The Samuel Barlow in North Warwickshire

Fab location but this pub has gone from excellent to well....frankly....boring. Reasonable beers but nothing wow. No food bar some cobs and crisps. It used to have excellent food with good portions. Used to be events and upstairs events too but now....not sure there's anything. Huge missed opportunity. Shame.

This place has so much potential with the location on the marina. Very odd small bar for the size of the building. No food so just worth visiting for drinks by the canal on a sunny day. Barman didn't say a word just looked at you to take the order. I dont need a comedian but christ basic customer service skills such as a smile, hello and what can i get you would be nice. Toilets were disgusting and dirty glasses left out after 4 rounds when it wasn't that busy. So much potential with some easy fixes just very disappointing.

Nice place two for visitors only downfall is no accommodation would be amazing to stay there I recommend a visit definitely

Delightful pleasant experience with a helpful and friendly bar Stuart named Phil, will definitely be visiting again.. 10/10..

Phil the gaffer a nice fellow indeed and does a great Guinness

No food here anymore which is a shame, use to get really busy, only a few people there. Gin is quite expensive

The kitchen isnt doing meals but there are snacks available and choice of beers

Had a fabulous few pints and cheese and onion cob. Great atmosphere and Phil is amazing 🥰

We visited on a bank holiday weekend afternoon, and we were not quite sure what we would find, as the information online is largely out of date. The Samuel Barlow is set in a very pleasing location on a delightful stretch of the canal, with a terrace overlooking Alvecote Marina. It could be a real destination dining location with some investment and dedicated management.... but for now, at best, this is only a traditional pub, and certainly not a restaurant. They have not had a permanent chef since lockdown, so they only serve rolls and pasties, which can be heated up if required. Seating outside is comfortable and there is a large canopy for shade. The small number of customers, despite it being a bank holiday weekend, is a good indication of what the pub is like. There were a couple of chaps playing bar billiards inside, and a few people outside, some with dogs. We had a pleasant time sitting in the sun and watching the boats. Bar service (one barman) was friendly and efficient. Parking is strange - part is for the pub and part for the moorings, but neither are well signposted and the pub parking area seems quite small. Sadly, it's not our kind of place, but I hate marking things down, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt in case things improve, and I'm mainly dropping down to 4 because to get inside the pub you have to go past the toilets, and they were very smelly indeed (stale urine). Not a good first impression.

Be great when we have a Gardner engine Rally There

Stopped of for a drink early April after not visiting for a couple of years, Guy who served us was miserable and the lager tasted disgusting like it was either out of date/ off or had cleaning fluid in it but due to the man being so unfriendly, Anyway we just left the drinks and went. Not what I remembered the place to be like!

No hot food at present, sandwich only, nice location, work on car park spoils the views, does not look open when you first arrive.

Best place to be on Sunday afternoon 😊

Friendly quiet pub, no chef at present . Thanks VW red and white campervan

A nice traditional public house. A sociable landlord. The Taylor's Landlord beer is just as it should be. This pub serves mead.

Nice beer nice surroundings..landlord/bar man a miserable bloke..no people skills..

Great canal side pub, landlord very friendly and welcoming, worth a visit.

Absolutely shocking went here Auguast last year upon arrival the ladies said the machine down we ll let them know so give my reg and phone it through . I had scotch egg is took ages to come out to table. Now I paid on card so I have it on bank details. Anyway I've just received a parking fine of £170.00 as they said it wasn't sent so would rhe pub going to pay it for me ? Please reply on here as no one answering the phones. Regards Mr Radbourne.

Fantastic pub this, great location and proper home cooked food.

A ruined pub that was previously a great part of the community

Very quiet had a lager sat outside and enjoyed the view over the canal basin.

Used to be a decent pub but now deal with parking eye designed to fleece you of money just to use the pub

Nice country pub on the canal, not to far from pooley park if your taking a walk

Nice canalside pub. Great selection of beers and drinks but no food available when we visited.

Fantastic pub stop on our walk. Lovely outside area, fairly priced drinks. Loss of one star because a staff member wouldn’t change the dog water bowl outside as advised “we don’t manage it” which is obviously a bit odd.

Called in whilst on a dog walk delicious grazing board produce all locally sourced, scotch egg pork pie and sausage roll all made at grendon absolutely delicious, all served by a lovely young girl who obviously enjoys her job

A lovely hidden gem of a pub in a lovely spot by the canal, always pop in when I'm about

Had meat platter, we could have done with more bread.

It was a fantastic place to stop at for a drink and something to eat , and some where to sit and rest after a long walk so I would recommend it to everyone .

Great place to meet and the food is good. But if your going for ale....You will be greatly disappointed. (April 2021 update) From april 2021. There is a car park that charges you for entering it a fine through the post a week later £60 and if not paid within 2 weeks £100! With no option to pay on site when the pub is closed. So as soon as you enter the car park your screwed! Samuel barlow if you are reading this... I will ammend this if you accept my car park fine appeal. Attached are some photos that are evidence of the car park situation. My solicitor already knows too.

