The Garrick Inn, Stratford-Upon-Avon
The Garrick Inn dates back to the 1400's and it's one of the oldest pubs in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Its history is fascinating, it includes plagues, fires and priest holes!
Said to be haunted, the building is Grade II listed, meaning it’s a particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
The ancient pub was previously called the Greyhound, as well as the Reindeer, before its name was changed to the Garrick Inn after the actor David Garrick in 1795.
It is thought that a bout of plague may have started within the original inn in 1564 after a weaver's apprentice, Oliver Gunn, died of the disease there.
The phrase "hic incepit pestis", which translates as 'here begins the plague', was written in Gunn's burial entry.
However, it is unclear whether these words were added to the burial register in order to indicate the local plague outbreak starting at this location.
Today, the Inn stands at 25 High Street, on the west side of the street beside Harvard House.
It is three storeys high, with the projecting upper floor that was so common in Elizabethan townhouses.
The pub has great reviews on TripAdvisor, one recent customer said: “Love this ancient old pub. With its twisty corridors and many rooms the atmosphere is steeped in its history.
The staff are so nice! We had Sunday lunch and it was spot on. The beef was beautifully cooked, tender and rare.
”The vegetables were just perfect, not hard but not too soft either. My husband had chicken and said that was really good too.”
Another person added: “Lovely town-centre pub steeped in history with a warm welcome and dog friendly too (very much so - big jar of treats for them on the way in!).
“Lots of little nooks and crannies to sit in and soak up the atmosphere.
”Full range of Greene King beers (including the Flint Eye that not all Greene King's seem to stock), well kept and served.
”Actually failed to eat there twice (kitchen had just closed at 9pm on the Friday night, and they were only catering for reservations on the Sunday of the Bank Holiday weekend), but the beer was good!”
The pub is also dog-friendly and it offers free WIFI for all its guests.
They serve traditionally cooked pub food throughout the week, you can check out their full menu via the Green King website.
According to their website, the pub is open everyday from 12pm.
If you’d like to visit, the address is: 25 High Street, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 6AU.
There’s many other lovely establishments along the route of Stratford’s Historic Spine.
Born and buried here in this hopelessly romantic 16th-century town in the heart of England is the great bard himself, William Shakespeare.
Understandably there’s a lot centred around the scribe from its three theatres to the half-timbered Tudor homes and cottages of his and his significant others.
You can’t come here and avoid it – nor should you. But there’s also plenty to do once you’ve done all that.
The question is whether it’s paddle boarding to ghost touring, raising a glass to its pretty fine gin distillery or taking the Shakespeare Distillery’s produced spirit aboard on a cruise and toasting the whole thing– what to see or not to see, that really is the question.
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