The Marlborough Tavern, Bath

Occupying prime leafy neighbourhood position just past the Royal Crescent on the edge of Royal Victoria Park, the Marlborough Tavern effortlessly brings proper pub and upmarket contemporary bistro together in perfect harmony, an appealing blend of friendly familiarity and a fresh, smart outlook in both decor and menus giving both locals and visitors alike good reason to keep on keeping on here.

But like many hostelries in Bath whose origins date back to the 18th century, the pub has a big backstory… with its biggest shakeup to date happening in the last two decades.

In the early zeroes, the Marlborough Tavern languished in the file marked ‘neglected, tatty and unloved’. But in 2006, the then newly-formed Bath Pub Co recognised the potential beyond the Tav’s distinctly down-at-heel countenance and reinvented it for whole new generations under their enlightened curatorship.

The MT was the first pub in what became a Bath-based mini-empire for the BPC; they went on to work their magic on the Locksbrook Inn, the Moorfields and the Hare and Hounds (and Chequers too, for a decade-long stint up until 2020). But when the company sold three of their pubs to the St Austell Brewery in September 2023, BPC co-founder and commercial director Justin Sleath chose to continue to maintain MT operations and remains at the helm today.

So! Here we are. And there we were t’other night, nestled into a cosy, candlelit nook table for two just on the edge (but still very much a part of, it you get my drift) of typical Tavern Time proceedings: a birthday celebration, a family get-together, a reunion party and several other romantic twosomes all happily going about their merrymaking business without anybody impinging on anybody else’s personal space.

Calamari, from the starter array? There was no decision-making struggle there, what with the frangible little fishy fritters being one of our MT must-do choices since our very first visit and still as sprightly and appealing today, the accompanying lemon and garlic aioli as smooth and uplifting to the tastebuds as a Kiehl’s balm is to your lips. But as reliably good as the calamari is, it came up against stiff competition on this visit. If you’ve never thought that creamed mushrooms on toast could be described as sensational, prepare to have your preconceptions challenged; it’s a substantial portion, to say the least… but you’ll never want the dish to end.

For mains, soft, slow braised pork belly, satisfying fatty but not overwhelmingly so, served with an earthy, perfectly balanced black pudding mash, brassy, mineral-rich cavolo nero, a complex red wine and apple jus (kinda, gently tannic meets softly fruity) and shards of perfect crackling. I, meanwhile, swooned into my sweet, moist chicken breast that itself swooned into a pool of creamy polenta, a nutty walnut dressing tethering the sweetness of a tumble of honey-roasted butternut squash to a deeply umami foundation.

All our dishes were cleanly confident in execution, and the pairings exceedingly well-considered; this is really, really good grown-up food that exudes the flair of a highly-skilled chef (good work Filip Tencer and team) without attempts to be flashy, or snooty, or jarringly on-trend. Service was as personable and effortlessly efficient as personable and effortlessly efficient gets throughout, while the overall vibe lulled us into a “do we really have to go home when we feel so at-home here?” state of contentment. 

So what’s the best way to tear yourself away from the Marlborough Tavern when you really don’t want to leave? Book again for dinner next week, of course — which is exactly what we did. Will I go for those mushrooms again, if they’re still on the menu? Definitely; as long as somebody else  orders the calamari, I know I’ll be right at home — again.