Bear Inn in South Somerset

The establishment has changed ownership since I left this review. I am yet to meet the new owners. Lovely people, good atmosphere and food.

Great food staff at drive through pleasant and efficient Good experience

Grotty place really. Shame as it has lots of character

Cheapest pint of Thatchers I've ever had. The trade off being you have to drink it in Wincanton. Decent atmosphere

Updated interior, friendly staff. Good location

Unprepossessing from outside and a bit rum down. Limited menu. However, what they do they do well. Warm welcome, attentive service. Food cooked really well. Didn't book but no problem. Will go again if I'm in the area.

Stayed overnight on way down to Cornwall. Nice comfortable rooms. Six of us had dinner and the steaks are cooked to perfection. All meals served at the same time and exactly as requested. Staff are friendly and helpful. Highly recommended and will definitely stay again.

Room was clean and comfortable and the decor was nice and clearly been done fairly recently.

The staff were brilliant. Celebrated my 30th birthday here and they went the extra mile with champagne and the most beautiful flowers. We got a free room upgrade in the comfiest bed. Definitely recommend! Thank you

We were greeted as friends and made to feel very welcome! The room was clean and fresh with a nice comfy bed and the en-suite was clean and bright! We are looking forward to returning next year!

Popped in for a pint to stave off the rain on a drizzly Sunday. Such a friendly, welcoming atmosphere! Thank you to the barman for recommending places to eat for lunch and also taking the time to write numbers down for us. 🙂🙂🙂

Upon arrival we were welcomed by a lovely gentleman behind the bar, went up to our room through a lovely hallway well decorated, into our room it was well decorated also, fresh and tidy.. with own bathroom and tea coffee making bits, plenty of towels and a television.. We then went down stairs to the bar area,where we were served by the same gentleman.. very chatty,friendly and even pointed us in the right direction for plaes to eat and also a local park in walking distance that was lovely too x We also met the owner and his mother in law both were lovely and friendly too.. even turned the volume up so much son could watch Bfg on the tv while we relaxed for a short while after such a long journey 👌👌😊.. went for food came back and shortly after we heard outside the dogs my son had been eagerly waiting for.. so off we went outside to meet them..🥰 such lovely friendly dogs.. it made his day!! He has gone to sleep telling us his so excited to see them in the morning😂.. Slight bit of noise from outside coming from customers but it seems they are trying to whisper.. but its expected staying above a pub!! Not as bad as what I thought the noise level would be.. infact so minor we all fell asleep pretty quickly .. No food at the moment due to start back up at the end of August with a new menu.. All in all it's a truly lovely place to stay, very friendly and relaxed x

Sound place staff are friendly and have a good laff. Rooms are cheap and good standard 👍

I booked for christmas eve,christmas night and the 26th dec all with breakfast(paying £22.50 each for the breakfasts) I also booked The Bear for the food over Christmas (advertised as cooking until 9pm) Went for food at 8pm chrismas eve...no cook. No one arrived to cook breakfast on boxing day morning....and again no food being cooked on the evening. As we were a long way from relatives we booked The Bear because of being able to access food...so we were very disappointed and hungry over our stay. Also dirty bed sheets left at the top of the stairs from Christmas eve until teatime boxing day. I'm a dog lover but did dislike having to run the gauntlet of 4 dogs everytime we went in or out of the building. Staff friendly and lovely friendly local atmosphere.

Great atmosphere, brilliant food.

We make twice annual trips to Wincanton and are always made welcome at the bear.

Folks we have just returned from a very disappointing stay at The Bear.  I wouldn’t even give this one star so steam well clear. When we checking in we were surprised to find that Breakfast wasn’t available on Saturday, which in fairness was refunded.  However this didn’t really set us up for work on Saturday due to the lack of other places to eat. We understand that the rooms are at the cheaper end of the scale however the cleanliness was not acceptable. We had to clean the toilet and sink ourselves before we could use it. The carpet was full of dust and the pillows were stained with rips in the duvet and pillowcases. As we had to leave for work early Saturday we were not able to speak to anyone and although we should have raised the issues Saturday night we were too exhausted to do so. After a lack of sleep Saturday night due to people running up and down the metal fire escape we decided to try breakfast on Sunday.   We tried to use the shower which turned out to be broken, it only allows scalding hot water out (the valve is broken) so we’re unable to wash properly. We went downstairs for breakfast at nine as were were told this is when it was served.  The place was like a ghost town. No staff at all, tea urn was cold and dirty dishes and beer glasses on the table.  I made the mistake of looking in the kitchen for someone and I must say I’m pleased we didn’t eat. At this point we gave up and walked out. It ruined our weekend in Wincanton and we both felt ill due to not eating in the morning. This really was not good enough and I expected a full refund for our stay, the owners did promise a refund but have now decide to rip us off instead, no refund has ever happened. Seems such a shame as the pub has such potential but the owners quite obviously do not care

