Apart from Shakespeare- any decent pubs/places to eat in the centre?

I live about 12 miles away – they have lot’s of Shakespeare stuff and a reasonable shopping centre. It’s very nice down by the river and there are some nice walks along the side of the river. You can even hire a bike (I think) and ride along the path next to the river.

Trip Advisor has these Pubs

To be honest I’ve never eaten in any of them but I’ve been in The Thatch in the middle of the town and it’s a nice pub.

There’s also a bike factory in the town…

Pashley

There are a couple of decent Stately homes nearby (Coughton Court and Ragley Hall) which are not Shakespeare related. Plus you’re not far from Warwick or Kenilworth Castle.

The most visited place outside of London apparently 😆

Unless you want to do the tourist thing avoid the town completely, every pub/eating place is geared up to extract the maximum amount of cash from tourists as possible with Parisian waiter attitudes from the staff. Warwick town is better & the castle is worth a visit but you will pay through the nose for it.

Micro Brewery and Decent pub grub in The Townhouse IIRC there is also a Marco Pierre White place if you like that sort of thing.

http://www.thestratfordalehouse.com/

Take bikes and pedal along the riverside, hire a rowboat and meander down it.

We’ve been a few times, it’s lovely to sit on the grass in the park next to the river if the weather’s nice.
If you have kids the butterfly farm is cheap and good. There’s also the MAD museum if it’s raining or even if it’s not, not that expensive and quite good also. http://themadmuseum.co.uk/

20mins from us, as said already its a tourist hot spot with food drink prices to match but it has a great indian restaurant called Usha on Meer st . They do a green chilli masala thats superb .

If you fancy a decent steak The Lazy Cow will see you right. Carry on across the bridge if you fancy Thai at the boathouse. Up the other end of town you can find The One Elm which I remember being fairly good last time I ate there, although usually if I’m out I’m just on the razz.

Thatch tavern is nice and well priced. Butterfly farm if you have little ones

I live 9 miles south (shipston on stour) and while Stratford is nice you may run out of things to do, mix it with Warwick and Leamington and it opens up more options. Another vote for the butterfly farm, great for kids and adults! Stratford is lovely if the weather is good as well, a trip up the river on a punt with a picnic is nice.

There’s always a local MTB ride with us lot on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night if you have a bike with you!

Gaydon and Coventry motor museums if you’re into 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles too, Coventry is free too.

On that note the Heritage Motor Museum in Gaydon is also good.

Edit – oops, you meant the Gaydon one!

The best coffee is from HR Coffee (pretty much opposite the entrance to the cinema/next to the bus station). The chap behind the counter REALLY cared about his coffee 🙂 They also make a cracking bacon roll.

Apologies for the slight thread hijack, but I like Stratford so much I’m thinking of re-locating there permanently.

Interested in the MTB options around there and was interested to see iain65’s reply above so this is directed at him really …..

I know there are a fair few places a reasonable drive away, like FoD, the Malverns, Cannock but what’s the off-roading like in the immediate area ??

Any info gratefully received !
Many thanks, cheers

Hi wrong trousers, the riding is surprisingly okay as long as you are not looking for gnar singletrack, there are a lot of good and challenging bridleways with a lot of up and down and stunning scenery. I have a couple of friends I ride with that live in Stratford, they generally escape the town by going south on the Greenway to Long Marsden, from there there is good riding around Mickleton, Ilmington, Blockly, Sainrbury, etc. having got that far then there is some really good riding in the Cotswolds from Broadway south by Laverton, Stanton, Winchcombe, etc. Pretty much where the Hell of the North Cotswolds is run.

Feel free to grab some routes from my Strava data, if you have premium you can get the gpx, if not I can mail you some. Always welcome to join us for a ride some time. https://app.strava.com/athletes/408193?utm_source=top-nav

I moved here from Edinburgh originally and love the area. Which was a big suprise as Edinburgh is pretty good.

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much Iain65, very interesting, I’m surprised that there are that many opportunities locally as it’s always seemed pretty flat around there to me.
If it’s ok, yes please send me some GPX’s and I’ll take a look. My email should be in my profile.
And I’ll keep yours and give you a shout when and if the move happens. It would be good to hook up regularly.
Thanks again, cheers

Wrong trousers – will do but cannot see your email in profile.
Iain.

I am there right now. We’ve just popped into Pizza Express after spending the day at Warwick Castle (recommended if you’ve got kids). Stratford seems like a nice picturesque place, plenty of nice looking pubs and restaraunts. Not sure what there is beyond the Shakespere stuff, but seems nice enough to spend a few hours meandering and sipping a few cheeky ones.

Mrs Pondo got us tickets for Love’s Labours Won for me birthday at the RSC last year, I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy or even understand it, not knowing the story, but it was ace, proper ace. 🙂

@iain65 – sorry about that, I just you an email at your AOL email address
Cheers !

If you are living in Stratford, riding from the door is limited, very few bridleways & the terrain is very flat, there is always the canal. You’ll be riding a fair way to get to decent stuff. This is one of the reasons I moved from Warwick. If you like road riding though there are masses of quiet country lanes to explore.