Bel and the Dragon-Kingsclere

There is parking but I think it would be a struggle if busy. The village is pleasant for a walk and has a funeral directors, hairdressers, small supermarket and estate agent. Won’t take long to discover. The room was clean with tea and coffee as well as sloe gin. We had the Christmas festive menu which was pleasant enough and the extra gravy was available. The Christmas pudding was not for me, I could not work out if it was cinnamon or mixed spice but it left an unpleasant taste for me personally. The meal comes with a 12.5% tip which means that you are charged an extra £6 a bottle for the staff to walk the bottle from the bar to the table. Getting a bit much now and we had to ask for a cooler as it as just dumped on the table.

Fabulous place! Couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Staff were super friendly even when I locked myself out of the room twice. Rooms were beautiful. We stayed there with 3 other couples and every room was unique and tastefully done. The attention to detail really gave this place the edge - the sloe gin in the room with the little note and the whiskey in the drawing room. The breakfast in the morning was top notch quality aswell! Really excellent value for money aswell. Am looking for an excuse to come back as we were visiting for a friend’s birthday. Thankyou to all the staff there. Living in the Cotswolds, we know our nice pubs and this is up there with the best! Just wish we lived closer to have it as our local ☺️

Booked for a celebration lunch several weeks back and also emailed later that it was for a special occasion and was advised that it would be added to the ‘booking notes’. If travelling here by car do be advised parking is a nightmare! The hotel car park was full as was the car park in Anchor Yard, street parking is 1 hour only, might be helpful to flag this up somewhere on the website and suggest alternatives for those not familiar with the area. We arrived before our allocated two hour slot and shown to our table, a good sign was the linen napkins, not so good the tired wiped out table top. Service was ok, disappointed with some of the food served. Fish and chips were ok albeit not the most generous of portions but I do appreciate it was a lunchtime serving. The ‘today special’ dish of pan fried salmon was ok but the ‘crushed potatoes’ served with it were dry on the inside, either old or low quality potato, some undercooked and not that hot. The dish would also have benefited from some green vegetables, this was neither suggested or offered when ordering which would have been a good idea as it would have completed the dish. The roasted pork belly again wasn’t very hot, the accompanying apple purée didn’t do it justice, home made would have been better. The triple chocolate dessert however was delicious, if you’re a chocolate lover this one’s for you! The interior photos on the Bel & Dragon website look really inviting, unfortunately the reality not quite so. The soft furnishings today bore little resemblance to those in the photos, the only cushions visible were grubby tired chair pads with mismatched light ribbon that was half tied and half detached and hanging off the chairs. Not the plump cushions depicted in the photos or “styled in classic and cosy way”. The sight of an open fire does help to “exude charm and warmth”, but it needs to be kept going and today it wasn’t and it soon became quite chilly. The pavement area outside looks tired and unkempt, the sandwich advertising board looks grubby and loosing its varnish. Attention to the smallest detail often makes the biggest difference.

My partner, 3 yr old daughter and M-I-L went for lunch. Reasonably busy but only one server for whole room. Nice enough food and having spent over £100 mentioned that I thought £3.95 for half a small flatbread for my daughter was a bit steep - simply told bluntly ‘Fuller’s set the prices, not us’. Hadn’t actually realised it was a Fullers pub. Poor call on pricing by Fullers and poor customer service (except for solo server). Would I go back -NO.

We stayed for three nights, absolutely loved it. The staff were so helpful and lovely, nothing was too much trouble (despite our greyhound taking up a lot of floor space when she laid down in the bar area). The food great, lots of choice for breakfast and we had two evening meals that were delicious; and the room was very comfortable with a large bathroom, I need to know where they get those pillows are they were so comfortable!

We went for dinner on Sunday evening & the food & service were fantastic. Everything on the plate was cooked perfectly and tasted great. Probably the best roast dinner I’ve eaten & the vegetarian main was equally tasty. All of the staff were friendly & helpful & looked after us well responding positively to every request. Will definitely go back again.