The Boat Inn, Chepstow Pub Review

The Boat Inn, Chepstow

Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by Robert Gale in Pubs

The Boat Inn, Chepstow

The Boat Inn is located in the east of Chepstow on the banks of the River Wye. The area next to the pub was originally a dry dock that opened in 1759 and was used for the cleaning, caulking and repairing of ships of up to 600 tons. After an outbreak of cholera in 1832, the dry dock was considered to be a health hazard and the tenant was ordered to either fill it or empty it. It was still in use a decade later although by 1850 the gates had broken and the basin had silted up.

The pub was open by 1789 and can be seen in a print from 1846 (the Boat is located on the bottom left of the print). The right side of the building certainly looks original with the left side appearing to be more modern – at least the frontage looks modern. The interior of that building may tell a different story. It’s difficult to determine from the print whether the current pub occupies the same amount of land as it did back in 1846.

The Boat Inn, Chepstow

The older part of the pub contains a seating area with a few comfy sofas and a large screen TV. To access the bar you need to walk into the other building. The interior of the other building consists of bare brick walls and black timber beams and the walls are decorated with images of ships. The large bar occupies the entire rear wall and there is a large dual staircase which leads to an eating area upstairs.

The Boat Inn, Chepstow

Outside there is a large seating area next to the River Wye. I’m sure that the pub gets very popular on sunny days.

Ale selection at the Boat is pretty decent with Wadworth 6X, Flowers Original, Bass, Reverend James and Brains SA Smooth all available when I visited in July 2010. Prices were reasonable. I didn’t eat when I visited but they had an extensive with plenty of seafood dishes.

Venue Location

The Boat Inn

The Back

Chepstow

NP16 5HH

Tel: 01291 628192

www.theboatinnchepstow.co.uk

View on Google Street View

Robert Gale (Twitter: @awv)

Beer Taster, Pub Attendee, Photo Taker

Robert Gale likes beer, pubs and beer festivals. He also likes to take photos of beer, pubs and beer festivals. Most weekends of the year you can find him travelling around the UK (and sometimes beyond) photographing and reviewing good quality pubs and beer festivals. He also has a day job in the form of a web developer for Ozum.