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The best spot in town

by Ned Halley

DURSLEY is a town that seems to have everything. Streets of beautiful Georgian houses and a pedestrian shopping precinct, a new Olympicsize swimming pool, a church rescued from collapse by a monarch - and one of the finest pubs in the West.

The Old Spot started out as a farm cottage in 1776 at the height of Dursley's pre-eminence as a weaving centre. Now, it stands as an island of quaint rusticity amid a free car park, the bus station, and the busy construction site of a new library.

Once inside, you might well wonder what century you're in. It's a delectable interior arranged in line as four spaces with a quarry-tile floor for the main bar area, good window seats and low beams which, opposite the serving bar, are plastered with photographs, many of them of the regular customers.

And I'll bet there are plenty of those. It is such a jolly place, with chatty chaps behind the bar on the lunchtime the week we popped in, and a cheery welcome, we noticed, for all comers, who seemed to us an encouraging mix of ages.

There are lots of stools the length of the bar, and plenty of standing room - a sure sign that this is a proper drinking pub.

The beers are appropriately numerous. I noted Summer Lightning, a glorious lager-coloured refreshing ale from Salisbury brewer Hop Back, plus Hook Norton, Wadworth JCB, Wild Hare `organic' beer from Bath Ales, and Butcombe Blond.

And there are beers, too, from the local Uley Brewery, including Old Ric's, made in tribute to Ric Sainty, a former landlord of the pub who originally bought it from Whitbread and changed its name, then the Fox and Hounds, to the Old Spot.

All clear? Let me just add that Old Ric's is a very fine pint, quite dark in colour,,malty and fruity, and yet very relishable as a summer refresher, because it is served at just the right temperature. They know their beers in this pub, and it makes all the difference. The cider's good, too, with Weston's Stowford Press on draught and also Ashton Press, a bright, quite sparkly dry style with crisp appley fruit and a nice citrus twang on the finish. Several wines by the glass at £2.30 for 175ml and £3.10 for a bucket-sized 250m1. Decent wines, too, so these are bargain prices.

Food is not neglected. There are blackboard specials, plus a regular bar menu. Mrs Halley decided to go for ham, leek and potato gratin at £4.95 from the blackboard, and I opted for a BLT doorstep sandwich at £3.50. Both were excellent.

They came with decent salad garnishes, but without dressing, and Mrs H rightly guessed that if you wanted dressing, you just had to ask. A jug of inspired French dressing incorporating mustard and herbs was on the table in an instant.

It's friendly and informal, the Old Spot, but in fact they do the food with much more care than many more pretentious pubs I can think of. My doorstep was in reality made from delicious fresh bread, and the bacon had clearly just been cooked.

The most expensive item on the entire menu was braised lamb chump at £6.85, and the range of pies (£6.25) had a revealing description: "home baked with short crust pastry and served with roast vegetables and dauphinoise potatoes".

As might be expected of a pub named after a rare-breed of pig, there are plenty of porcine objects about the place, but there is much else to admire besides. Every inch of the earthy red walls bears some old local print or vintage advertising poster. There is a snug back bar with a skylight, and a sign saying it is the Farrowing Hut, plus a separate nonsmoking dining room.

There's an extensive, L-shaped paved garden on two different levels to the side and rear of the building, cleverly secluded from the surrounding intrusions of modernity. And the pub is garlanded with particularly exuberant hanging baskets.

We found the pub by parking in the town's centre, next to the church (whose tower fell down in 1699 and was rebuilt at Queen Anne's insistence) and walking down the pedestrianised Parsonage Street after asking for directions. It's not difficult to find the Old Spot, as it is visible down May Lane, into which you turn left from the shopping street.

In Parsonage Street is an emporium called That New Shop, which also sports a notice declaring that it was established in 1980.

New for 25 years! We thought this a most reviving message, and a cheery keynote for a very likeable town.

CAPTION: Spot prize: Friendly and informal, they do the food and drink here with considerable care. The interior is arranged as four spaces with a quarry-tile floor for the main bar area, window seats and low beams

Reproduced courtesy of Western Daily Press - 16th July 2005. [Weekend | FOOD AND DRINK]