We are a traditional country inn, set in the heart of the beautiful chalk downlands of South Wiltshire.
Specialising in locally brewed ales and ciders and serving freshly homemade
seasonal dishes made from top quality locally grown and reared ingredients.
Welcoming and refreshing customers since 1865.
Join us for our ‘happy hour’ on Thursday evenings between 6 and 7pm and enjoy some special offers. All of our pints are £3, you can double-up on any of our house spirits for the cost of a single measure and our house wines are only £14.50 a bottle.
Welcome to The Queen’s Head!
We have two bars, a restaurant, a private dining room, a lovely courtyard garden and a new summer beer garden (for drinking only until August) in a beautiful field across the road, giving you lots of space to spread out and enjoy a tempting selection of drinks and delicious bar snacks, lunches and evening meals.
For those wishing to stay in the area we have four ensuite guest rooms, ask about their availability.
We are a Proper Pub
We have two popular bars with lots of tables and chairs to sit and talk at.
In the summer you are also welcome to drink at tables in our leafy, sunny courtyard or venture across the road to our new summer beer garden. The furniture is rustic and the view is beautifully rural. The birdsong on a still summer evening is enchanting.
On a cold winter day we have crackling fires to warm your toes by, leather sofas to snuggle up on, games to play and lots of fascinating books to leaf through if you fancy a quiet hour or two.
Our bar staff are a really sociable bunch and take pride in extending a genuinely friendly welcome and making you feel at home. Being a country pub dogs are welcome in the bars and gardens if on a lead and behaving nicely.
Our Beers & Ciders
We love our local ales and ciders. We always have the pick of the crop on tap, some produced just down the road. We are always looking for new local brewers worthy of our support. We like to offer light hoppy numbers in the summer and darker richer ones in the winter. Some of our favourites are Gritchie’s English Lore, Hopback Brewery’s Summer Lightning and Downton Brewery’s Bedrock.
Of course we also have a good range of the traditional options on tap, Guinness, Camden Hells and Corona Extra among others.
Check what is on tap today on our Facebook page. See the link at the bottom of the page.
Snacks on the Bar
There are a selection of delicious traditional bar snacks available for when you feel peckish. Our sausage rolls, pork pies and pasties disappear rapidly. The pork scratchings are equally delicious and easy on the teeth. They come in original and chorizo flavours.
Some evenings there are trays of hot and spicy roast potatoes or Spanish sausages on the bar for you to help yourself – unplanned, you just need to get lucky on the night. There is a jar of dog treats on the bar to provide a well deserved reward or two.
Thirsty Thursdays
We have a ‘happy hour’ on Thursday evenings between 6pm and 7pm. You can have any draught pint for £3, double-up on any of our house spirits and buy a bottle of any of our excellent house wines for £14.50. Come and join in the fun and book a table for dinner afterwards to make an evening of it.
The Wine List
We have a well-curated wine list. There is a bottle of something tasty to complement any of the delicious dishes on the menu. We will be quite happy to recommend one if you are undecided.
Our wine merchant is a great enthusiast and regularly drops in clutching a new find that he is excited by for an impromptu tasting. We have prosecco or champagne for a little or larger celebration. We can even mix you a somewhat surprising colour-changing gin and tonic. We have a good selection of spirits and mixers so do allow time for an aperitif before dinner.
HISTORY
The Queen’s Head was a cottage for a century or more
before it became a public house.
1907
1915 – 1929
1945
1950
Records going back to 1737 show that it belonged to various members of the Cook family until 1825. The inglenook fireplace probably dates back to this domestic phase.
In 1825 the cottage was left to a family neice who married a shopkeeper and ran it as a grocery shop. That was the beginning of the building’s commercial life.
In 1865 Lord Pembroke closed the old mill, bakery and The Angel Inn across the road and the licensee, Edwin Nightingale, set up The Queen’s Head in the grocery shop. He, his wife, Henrietta and their six children ran a very successful business there until 1887 when there was a serious fire. The fire destroyed much of the inn and spread to the blacksmith’s cottage next door.
The building was restored and the Nightingales and their children carried on running it till it was sold to Lovibond’s Brewery in 1919. The sale catalogue describes it as a “valuable Licensed Premises, stone, brick-built and slated, containing bar, tap-room, cellar etc., and a bakehouse, stable, cart shed and 2 piggerys”.
Since then The Queen’s Head has seen a succession of owners and landlords, some of whom, like the Gilberts, stayed, raised a family and became a huge part of village life. They retired in 1964.
The Queen’s Head has since been owned by a succession of individuals, before being sold to the brewery chain Hall and Woodhouse in 2012.
It is now in private ownership and a Free House once again.
Join us for our ‘happy hour’ on Thursday evenings between 6 and 7pm.
All our pints are £3, you can get a double measure of house spirits for the cost of a single and our house wines are only £14.50 a bottle.
GET SOCIAL
We are very grateful for any positive reviews on any of our social media, Tripadvisor listing or any other booking site. Thank you for taking the trouble to do so!
Imagery by:
Ken Leslie and Andrew Wiltshire
John Fry and
Stonehenge Travel
Created by: RESOLVE