The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire*

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• There is a new resetaurant in town. I went shortly after it opened and I can't praise it highly enough. Excellent food at realistic (i.e. cheap) prices. It is the Sacre Fleur (a crummy French pun) but it is run by two Frencmen, Andre, who used to have the brasserie in Tewkesbury, and Alban, formerly chef at Montpellier Wine Bar and latterly Squeeze. They were both good where they were but they seem to have got it spot on fromm the off this time.
• The best two restaurants I have eaten in would be Flynns on Montpellier, and Storyteller on Portland Street, both veering on the expensive side but my woman and I have enjoyed many tasty meals there, before retiring home for afters. Other places to recommend are: Rat & Parrot, HogsHead, Wetherspoons, Yates's, Slug & Lettuce (OH my God all the chains!), as well as Gianni' for top class Italian food, Jim Thompsons for great Oriental cuisine, and Everest for yer Saturday night curries!
• Beefeater
• Mayflower Restaurant in Clarence Street, Cheltenham. The best cantonese food around Gloucestershire. Please add this comment onto your guide
• Cafe Rouge is over-rated,Story Teller unpredictable,Daffodil lovely but expensive. Moran's on Bath Road is my favourite place to eat out.
• The Storyteller is fab for a posh night out, gorgeous food. Loads of good curry houses- check out the Jaflong on the Lower High St for a laugh, none of the china matches they play very dodgy music but the food is good.
• Mr Chipps at the far end of Oxford road (near Keynsham St, Hospital, Fire Station etc) is great. Cotswold Kebab for those early morning essentials. Story Teller good if you want to go somewhere a bit special (but not too expensive, pretentious or flashy).
• La Capanella (Rodney Road) is amazing for Italian food. For Chinese/Vietnamese try Thang Long(lower high street), the atmosphere is more up market in the Oriental Rendevous (Montpellier). Balti Walla (Bath Road) is everyone's favourite indian as you can bring your own drink and get a huge feast for less then a tenner (just ignore the curry-splattered walls)
• StoryTeller (next to Chapel Rock Gym) is delicious, and good idea to have a 'walking winelist' ie; you chose the bottle you would like from the racks on the walls. The Phoenix does a great Sunday lunch, and they always make 'straights' feel welcome!
• Glos Grill (next to Restoration pub in High Street) does excellent kebabs and burgers. Admittedly it is not up to the standard of Istanbul Kebab House, but is a nearer alternative for those already in that area of town.
• Most of the info is pretty up to date and accurate. I would say the best curry house is the Everest, the chicken Jalfrezi being particularly good. The worst is the Bharat which changed its name to the Balti Raj.
• There's a new burger van that parks by the Boots end of the pedestrianised area every night. Very popular, good grub, good prices.
• You have almost any food you like delivered in Cheltenham including pizza, curry, fish'n'chips and the sunday dinner. The best however is pan pizza.
• Burger King.
• The Pizza Express is the best I've ever eaten in for quality of food. They do a great Mozzarella n' Tomato Salad. A table overlooking the Town Hall is a great place to be of an evening and during the summer days, when occasionally the weather is generous enough, you can enjoy a cool beer in the garden.

• Bharat Tandoori (Suffolk Street) - Excellent curries with good discounts during the week.
• The Istanbul Kebab House was far better than Burger Star, does the place still stink of Weetabix thanks to Whitbreads occasionally??
• Curry Hut: Not a bad little take away. The one downer is occasionallyyour order gets randomly mutated but apart from that it's OK.
• Burger Star (on the Bath Rd near The Five Alls pub) - if you want a burger get one from here. Cooked to order and with a variety of relishes etc that you add from the dispensers on the counter. Open late (for Chelt.) most nights.
• The Sandwich Pit (below Skewers tapas bar, next to the Everyman Theatre) - IMO the best quality sandwich and light snack place in town. A little pricey, but you get what you pay for.
• The best take-away Chinese by far is the 'Mini Roundabout' which is on the mini roundabout nest to the train station. The best chip shop is next door to the best Chinese and is called 'Popeyes' and you can eat in or take away. The best value Indian is the 'Cheltenham Tandoori' on Great Norwood street.
• Netscaf cybercafe at 9 Bennington Street (just off the High Street near Tesco's) open 10 til 10, 7 days a week £2.50 per half hour session. 9 PC's on two floors. A wine bar without the wine! A wide range of drinks and sandwiches. Fully qualified staff. Telephone number 01242 23 21 21