It's ok if you like being stared at by the drunk blokes at the bar

What an absolute pleasure to stay here. All staff were very polite and efficient. Room was spotless and very comfortable. Breakfast was 1st class and far superior to any other hotels we have stayed at. Loved the band and the locals all embraced us and made us feel at home. Which could have been tricky, considering an hour earlier, they had just lost the rugby world cup, and we are Welsh, lol. Cant wait to stay here again in the near future. Thanks from Owain and Stevie xxx

Good fun and value. Food very good

To be honest the staff are shirty and the regulars are intimidating. I'd definitely say this is one that young females should give a miss, although the clientele is charming in the first instance if you aren't accommodating to their "charms" they will quite quickly change their tune. It's cheap here though and they have a pool table and a skittle alley so it's not the worst place in the world.

Don't stay here! Wincanton is a lovely place with friendly people and neat shops. The "Bear Inn", in contrast, wouldn't even let us in. We stood there for two hours, rang the bell, knocked on the doors and tried to call them while it was raining. No answer, all windows were dark and the doors closed. After seeking help from the locals, we were told that we really shouldn't stay there and promptly booked a room elsewhere. I really hope we can get the money back.

Very good rooms, friendly staff

Friendly staff nice place for a stop over

I stayed there for one night , all there was was noise all night , and the food always had at least one or two hairs in it. We also found how incredibly dirty the bathtub was, I gagged at the sight of it. Other than that, nice decorations, and space.

Excellent value for money. Lovely clean room. Shared loo is awkward but is reflected in price.

Good pub friendly food excellent

Fkn awesome place. Great food (really well priced) friendly staff and good drinks deals. Plus on fridays they often have live music. Everything you could possibly want from a pub 😀

Is very dirty place. The owner or hadshafe is a unfriendly, and not a costumers original person. I don't recommend to nobody!

Polite staff, plenty of seating, we stayed for drinks only

2am LATE LICENCE...DO NOT STAY…. PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW: on the outside the place looks fine for £55 a night and for £55 a night we didn't expect much however what we got was poorer than poor. We travel the world and have stayed in some rough places for the pleasure of seeing some amazing locations so please don't think we are prudish snobs, however I have never refused to not stay another night ever! The bathroom: a shared bathroom which was filthy and only cleaned once a day so you are reliant on other people keeping it clean and trust me it's not the type of establishment where you can rely on other hotel guests keeping it clean. There is a sink in your room however we wouldn't even use it to fill up the kettle!! It was that bad. The room: smelly, covered in dog hair, sheets dirty, we had room 5 which is right above the side door that the locals use to go out and smoke followed by the landlady who shouts at them to close the door!!! Dinner: I actually refused to eat there worried about what it would be like if the bathroom was bad I could only imagine the kitchen so ate at an amazing pub 5mins away that sadly had no rooms available or I wouldn't have gone back other then to collect my belongings! With no available accommodation locally we were stuck for one night at least. Bar: we returned at about 9pm and the bar is a locals bar and dont think old man having a beer at the end of the bar local…. Think middle age man and young men on a combination of drink and drugs. No were on booking did it say this was a 2am late licence pub and no were in the bar is this obvious. Just gone midnight there was a window broken that had only just been fixed that day as the window man was fixing it when we arrived. The police were called and the landlady told the police that they guy who did it was high on something!! We complained at this point and there was no hesitation to offer us our money back. Upside: we got our money back for the second night as we didn't stay But this was without hesitation which makes me wonder how many other people ask so it's become normal just to offer it back Breakfast was ok it was what it said in a tin, the guy was lovely very pleasant and apologetic However it felt like he'd had that conversation before as it must be a common occurrence PLEASE NOTE there are lots of notices with in the bar area that you don't see on arrival saying things like…. "We will now be serving you in plastic glasses past 10pm on Friday and Saturday night" "please leave the premises quietly and avoid disturbing the local residence" And my favourite...headed rules one of which is no fighting, one is the no toleration of drugs and one no tolerance of drunks "We are trying to keep our late licences so you can continue to have fun, please help us do this" As you can read from my review the locals are not helping with this and the bar continues to serve drinks and people influenced by drugs!!! I would suggest the the other reviews on this page are written by locals as there is no way they are true It's such a shame as it's a great location and what could be a great hotel/restaurant/bar in a lovely building.

