West Country Pubs

Set back from the Fishponds Road half-behind Lidl’s as you head out of town The Railway Tavern is not at all hard to miss.  Once you’ve found it however, you’ll in all probability not forget where it is. You’ll want to go back.

It’s a “local’s pub” in the sense that it has a regular crowd, but most of them will have walked past a few other pubs to get there. Some of those other pubs will have been a fair bit cheaper, too.  So the Railway Tavern is doing something right.

What it’s got right is its sense of being part of the community that uses it and offering that community the best service it can.  It’s just a nice, friendly, fun place to be.  Chavs have been spotted there, but they’ve been seen to be smiling.

Regular (every Saturday) live bands, midweek quizzes and so forth all add to the fun.

Highly recommended.

Food (standard pub fare), Wi-Fi, kids welcome, darts,  Sky TV on multiple screens, juke box, live music, plenty of parking available.

A conundrum of a pub that reflects the bizarre mindset of the town in which it’s unlucky enough to find itself located. On a busy main road (the A37 as it happens) this place should be packed constantly, with tourists in the summer months and hungry travellers the rest of the year.

Sure, the garden’s sometimes busy in the summer, but not the way anywhere in Cheddar is, and people do stop for food but only if they like kebabs. And here is the Shepton-ness of The Charlton Inn – it has one of the finest smoking shelters you’ll ever see, so all the locals sit in that come rain or shine rather than indoors and it is home to Speedy’s, the near-legendary kebab van.

All this makes for a bloody odd boozer. Not a BAD boozer, just an odd one, and one that’s really impossible to categorise unless you accept “unique” as a category.  It’s not even possible to get a handle on the clientele – all sorts drink here, though even they probably wonder why. Perhaps they’ve tried some of the other pubs in Shepton…

Give it a whirl if you’re passing, and do grab a Speedy kebab whilst you’re there – you can eat the thing in the pub if you wish.

Lunchtime snacks, kebab van, Sky Sports on TV, pool table, darts, juke box. Kids and dogs welcome, plenty of parking, cash machine in the bar.

Several beers and ciders under £2.00 per pint, football on Greek TV, pool table, darts and a concrete beer garden. You might suspect this isn’t going to be the Ritz and you’d be right. Bristolians familiar with the Long Bar and the Punch Bowl will know what to expect.

Of course, “cheap drink” often leads to “busy” and the place frequently is, particularly for the bigger football matches, and the atmosphere is often great. The pub is always friendly, even when near deserted.

It’s an older, working crowd that get in there usually, so the place is by-and-large Chav-free.

No food, but Wi-Fi is available, sports on TV, juke box, dogs are welcome (as are kids, but only until 21.00). Very limited parking, but number 48 and 49 buses stop almost outside.