Eat and drink · Lechlade-on-Thames
The Riverside, Lechlade
An Arkell's pub on Park End Wharf in Lechlade with a garden on the bank of the Thames, food every day, pizzas, a Tuesday pie night and rooms.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
The pub to sit by the Thames in Lechlade: the garden runs to the water's edge, food is served all day at weekends, and dogs are welcome wherever you eat. It takes no table bookings, so arrive early on a sunny weekend.
- Good: Garden on the bank of the Thames, and a covered outdoor area
- Good: Dogs welcome in all the eating areas
- Good: Food every day, all day on Friday to Sunday
- Good: Pizzas to eat in or take away
- Worth knowing: No table bookings: find a table and order at the bar
- Worth knowing: Dogs are not allowed in the rooms
About
The Riverside is an Arkell's pub on Park End Wharf in Lechlade-on-Thames, with a garden whose edge is the River Thames itself: in summer you eat in the sun by the water, and in winter flocks of swans gather on the river. Gareth Chapman runs it for the Swindon brewery.
Food is served every day, in the restaurant, the garden and a covered outdoor area. From Monday to Thursday the kitchen serves from noon to 3pm and 5pm to 8.30pm; on Fridays and Saturdays it runs all day to 8.30pm and on Sundays to 8pm. Pizzas, to eat in or take away, run on to 9pm. Breakfast is served from 9am to 11am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tuesday is pie night and Thursday American night, and there is a children's menu.
There are no table bookings: find a table, then order at the bar. Dogs are welcome in all the eating areas, though not in the bedrooms. There are nine rooms, from a single with its own bathroom across the landing to rooms for four, most of them on the ground floor; each has a television and tea and coffee things, and you book online or by phone. The rooms are listed on Hotels.com and Expedia with check-in from 2pm to 9pm, check-out by 11am and free parking on site. The bar opens from 10am, or 9am on Sundays.
The pub hosts comedy nights and a New Year's Eve party. The riverside walk to St John's Lock, where Father Thames reclines, starts in the town, and Kelmscott Manor is about 3 miles downstream.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 10:00
| Mon | Opening | Food served | Breakfast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 20:30 | Closed |
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 20:30 | Closed |
| Wednesday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 20:30 | Closed |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 20:30 | Closed |
| Friday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 20:30 | 09:00 to 11:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 20:30 | 09:00 to 11:00 |
| Sunday | 09:00 to 21:00 | 12:00 to 20:00 | 09:00 to 11:00 |
Food served: Pizzas to 9pm
Pizzas from noon to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm Monday to Thursday, and noon to 9pm Friday to Sunday. Breakfast Friday to Sunday only.
The details
- Food
- Pub classics · Pizza
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Dietary
- Children's menu
- Booking a table
- Walk-ins only
- Features
- By the water · Garden or terrace · Restaurant · Bar · Dogs inside
- History
- An Arkell's Brewery pub
Photos
Inside 
The bar 
From the river 
A window on the river
Location
Places to stay nearby
-
The New Inn Hotel
Hotel · Lechlade-on-Thames
A 17th-century coaching inn on the Market Place in Lechlade-on-Thames, with thirty rooms, a restaurant and bar, and weddings.
Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
-
Bridge House Campsite
Camping · Lechlade-on-Thames
A small family-run touring and camping field on Thames Street, Lechlade, a short walk from the river and the town, with 42 pitches and three bell tents, open from late March until it closes for the winter.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
-
The Lakes by YOO
Self-catering · Lechlade-on-Thames
An 850-acre lakeside estate at Coln Park, west of Lechlade, with rooms, apartments, cabins and houses sleeping up to 14, a spa with a 17-metre pool, and a lakeside bar and kitchen.
Family-friendly · Hot tubs
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Lynwood & Co, Lechlade 0.2 km away
- The New Inn Hotel 0.2 km away
- New Wave Brasserie and Bar, Lechlade 0.2 km away
- Bridge House Campsite 0.3 km away
Sights nearby
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Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade
Sight · Bridge · Lechlade-on-Thames
The single tall stone arch that carries Thames Street over the Thames at Lechlade, built under a turnpike Act of 1792, with a little square tollhouse on its corner. Named after the halfpenny walkers paid until 1839. Grade II; free.
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River Thames at Lechlade
Sight · River · Lechlade-on-Thames
The young Thames at Lechlade, where the Coln and the Leach join it and the old Thames and Severn Canal met it at the Round House: long the head of the navigable river, with the Thames Path past Halfpenny Bridge to St John's Lock.
-
St Lawrence's Church, Lechlade
Sight · Church · Lechlade-on-Thames
Lechlade's wool church on the Market Place, rebuilt in Taynton stone in the 1470s, with a spire seen across the Thames meadows and a churchyard that moved Shelley to verse in 1815. Grade I; closed for restoration through 2026, with reopening expected by Christmas.
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Father Thames and St John's Lock
Sight · Monument · Lechlade-on-Thames
Raffaelle Monti's reclining river god, modelled in cement for the Crystal Palace in 1854, beside St John's Lock below Lechlade, the first lock on the Thames. He lay at the river's source from 1958 until vandals drove him here in 1974. Grade II.