I would not stay the again. The party went on to 2am which made sleeping impossible. Not recommended

WORST NIGHT EVER... stayed here on a Friday night big mistake larger louts shouting, fighting until 2am at some point a window was smashed had little to no sleep. The room was smelly and dirty with dog hair on the carpet TV remote was sticky. On the plus side the staff where lovely gave us a refund for the second night no questions and the breakfast was good

Had a fantastic 2 nights as we went to longleat. Great hosts and atmosphere even tho renovations were going on thry catered and adjusted for that. I would happily go back there again thanks

lovely Enclosed Dog Area Outside, With Water For Dogs...& Lovely Somerset Cider x

Lovely pub and bed and breakfast! 1800 country inn, with log fires, beautiful located in the lovely market town of Wincanton. Only 20 mins walk, 2 min car ride from the racecourse. Rooms are fresh, spacious and lovely and clean! Breakfast and the pub Food is amazing and service is first class!

Had pre family Christmas party. Nice food at very reasonable price. Good service

This pub needs an update and redecorating, but the lunch food was tasty and good value.

Fantastic food, service and friendly staff

Nice atmosphere and pleasant pub. Only stopped for drinks, haven't tried the food so can't comment.

New owners working hard to make this a lovely place to visit, would give higher rating but toilets bring them down

Friendly atmosphere. Good music. Decent pricing.

Imagine a country bar but more Somerset

Great place. Friendly people. An old English trading hole. It has kept it's character.

Food reasonable price, ambience is that of a every pub, plus they allow dogs. Limited parking at rear of pub.

Nice village pub with accomodation

The Bear is the best pub in Wincanton ! Good mood, friendly staff and costumers,.. I recommend you that place (pool lovers, it's the place to be)

I go to the Bear twice a year to attend a Discworld Gather. Always enjoy it. Food excellent. Company tremendous fun. Started in 2002 and going strong! :-)

Friendly enough and good service. Limited selection of beers and ciders, that are dearer than other places in the town.

Went on Kareoke night, staff and other guests all very welcoming. Such a warm and friendly atmosphere!

Good beer and cider and good atmosphere

Excellent place, busy, has a disco and run well by some lovely people. Zoe and her husband, they made my wife Michelle and I very welcome all the way from Portsmouth. X

Amazing atmosphere and the owners are very welcoming to all. The food is also very good. Brilliant all round

Nice atmosphere,Just popped in for a coffee.

Great atmosphere. Comfortable and clean rooms. Had a really lovely night.

Awesome staff and friendly crowd

Loved it...good atmosphere and amazing people x

Excellent atmosphere and friendly staff

Great atmosphere and a cosy pub.

Food was delicious, prompt and hot. Service was fantastic. Wood burner was a cosy touch that went down beautifully on this chilly evening. Will definitely visit again soon.

Went here for dinner as on Tastecard and they allow dogs. Was a bit shocked when we walked in as no restaurant and only a very basic bar menu, but the fish and chips was fine and the barman friendly so an ok evening

Lovely friendly atmosphere. Brilliant bingo night

Quite small and they weren't doing food however the drinks were cold and reasonably priced.

Mediocre place. Nothing special about it.

Great pub with interesting history and a welcoming atmosphere. Top notch food and plenty of seating.

ok.place and food but is a bit pricey for what you are getting

Great music, very good beer all round great time can't wait to go again

Not the Inn it was, just a boozer, take it as it is

Bit shabby could do with an update

Best pub not only in Wincanton but in the country, brilliant staff, brilliant prices and a brilliant atmosphere!

Called in for a swift lunchtime pint - very pleasant 'olde worlde' town pub that is clean and comfortable. Very friendly bar staff. Menu isn't pretentious and offers normal pub grub and an extensive range of bar snacks all at very reasonable prices. The Ringwood Best was in tip-top condition with two other pumps standing by. Better than average