There’s a version of Christmas that happens before the day itself, when the people who actually chose each other, rather than the people you’re related to by obligation, all manage to be free on the same evening. It’s usually the one everyone looks forward to more than they’d admit, and it rarely wants the same thing twice. Some years it’s a big dinner with everyone dressed up. Other years it’s a fire, a few bottles of something good, and no particular plan beyond staying warm together until someone suggests one more round.
The Duke’s Bar, for the Group That Just Wants to Turn Up
At The Double Red Duke in Clanfield, the bar does most of the work on its own. A fire that’s been going since lunchtime, drinks that don’t need much explaining, and food that holds its own without anyone having to dress the part, from a proper cheese board to something more substantial off the blackboard. It’s the kind of room that suits a group who’d rather arrive and settle in than plan an itinerary for the evening, and it works equally well for six people or sixteen. Nobody needs to have organised anything beyond the date.
The Feasting Room or our restuarant for the Group That Wants a Proper Sit-Down
If the plan runs to a full dinner rather than drinks and snacks, the Feasting Room seats up to ten around one table and our dining room takes larger groups, the sorts of number a family spanning a few generations tends to land on once everyone’s confirmed. There’s also our snugs which tends to be where the evening actually finishes: coffee, something stronger, and the kind of conversation that only happens once the plates have been cleared. It suits a big extended family just as well as a group of old friends who see each other twice a year and always pick up exactly where they left off.
The Wild Duck, for Something Further Out
Out at Ewen, near Cirencester, The Wild Duck has the kind of setting that slows an evening down before anyone’s said a word. It’s a Grade II-listed building with timber beams and a garden that still has its own quiet charm even in December, and the sort of countryside pub where a fire and a good meal do most of the talking. Good for a any size group, in a variety of spaces, who’d rather make a proper night of it away from the main roads and closer to the kind of evening where the only decision that matters is what to order next.
Mason’s Arms, for the Group Who Wants It to Feel Like an Actual Pub
Trading since 1610, Mason’s Arms has the sort of worn-in warmth that a newer building simply can’t fake, which matters more at Christmas than most other times of year. Low ceilings, original floors, a blackboard that changes daily, and a Sunday roast that’s become something of a fixture for regulars. Now with eight bedrooms just up the stairs you you can always make it an overnighter too.
Getting a Date in the Diary
Friends and family Christmas evenings have a habit of getting talked about for weeks before anyone actually books anything, which is understandable but not ideal once December arrives and every good date is already taken. Whichever venue fits the group best, we’d rather hear from you while there’s still a proper choice of dates and space. Let us know the numbers and the kind of evening you’re after, and we’ll help you find the right fit.