Pubs

• I t'wud like to mention that of all the pubs in cheltenham if its sumwhere u wanna go to chill with ur m8s or just go for a casual drink then the RAT and PARROT is the place to go.. me regular mainly coz a fairly fit blonde bird used to work there now replaced by a semi-fit brunette.. well i think u can see the attraction
• The CGCHE (now the University of Gloucershire) Pittville campus has a great little bar on site and the atmosphere is very friendly!
• Tailors is the best for just sitting and chilling out. Two pigs for a late one. O'Hagan's. Dobells. Prom Vaults
• My God theres shitloads! List of the best: Bar Med, Rat & Parrot, Toad, Peppers, J's Vodka Bar, HogsHead, Wetherspoons, Boom, Taylors, Casa, O'Neills, Icouldgoonbutwont.....
• Toad...High street
• The worst pub in town has got to be the retreat. Full of silly little school girls giggling and obnoxious rugby players sporting underaged drinking, the problem is they can't handle it. Can't think of anywhere id rather not be.
• Dobells,Tailors,2 Pigs,Bentleys,Frog/Fish and Fiddle,Pulpit,and Cheltenham's best-kept secret,The Mitre.The 2 Pigs is a good place to go on Saturday as it stays open til 2 and is good for a dance,upstairs is vintage indie/mosh-pit/party silliness,downstairs mainstream but bearable dance tunes.
• what the hell did thet do to the duck andd phesant best pub in the town or it was
• Frog and Fiddle on lower high street, very good, friendly atmosphere, great food, loads of room, chilled out. Also The Mitre down Sandford St has been done up and is very swish but nice!
• The Dog and Doughnut (formerly Rat and Carrot) has changed its name again and is now the Rattle and Hum. Not much has changed except the quality free jukebox from the time it was the Rat and Carrot has gone and there is Rock memorabilia all over the walls. Still nice for a quiet pint though.
• Cactus Jacks is absolute shite. New Wetherspoons superpub near where Mondo's used to be. Centre a bit thin on decent pubs, though several are OK. I don't see what the fuss is about the Retreat. Reminds me of student wanker rugby henries and their stupid floozy hangers on. Green Dragon at Cowley good for a visit (about 5 miles away).
• The Circus Bar (Montpellier) and Slug and Lettuce for posing. Dobells for cheesy music, badly dressed mature student types, but that 'everyone knows your name feeling', Frog and... (can't remember rest) on lower High Street for food and a studenty atmosphere. Two Pigs for late licence at weekends, same clientel as Dobells.
• APparently (according to an issue of GQ I saw a while ago)The Retreat near Suffolk Parade has some of the foxiest barmaids in Britain - TRUE!
• The Retreat is a great place to start before the Sub-Tone or Po Na Na. Lots of young, attractive, twenty-something lads and lassies, looking sophisticated as they down their tequilas! Is absolutely rammed at weekends, but its a friendly place so there's never much tussle at the bar, just the odd spilt pint of Stella. The Montpellier Wine Bar becomes the choice of many, when not quite so young and attractive as in their Retreat days! Fantastic selection of food, and also a restaurant downstairs. The Office is always full on Sundays when the Chip Shop Boys come to play. Cheap drinks, great music, mad people! Get your membership and make sure you get there early as the fun starts early and finishes after normal licencing hours. Not for the faint-hearted, but definitely for those intent on turning up late for work on Monday with a monster hangover!
• The Tut and Shive is now called Hydes Bar. It's got an iron cast of Medusa'a head on the wall and lots of conical flasks of multi-coloured water. Yes, it is a bit odd. The Rat and Carrot is now the Dog and Doughnut. There is a pub called the Rat and PARROT in town. The whole of Montpelliar is very snobby.
• SubTone(pub/club on the Promenade) offers a very welcome alternative to 'The Prom'. Nice to hear an ecclectic selection of music, with a chilled out atmosphere. Shame about the radioactive ultra violent light.
• The Two pig's free entry but has a late hours liscence (just make sure you get there before 2200hrs)
• Tailors, just down from Barclays bank oppisite Tandys. Sit in their armchairs and your stuck in them all night - no escape! Nice relaxing quiet drink type of thing going on. Also the var open in the gardens just up from the fish and fiddle, they are only open in the summer, but absolutely lovely spot to have a drink.
