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.
