White Hart Inn - Cheltenham

Terry H.

Ideally situated in the village of Winchcombe. Staff all lovely. And food was beautiful but a special mention for the pie. My friend had the lamb sheperds pie and said it was honestly the best she'd ever eaten! Delicious puddings too! And our dog was made very welcome!

Tim R.

A New Definition of ‘Superior’

We booked a stay at The White Hart Inn for our stay in The Cotswold’s village of Winchcombe. On arrival, we were informed that the accommodation would be in the building two doors away. Upon entering, it was not exactly inviting – it is a very tired building with stained carpets and decoratively, needing substantial work. However, we were confident that as we went for the ‘Superior Double’, that it would be very nice in the room itself. The tiny room we were given housed a 137cm ‘double’ which is insufficiently wide for two adults unless one sleeps on one’s back with arms by one’s side! I would have taken pictures on the second day had the room been serviced, but it was not – on returning from our day out, the room was exactly as we had left it. French doors open on to a very tired balcony which we did not use other than to store some milk we purchased from a store down the road as our room supply was only enough for a single coffee and not replenished. The balcony seemed in a poor state of (decorative) repair although it seemed safe enough (picture attached). The tiny bathroom had a very small sink, about which was a protruding mirror with a bizarre light fitting which made leaning over the sink quite difficult unless standing to the side. The shower was uninviting – again, decoratively very poor (pictures below). A tiny (sloping!) shelf directly above the toilet was the only space for toothbrushes/bathroom amenities as using the sink was not possible to place anything – do not forget to close the toilet lid or you may lose items from the shelf above if not careful!

The linen was very nice however and the pillows comfortable. If only the management had removed the large beside tables and provide a king-size bed, it would have been ‘OK’, but it was a less than comfortable two nights stay. Checking online, we knew the inn was full, so another room was not possible. For over £300 for two nights, we really felt this was just not good enough – not even the WiFi worked properly – it dropped out constantly as the signal was too weak to reach our ‘Superior Room’.

Positive Notes
The limited contact we had with the staff was extremely friendly. They are all doing their best. Furthermore, the included breakfast served in the main building had an extensive choice and was wonderfully prepared (and very tasty). The ambience in the main building all felt very warm and inviting. Again, the staff were very accommodating when my wife asked for an item not on the buffet or the menu.

Summary
The ‘Superior Double Room’ is a complete misnomer. Our room was very poor and with some attention to the decorative state and a ‘proper’ bed, it would at least have made a positive difference. We would not choose to stay here unless a substantial renovation program was effected in the bedrooms and a more usable bed provided but we would possibly choose to eat at The White Hart if we elected to stay in Winchcombe again.

Pat E.

Just returned from a lovely break in z good central location. It was excellent value for money. Rooms were cosy and the food was lovely. The staff were all exceptional and couldn't do enough for you.

Katie W.

Just had a lovely stay 1 night via A travel zoo deal. Excellent value for money. Love large room with beautiful views over surrounding countryside. Had afternoon tea, dinner & breakfast all very tasty. Lovely village with lots of walks of the doorstep. Staff all very friendly would definitely recommend and stay again.

Dianne S.

Amazing food, room and staff, nothing too much trouble, very welcoming, even put the bar tv on so we could watch the snooker! Celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary was lovely , area outstanding !

Kevin G.

Background: We were given a Virgin Experience Days two-night Cotswolds break with dinner for two at the White Hart Inn. The current retail value of this package is £249.

I’ll start with the very few positives of our stay:

The lady who checked us in was friendly.

The breakfast was good.

The bed was comfortable.

We checked in at the designated time, and the friendly lady behind the bar gave us our key. She told us our room was in the building next door and gave us directions to the entrance.

We found the entrance, which appeared to be the lobby for a function room. There was a small door off to the side, and our room was up the stairs. Upon entering, it felt like stepping into a university hall of residence. The carpets were worn and dirty, the doors to the rooms were battered and grimy, and there was a distinct unpleasant smell in the air.

Our room door was so small it could easily be mistaken for a broom cupboard, but we entered, hopeful that first impressions can sometimes be misleading. Unfortunately, we were wrong.

Walking into the room felt like going back in time to the 1980s. There were random blue plates on the walls, the furniture was old and battered, and the carpet was dirty and stained. There were layers of dust on the (tiny) TV and most other surfaces, and the room felt generally unclean.

Unfortunately, the bathroom was just as bad. It had black mould around the shower tray, cobwebs and fluff everywhere, and a completely impractical design with very limited space to place toiletries. Worst of all, there was a strong and pungent smell of damp and mustiness.

The room did have a balcony, so we stepped out to get some air. The view of the surrounding area was very pretty so all was not lost but like everything else, the balcony was in a state of disrepair.

It turns out the building we were staying in was a function room, as we initially suspected. There was a comedy night scheduled for that evening, so we bought tickets and went along at the start time. The show itself was terrible, and we left at the second interval. However, I suspect the comedians and the event were not directly related to the pub, so I won’t comment further on that.

We decided to cut our losses and head back to the room for an early night. Sadly, this was impossible due to the noise from the function room. In hindsight, we didn’t need to buy tickets as we could hear every word and the accompanying laughter from our room. The noise continued until about 11 p.m., after which we finally had some peace and quiet.

The final straw came when we turned the lights off. Near the door, there was what I can only assume is an emergency light. It had an LED that was so bright it bathed the whole room in a green glow, making it look like something from a Halloween party.

The next day, we went for breakfast, which, as mentioned, was very good. It was great to be able to order anything from the menu.

That evening, we planned to use our £60 dining allowance included with the experience. My wife had a shower and started getting ready, but when she tried to dry her hair, she discovered that the hairdryer didn’t work. I took it to the bar and informed the staff. They confirmed it wasn’t working, and the man I spoke to said there was nothing he could do as they had no spares. I explained that my wife was upstairs with wet hair and that we needed a replacement. He checked several cupboards but came back empty-handed.

We went down for dinner. My wife ordered the Steak Frites, and I ordered the fish and chips with a side of sourdough bread and salted butter. The steak was extremely salty, and the bread and butter turned out to be chopped-up ciabatta with a small bowl of margarine. The fish and chips, however, were very good.

After this, we decided we’d had enough. We went back to the room, packed our things and checked out. We were obviously disappointed we had to sacrifice our second night (and breakfast the next day) but we simply couldn’t face staying any longer.

Tony K.

The staff were attentive and the service quick, but the quality of the sandwiches was poor. The Reuben Sandwich, pictured, costs over £11 and could have been slipped under a door. No salad garnish or any niceties. These days, the expectation is for fresh bread, not supermarket sliced. Sorry, nice pub, poor sandwiches.

Keira J.

We had lunch here today the staff were all quite rude, didn’t give us a drinks menu and expected us to know what we wanted to drink, asked to order lunch and were told to wait until midday, then when midday came they never took our order so we had to go to the bar.
When we ordered they have about 4 different types of cheese on the menu and asked to add some in one of the sandwiches, apparently they had a “cheese shortage” at 12 noon… when it came the contents were thrown in the sandwich, half falling out and they didn’t even bother buttering it I had to do that myself when I asked them to bring butter out for my dry sandwich.

Lastly we had our dogs with us and they sat silently in the restaurant yet throughout the whole lunch we had an old couple opposite with a small dog who yapped every 5 seconds making no attempt to keep it quiet.

Don’t waste your time coming here, it’s bang average and a million better pubs/cafes to go to in the area with POLITE staff!!