Seeing you asked I think it's a grand place but then I'm bias

Absolutely amazing food and service

Cosy little pub on the canal front with mooring out the back. Not a bad place, just slightly disappointed with the food. Mrs enjoyed hers, just wanted crackling like it said on the menu!

Fantastic Sunday lunch on a great setting. Well recommended.

Service was awful. Then the food was even worse. Looked lovely when came out but was awful I could barely eat it. Sent over half back also some things cold and like warm grave. Would NOT go back. Shame as we been looking to try a Sunday dinner here for a while

Good food long wait but cooked fresh so to be expected delicious

Only went in for a coffee. Nice outside space Dog friendly and plenty of free parking

Lovely setting, we enjoyed their Burgers and Fish n Chips on our last visit. Previous stop there they had live music. Great place to get to on the bike from Polesworth and would recommend especially on a sunny day. Booking essential at the moment but it's really easy to do so in their website. They serve a nice selection of alcoholic drinks.

They are making the experience of eating out safe as very careful with the health and well-being of their customers by being as covid safe as possible. Very well done. Good food as well .

Nice food but service by the young girls was quite poor as 1 of them kept dropping the food. Also portion size has reduced quite a bit

Beautiful friendly marina, excellent foods, covid safe, lovely staff

!!!! AVOID THIS PLACE !!!! Poor service and disgusting food, cold and greasy, pig skin full with hair. Food overpriced and after 1 hour and drinks after food, no cutlery available so we need to wait 10 more minutes after food arrived.

DO NOT GO!!! It was the worst experience ever. We order the drinks and food, and we received the food before our drinks after at least 50 minutes wait, and asking for our drinks 2 times in that time. The food was warm at best, the pork was undercooked🤢🤢, vegetables were tastless, yorkshire pudding burnt and gravy just on the bottom of the plate. The staff is slow and unqualified. Not going again for sure. Avoid with all cost.🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮

Booked a table arrived 5 minutes early , taken to our table waited 25 minutes still no member of staff arrived to take our drink or dinner selections. In the end walked out to book some where else. First and last time of booking here.

Very friendly place with excellent food on offer. Great quality and very reasonably priced.

We enjoyed a very pleasant Sunday lunch at this canal side pub after mooring up close by. The traditional Sunday roast was served as a generous portion and met with my partner's approval. The service was good and the clientele were friendly and accommodating (we had my eighteen month old granddaughter with us).

The food here is great, all home cooked! And as a vegan very impressed especially with the vegan Sunday dinner I would recommended here for families and couples, dog friendly too.

Strange and quirky place, but a nice setting and one of the best Sunday roasts I've ever had out.

Very friendly reception and food was excellent! I spent the night here in my motorhome as part of the Britstops scheme! Would stay again if in the area!

Beer was not that good when we visited

Carpark near open canal no lighting it was pitch black. So dangerous if you have children with you. No lighting near edge of water or in car park. Absolutely bloody ridiculous. Food was excellent though.

Nice location, good food, but limited menu and space, booking a good idea.

Nice place, good prices and dog friendly

Sits on the canel, peacefull, good beer, fantastic food, booking is highly recomended.

Good beer with the usual pub grub offering; although the baguettes are very tasty. A modern pub lacking atmosphere.

fantastic food, glorious location, will be back in the summer.

Lovely food. It's just ashame it takes 40 minutes for the food to cook. Plus I don't agree with dogs being allowed inside the restaurant while customers are eating.

Not enough staff on a Sunday afternoon (24th of November c.y.) shift and the girl on the bar looked like she's still training. This made us wait for our food longer than usually and when it came the meat was to much left it on the grill and the vegetables undone. Instead we really enjoyed our stay as the viewing is amazing and the young (17-18ish years old) curly guy made our day. He pushed himself on make us feel less uncomfortable on waiting our food. We looked around for him when we left, to say thanks and leave a tip but unfortunately due to the fact that he had to look after the full pub on it's own, made him unseen.

Great pub next to the canel food great

Great place for a casual day out, dog friendly. Nice view.

Staff was slow didnt know what they was doing waited 1 hour 15 minutes for a sunday dinner and came with dry meat and hard vegetables. View of the canal was nice and the boats but that was. Will not be going back very disappointed

Always like visiting this place. Nice staff, good bear and great outside space on the canal.

Gteatbfood, service, location and drinks

Nice venue, friendly staff, clean toilets

Beautiful scenery right next to the canal delicious food well wort a visit

Brilliant attend historic boat gathering here friendly great place

Venue is very tied looking and old fashioned would benefit from a complete makeover. Found Alison the Manager extremely rude from the beginning she really let the place down. Blamed us for a mark on the wall 5 days after the event happened. We had called up the Sunday after the party and we were told there was no issue and we could collect our deposit. When we turned up to collect the deposit they then had conveniently noticed a mark on the wall this was 5 days after the event had happened so it could of been anybody that had made that mark. Manager Alison was extremely rude denied that we had previously called until my husband showed her his call history she then withheld half our money without any proof and she hasn’t answered a letter of complaint. They used a bench at the top of a stairwell to block one of the fire exits one of our young guests sat on the bench it collapsed and fell down the stairs he was lucky he jumped up or he would of been seriously injured. Really would not recommend this venue especially because of how obnoxious the manager is. AVOID

Great place to visit. Next to the canal lots of boat, food and drink excellent, one of the best places to go and relax.

