walls hung with fascinating old portraits, stone fireplaces and, in the snug where we sat, a wall of tactile modern grey flock wallpaper, lit by mini-chandeliers and fascinating retro lampshades which my friend assured me were made by two-old-ladies-who-make-lampshades-in-Idaho.com. Wherever they came from, these cream and black draped affairs reminded me of a seance.
The music was muted jazz, the service friendly and efficient (you order at the bar) and the drinks and wine menu simply presented, and best of all, reasonably priced. A bottle of Chilean sauvignon blanc, complete with ice bucket, was £13.50.
Our party of four were all very impressed by the food too. My rump steak (£11.95) with café de Paris butter, thin, crispy french fries and a huge helping of spinach-rich salad was melt-in-the-mouth tender and tasty too. J's risotto of creamy butternut squash with rocket and candied walnuts (£8.50) was a hearty big bowlful and Helen's enormous roasted field mushroom topped with smoked goats cheese (£7.95) was beautifully presented with an interesting mixed leaf salad and a pesto dressing.
We barely had time to register Carolyn's bowl of chargrilled fresh tuna, salad and a poached egg (£12.95) before she'd scoffed the lot appreciatively.
The evening progressed with much chat and laughter. We ordered a second bottle of wine and shared two puddings. One was a light, creamy white chocolate cheesecake with an unusual Amaretti biscuit base, the other was a chocolate brownie of such huge proportions that we didn't think one person would manage it all, delicious as it was. The puddings were all £4.95 each.
As the rain swept across the town beneath us, obscuring the view of the Westbury White Horse in the distance, we agreed it was a shame we couldn't sit out on the comfy looking wooden benches and tables in the garden at the front of the pub.
If we ever get a summer, I can imagine coming up here again to sit outside with a bowl of mixed olives and parsnip crisps, or some sweetcorn fritters with a chilli dip, which were on the 'picking/grazing' menu. Or coming on a late Sunday morning for a brunch of The Works Breakfast (£6.85) complete with bubble and squeak and Toulouse sausage and a pint of Flatcappers ale.
The Castle is a very welcome addition to the Bradford on Avon foodie scene. A couple of waitresses at weekends to take food orders at tables would ease the congestion at the bar. But otherwise, I doff my titfer respectfully to the Flatcappers.
The Castle Inn
Who for? We saw customers aged between one and 70, women out for an evening, couples, plus groups of friends just enjoying a drink - this is no gastro foodies-only pub.
The Bath Chronicle July 2007