Blink as you drive past the sign for the tiny village of Upton Cheyney – roughly halfway-ish between Bath and Bristol, just off the Kelston Road – and you’ll miss the turn-off. But miss it and you’ll seriously miss out, as Upton Cheyney has to be one of the most picture-perfect villages for miles around, all ancient cottages, imposing mansions and lush, verdant greenery. It looks like a backdrop for a Richard Curtis film, or the kind of place that might have inspired Beatrix Potter to anthropomorphise a herd of sheep. But Upton Cheyney is a real, working village – and there’s a very real, working pub at the heart of village life too.
Established in the early 18th century, The Upton Inn has offered a warm welcome and hearty sustenance to all who venture off the well-beaten Kelston Road track for 314 years. Over the past few years, though, the warmth went out of that welcome, the heart went out of that food… and the pub closed for good in 2023. For a little while, it looked as though The Upton may well fall foul to down-and-out status, ripe for redevelopment by a builder with contacts in the ‘second home outside of London’ crowd or a canny Airbnb operator with a keen eye on sedate hen parties.
But last year, a knight in shining armour stepped into the breach and saved Upton Cheyney from turning into a country pub-free zone. Julian Abraham – an affable entrepreneur/landlord with an impressive track record in the hospitality industry both around these yer parts and beyond – saw the potential in The Upton version 2.0, and placed it centre stage in what he calls “a dynamic period of rebirth.”
Despite the refurbished, revamped Upton only opening its doors under Julian’s aegis in March of this year, this historic listed building is already worthy of a listing on all manner of “Best Pub For…” lists, easily topping those charts for location, ambience and that all-important food without any hint of ostentation, and laden with heart, soul and warmth.
While the layout could hardly be described as sprawling (to the contrary, it feels relatively compact), The Upton Inn offers a choice of three alfresco terraces to chillax on when the sun shines. Inside, there are multiple spaces to inhabit according to mood or occasion including a snug to cosy-up in, a couple of bars to prop up, a characterful, candlelit parlour/dining room and a seductively stylish private dining area due to be officially unveiled any day now, resulting in the perfect pastoral paradise for all-comers (including those all-important four-legged canine friends).
Menus too rock to a contemporary country pub beat: proper burgers, fish and chips, Brit-trad dishes with the odd Medi-themed tickle and – of course – real roasts on a Sunday, supplemented by regular Pie Nights; hoorah!
But there’s a foodie angel rather than a day-to-day pub grub devil in the detail at play here: the fish that comes with the chips is tempura-battered hake; the burger is made with chargrilled beef brisket – and, when we order our starters, I’m met with the kind of response that people like me (as in, obsessively foodie, and always in search of kitchens-that-really-care) dream of hearing: “Yes, go ahead and have the asparagus with Parma ham – but it isn’t served with ricotta, like it says on the menu; you can be the very first people to try our own homemade cheese – we made it for the first time today.”
And gosh, The Upton kitchen needs to make that cheese on a very regular basis: think, a Delice de Bourgogne on its very best day or a less overwhelmingly creamy version of Camembert, complemented by silky, top-notch Parma ham and delicately grassy Wye Valley asparagus. Our second starter bought silky roast chicken and earthy black pudding together in perfect terrine harmony, robust but elegant and tasting of nothing but real ingredients, treated well – a theme that our main courses further endorsed.
If dressed Brixham crab is on the menu when you visit The Upton, go for it: lashings of super-fresh crab – sweet, fluffy white meat; rich, almost pate-ish brown meat – carefully picked and neatly packed back into the scrubbed-up shell, served with a tumble of creamy, nutty Ratte potato salad and a pile of well-dressed rocket. But then again, if you fancy a steak-out, stick to your guns: He opted for the intensely flavoursome, super-juicy rib eye, which came accompanied by a properly peppery peppercorn sauce, a juicy portobello mushroom, the kind of onion rings that nobody should be allowed to keep to themselves (that’s my excuse, anyway) and luxurious truffle and parmesan fries that put a sophisticated spin on a classic steak dinner.
It was all so good, and so satisfying, and so well-balanced that we decided to skip pud despite the alluring prospect of Warm Pecan Tart and Dark Chocolate Mousse loudly making their presence felt on the menu. But then, our server said that the Lemon Posset that he’d made himself that day (oh, this kitchen is seducing me as fast as that crab did!) was on the menu. So we went there, ‘cos it would have been rude not too (that’s my excuse, anyway) and thank goodness we did… y’get my drift?
The Upton Inn is, quite simply, lovely – and, being only a 20-minute drive/affordable Uber ride from Bath, there’s no good reason why it shouldn’t be your new favourite local: a magical, welcoming escape to the country, right on our doorstep.
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