In fact I never got to go in, why you ask, well we went to the August Bank Holiday event, we took the children, and found that there was nothing for them to do, with exception of one of the bargees offering for them to have a look around their barge, they found that interesting. Then as it was exceptionally hot the children wanted an ice cream, and I was in need of a drink, someone went into Samuel Bartlow, seeking some refreshment, only to be told that they were not open till 12noon, and were unable to serve. I find this most extraordinary as they had arranged this event and could not be bothered to put on refreshments!! before 12.o.clock, we were intending to have lunch there, but, came away as there was nothing to keep us there, perhaps they might consider this point if they intend to do another such event. I cannot make a judgement of the Samuel Bartlow, even though I live not too far away, I do not feel the urge to go back, I'm afraid you will have to go and judge for yourself

Very convenient for canal and of course marina. A modern pub but not the atmos of a "country pub"; hard luck if you were wanting a country pub out of "Midsomer Murders". That said ales on when I was there were excellent, ditto their choice of vino. Food not at all bad either, and, they even do a take away service ... don't ask for pizzas tho' ...

Sunday roast although tasty, was spoiled by deep fried roasties which none of us could cut through and catering yorkies. Beef was lovely albeit catering slices. Pricey for what it was.

Clean, friendly staff, a little expensive though.

Absolutely first rate.. from the home cooked food to a great choice of ales , these guys know how run a busy pub/Resturaunt 10/10 and we will be back

Lovely place and there was a boat festival on

A lovely place to spend a hot afternoon.

Really nice place . We sat outside and watched the boats. Bar staff quick and polite. Very nice afternoon. Thanks.

Excellent food, delicious vegetarian main meal. Welcoming and lovely location by the marina.

Lovely meal beef was amazing and veg cooked fresh. Will be returning soon.

Nice place, not cheap and parking is a nightmare.

Beautiful sunday roast . Huge thick slice of tender beef . Veg cooked perfectly.

The best steak I've ever had could not recommend this place enough A*

This is a nice place to stop for a drink or something to eat, the food was great as was the service.

Good food, good beer, pleasant staff, shame inside dining chairs uncomfortable. Pleasant surroundings tho.

Wanted to try your Malteser Cheesecake and Lemon dessert, but apparently it too much trouble to get some cake out of the fridge to go with our coffee because "food isn't served after 4" despite being asked if we'd already eaten, implying that it was still possible for people who'd had lunch there, just not for us. Could have made £20+ on a nice sunny day by the canal but were more interested in enforcing arbitrary rules, or perhaps simply too lazy to wash a plate up. Thanks a bunch.

We all had a fantastic meal defitnetly go again when I visit my brother

Beautiful Sunday Roast, the beef just melts in your mouth!!

The food is excellent as is the service and the setting

We moored and walked over the bridge. A modern place with no pretentions and very friendly staff. I ordered cannelloni and expected the usual dish with super-hot cheese topping. No. It was a portion of cannelloni with a generous side salad and a portion of chips. The whole meal was a pleasure but the chips were delicious, so much so we will be going back by car one day. My husband had gammon which was thick and tender. Served with salad, pineapple, and chips plus an egg that he asked for although not on the menu. An excellent meal all round.

Relaxed atmosphere lovely area good food

Lovely place to go and have a drink on a lovely sunny day, by the channel. Dog friendly.

Lovely view down the canal, lovely food and lovely company

Waste of time. Only serve food for 2 hrs. No bar snacks and extreemly clicky

Lovely day asked if could have a salad with cheese. No! Too busy was the reply. Watched dinners coming out with salad and cheese..... It's a great place but sometimes I do think they shoot themselves in the foot.

Amazing food, service was quick and the prices were reasonable. The place is dog friendly as well. Lovely area and a great stop off from a walk along the canal. Will definitely be coming back. A lovely little gem.

Always a good place to visit whether for food or just a relaxing drink.

Not many drinking options. Cider was hot and utterly disgusting.

Brilliant food great price and service is friendly

Fabulous meal every time, lovely atmosphere, staff extremely kind & helpful,my mom & I had a few Sunday meals there now,best place for miles around, knocks spots off other locals ,be back again & again XX 💐

Nice to sit outside on a sunny day. But the pictures look better than the reality. Inside is almost like a social club rather than a pub. Didn't bother with any food, just had a drink outside. Dogs are welcome as long as they're on a leash.

Would have been higher rating but signs telling dog owners not to park has put us off visiting for lunch or a drink.This is a major missed opportunity for the place as dog walkers are potential customers.We would from time to time pop in after a walk now we pop into the cafe at pooley. Shame