Pubs are closing at an alarming rate but it’s not all doom and gloom, especially in Barnsley, near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, where The Pig have worked their magic on the former Boot and turned it into The Village Pub.
It really is the village pub. On the fourth day after opening, most of the customers are locals.
They seem pleased that the now-iconic brand has transformed this 17th-century inn (and is doing something similar across the road at Barnsley House, where the great gardener Rosemary Verey once lived).
There are only six rooms in the pub. Ours is the only one with a bath, priced at £265 (breakfast included, unlike other Pig establishments), and has all the signature bed features: sisal floor in the bedroom, wooden floor in the bathroom; worn dresser; portrait of a mischievous-looking young woman on the bed; antique standard lamp; huge exposed beams, a couple of marshmallows.
The walls are dark green, perhaps too dark in a relatively small space. But that’s the theme throughout, creating a moody ground floor with a copper-topped bar and low ceilings.
The inspector visits the Pig group’s latest venture: ‘The Village Pub’ in Barnsley, near Cirencester. The rooms have the chain’s ‘hallmarks’: sisal floors, antique lamps and a worn dresser.
The Village Pub has only six rooms. In the photo on the right is the ‘grumpy guy below’.
Being here in winter with three or four fires lit will warm the spirits. The standout feature is a high-back wooden bench at a six-person table, but ours, near a stuffed boar’s head, is also gorgeous and more elegant than shabby.
Chef Will Parkes comes from the Canterbury branch and is in sensational form. Their ‘Gentleman’s Relish on Toast’ is a cheerful snack, which we follow with tender beef and a rabbit, leek and bacon pie.
Young ‘pub landlord’ (as they call him) Luis recommends a bottle of Norfolk pinot noir. “Trust me,” he says. He is successful. The same can be said for everything about The Village Pub. Along the way, I wondered if The Pig might be getting a little predictable. I don’t believe that now. Trust me.
The inspector is staying in the only en-suite room, pictured, which costs him £265 a night.
Chef Will Parkes hails from The Pig’s Canterbury branch and is in “sensational shape”, says The Inspector.