WELCOME Introduction and Explanation

It is no exaggeration that Gloucestershire is exceedingly blessed with more than its share of pubs and inns. It is also fortunate that the majority of these recognise the need to satisfy the growing demand for real ale, and while many only provide nationally recognisable brews, there are others that champion the cause of the micro breweries and are well worth seeking out. While there are many pub guides available in the shops and also a website from the inimitable organisation CAMRA, due to the enormous range of detail they have to carry, this is not always current information, and some entries can be six or seven years out of date! This website hopes to rectify this to a certain degree, mainly concerning itself with the range of ales available, rather than being a general guide. While the team that provides the information is born purely out of a social aspect, this does mean that the area covered has to be finite and hence a select list of over 120 hostelries has been acquired. Most of these are visited personally at least once a year, although there are favourites which see us more often! While some ale selections remain constant throughout the years, it must be realised that others may alter the day after one of our visits. Nevertheless, the content of the website will be updated regularly and provide current availability of cask ales in the area. For information on other pubs not reviewed here, but still within Gloucestershire, try the local CAMRA site. Other useful sites can be found in the special links page by clicking the button at the top of this page.

When it was realised that the information on real ales and pubs that we were accumulating was of interest to friends and colleagues, and that it was more up to date than some other sources, the idea of sharing this knowledge via a website was created. Which pubs and inns we visited, though, was very important to us. Not for us the smaller, smoky, inner city locals (although the smoke aspect has disappeared now), the theme pubs or, generally, the ubiquitous eating houses. These all serve a purpose, and some even provide real ale, but this is where our personal preferences took over. Unlike other guides which tend to list all pubs irrespective, this website is about pubs that we as a group enjoy visiting. This can include atmosphere and location as well as good beer, but nevertheless it is purely a PERSONAL list and should not infer anything about any pub not mentioned. The list is not permanent either; new ones are added when they come to prominence and current ones are deleted when they alter for the worse!

AREA COVERED BY THIS WEBSITE
As a small social group, we would dearly like to extend our hunting ground as it were. Unfortunately, travelling time from our nucleus at Hucclecote and Brockworth has to be within reason and we are glad of the proximity of the M5 and the A417 to reach some of the furthest places. Some of the extremes are where we find the more popular pubs with different beers and unusual guests. These, therefore, warrant a special journey. We do occasionally venture further afield, mainly as trips with our families, but unless we can guarantee at least one visit every couple of years (minimum) then the pub is not considered for inclusion as we would be then falling into the same trap as we have already complained of above.
~ ~ MAPPING FEATURE AND NAVIGATOR ~ ~ There is an extensive mapping feature contained within this site to help with directions to all of the listed pubs. Not all roads are shown as this would complicate matters too much, so an awareness of the area might still be required. There are two ways in which the maps can be accessed. From the review pages, each pub contains a signpost icon that when clicked will bring up it's own dedicated map. This map in turn can be moved through to the full navigational mapping control. Scroll the mouse over the map on the right and all the pubs in one of nine areas will be highlighted. Clicking over one of these areas will again access the full mapping feature. NOTE :-This feature is achieved via Javascript code and the highlighting will not work if you're computer has blocked all Active Content in it's security set up. Clicking on an area should still function. Whilst under navigational control, clicking on any pub name will bring up the review of that pub.
	Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

Whilst advocating everyone should try out our selections, at least one person per session should not, and that is the driver of course. Taking it in turns, the nominated driver has the unenviable task of watching the others drink their premium pints whilst consuming halves of IPA or soft drinks, but knowing there are better weeks ahead to look forward to. Sensible but the ONLY way! The more in the group, the longer it takes for your turn to come around.

IT'S ALL A MATTER OF TASTE

Taste is always a matter of preference and subjectivity, never more so than within the team of people providing the website information. A trend has emerged, though, that is almost unambiguous on what is relished and what demands a walkout. This is not a reflection on the standard of ales, only that some are not to our requirements. This may have a tendency to bias the reviews, so to provide our references, these are our benchmark ales.

As an addition to the pub reviews, there is a dedicated page devoted entirely to the pubs that have not lived up to our required standards. This is the DEMOTED LIST and can be accessed from the QUICKFIND page or from the icons at the bottom of the review pages.

PHOTO GALLERY

Alongside some of the pub names on the review pages there is a camera icon (as shown below). Clicking on one of these will open a NEW window where the selected pub photograph appears. When finished with this feature, just close the window to return to your original page.

Finally, to get to the top of the page to access the control buttons quickly, the icon on the right can be found throughout the site pages. Just click!