Inn · Fairford
The Bull Hotel
A Grade II listed coaching inn on Fairford's Market Place with 21 bedrooms, an Arkell's house since 1973, and a private stretch of the River Coln for fishing.
Family-friendly · Wedding venues
Twenty-one rooms on the Market Place, in a listed coaching inn, with food every day and fishing on the Coln. Dogs can come into the bar but not the rooms.
- Good: 21 bedrooms, some sleeping a family of four
- Good: Open fire and local ales in the bar
- Good: Private 1.25-mile stretch of the River Coln for fishing
- Worth knowing: Dogs in the bar only, not bedrooms or dining areas
- Worth knowing: No on-site parking
- Worth knowing: All bedrooms up stairs; no lift
About
The Bull Hotel is a Grade II listed coaching inn on the Market Place in Fairford, a short walk from St Mary's Church. Historic England says its core is probably late sixteenth century, and records it as an inn by the mid seventeenth. The Swindon brewery Arkell's bought it in 1973 and still lists it among its pubs. It opens from 8am every day.
There are 21 bedrooms, from singles to deluxe rooms and suites, all en suite, with free Wi-Fi. Some sleep two adults and two children under 12, and you can bring a travel cot or ask for a Z bed. Breakfast is in the Stables Restaurant, 7am to 10am on weekdays and 8am to 10am at weekends. The bedrooms are all up stairs and there is no lift.
The bar has an open fire, local ales, wine and cocktails, and the kitchen serves lunch and dinner every day, with a roast on Sundays, from local and seasonal produce. Behind is a beer garden, and the Bull Room, a converted barn with its own garden, takes 20 to 60 people for dinners, small weddings and meetings. Guests can fish for wild brown trout and grayling, by the half or full day from April to October and on winter grayling days from November to March, with an Environment Agency rod licence, on the hotel's private 1.25-mile stretch of the River Coln.
Dogs are welcome in the bar only. There is no car park, so use the Market Place or the town car park. During the Royal International Air Tattoo in July the hotel runs live screenings, and the planes fly over the Market Place.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 08:00
| Mon | Opening | Restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Thursday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Friday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Saturday | 08:00 to 22:30 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:30 |
| Sunday | 08:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 20:00 |
Special hours over Christmas and New Year are posted on the hotel's website.
The details
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- 21
- Check-in
- 3pm to 10pm
- Check-out
- By 11am
- Features
- Restaurant · Bar · Open fire · Real ale · Garden or terrace · Private dining · Events and meetings · Family rooms · Wi-Fi
- History
- Grade II listed; an inn by the mid 1600s; Arkell's since 1973
- Parking
- No on-site parking. Use the Market Place (not on Tuesday nights, before the Wednesday market), the High Street or the town car park a few minutes' walk away.
Photos
The lounge 
The dining room 
A bedroom 
The bar
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Coffee Post, Fairford 0.0 km away
- Lynwood & Co, Fairford 0.1 km away
- The Plough Inn, Fairford 0.1 km away
- 7a Coffee Shop, Fairford 0.2 km away
Sights nearby
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River Coln
Sight · River · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
The limestone river of the south Cotswolds, rising near Sevenhampton and running south-east past Chedworth, Bibury and Arlington Row, Coln St Aldwyns, Quenington and Fairford to join the Thames at Inglesham above Lechlade. Five of our walks follow or cross it.
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St Mary's Church, Fairford
Sight · Church · Fairford
Fairford's wool church, rebuilt in the 1490s by the merchant John Tame, holds 28 windows of glass made about 1500 to 1515, which the parish calls the only complete set of late medieval glass in any parish church in the country. Grade I; open daily, free.
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St Swithin's Church, Quenington
Sight · Church · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
Quenington's Norman parish church in the Coln valley, recorded by 1100, with two richly carved Norman doorways: the Harrowing of Hell over the north door and, over the south, what may be the earliest carving of the Coronation of the Virgin. Grade I.
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Knights Hospitallers' Gateway, Quenington
Sight · Historic building · Cirencester and the Coln Valley
The fourteenth-century gatehouse of the preceptory the Knights Hospitallers founded at Quenington in about 1193, partly rebuilt in the early sixteenth century, beside St Swithin's church. Grade I; on private land, seen from Church Road.