It’s hard to believe that this thriving restaurant and bar with stylish rooms, in a historic riverfront building, almost became an office block
It has buildings of creamy limestone, ancient bridges over the Avon and coffee shops galore, but Bradford on Avon is probably best-known as a day trip destination from Bath, with which it has much of the above in common. What it doesn’t have is Bath’s crowds and queues. A walk on Bradford’s riverside path is a peaceful affair: birdsong drifts, a Saxon church peeps from trees, and traffic is a distant rumble.
Adding to the town’s charms since last year is Timbrell’s Yard, in a prime spot by the river and 13th-century Town Bridge. Amazingly for such a well-kept town, this was until 2013 a rundown pub, the Riverside Inn. In 2014, when it had lain empty for a year and was about to be turned into offices and flats, it was bought by Draco Pub Company (now Stay Original Co), owner of the similarly revamped Swan at Wedmore and White Hart in Somerton, both in Somerset. A £1.5m modernisation saw the old pub remodelled and renamed, after research revealed that the site was a dye mill in the 18th century, and the Grade-II listed main building the family home of one Charles Timbrell.
The kitchen is overseen by River Cottage graduate Tom Blake. Our expectations are high, and are met with some great hits
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