• In Regent Street there's Peppers and the Slug and Lettuce. Both do good food during the day and are busy in the evenings with well dressed young people.
• Phoenix, Tivolli - gay pub, good atmosphere.
• Cactus Jacks is Cheltenham's first Western style pub. Fun, lively atmosphere and they'll even sell you a cowboy hat if you want!
• The Fish and Fiddle: A good pub with a nice selection of unusual beers. Quite small though and slightly pricy.
• The Restoration is good but suffers from the perpetual problem of too much music noise.
• Other fine drinking establishments for the consumption of real ales are the Bayshill (Wadworths, behind the Royal Crescent/Bus Station) and the Kemble (Archers, Behind Fowlers Motorcycles). Both are small back-street pubs with excellent cheap beer and food. Hard to find but worth the searching. Also check out the Gloucester Old Spot on the Tewkesbury Road and The Plough at Prestbury, behind the Church.
• Another pub is the little known Fish n' Fiddle. There's nothing bad to say about this place. It's on the main road opposite the Town Hall, beside the Pizza Express. It has another entrance at the rear on the same road as the dairy. There is a great selection of Ales, Beers and imported fashionable largers. It has a very relaxing interior and is a great place to meet. Their selection of speciality sausages can't be beaten but I believe they have restricted food times. Even so it's well worth a visit. They also have live entertainment on certain evenings, ranging from Jazz to a string quartet from the local music college (they're good !).
• There is a pub on the corner of Grosvenor Street (A40 from London), The Restoration, which has a great food bar, but unfortunately during the evening hours on Saturdays and Sundays they have a karaoke when all the local yokels give the entire street their never ending renditions of "My Way" and "I Will Survive" and several other favorites (Hmmmm !!!). Any other time it's a good pub, and has a pleasant atmosphere.
• There is an incredibly amusing place to go if one wants to drink and hit up a bit of the local eccentricity. I discovered it when I was living in England two years ago. The local Catholic church runs a pub on the side called THE OLD PRIORY. I don't remember precisely how to get there but I do remember stumbling home up the Bayshill Road after a night of carousing at the priory. Once in a while they have an Ompah band. It's something you have to see.
  To put you out of your misery: The Old Priory Club is attached to St Gregroy's RC Church, where Ambrose Street meets Clarence Street. Just look for the tallest spire in town!
• The Duck and Pheasant Pub is now the Rat and Parrot. Gone is the biker(ish) image, now replaced with a wine bar feel (although you tend to get a wide cross section of the public in there). Nice place, and you get your drinks served to your table. i.e. It makes you stay for another pint!

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Cannot beat Starbucks! a little pricey but try the caramel macchiato and i guarrantee you will love it!
• cafe called Number Seven in St James Square - opposite the Old Fire Station -serves the BEST cooked breakfast in Cheltenham , the menu is different and excellent for lunches etc - if the sun shines you can sit outside! They even have a function room - really smart place to eat, great atmosphere - this will be THE place to eat - get in while you can!
• Some good ones - Boogaloos on Regent Street is nice, and the one that goes over the road just above it (that joins R.Arcade to Cav House) does nice toasties! Spencers - great for hangover fry-ups!
• Boogaloos is cool, with comfy sofas and friendly staff. New York style coffee house opened down from HMV, lush bacon sarnies !
• Good - includes department store cafes, pub-cafe thingy, more trendy places, a few greasy spoons.
• Boogaloos is an attempt at a Friends style coffee house but sitting downstairs may may you feel you're in a dungeon ! Spencers used to prettier when it was on the Strand but the menu is huge and tasty with good service. Slug and Lettuce do huge cups of coffee with a cake for about £2 !

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Last updated: 2007-08-07