The Boot

From Chester Wiki

Contents 1 Review 1.1 Comment 2 More info 3 Other Reviews

[edit] Review

Now this is a pub!. None of that fancy foreign bottled malarkey. Just Sam Smith's frighteningly thick Old Brewery Bitter, and that terrifyingly strong lager whose name you can't remember that blows your head off. A pint of bitter is about £1.28 and pint of lager about £1.58! You cannot beat that! - in fact Southerners have been known to query the prices thinking that they have been undercharged:

• "...was that £2.50 a pint?"
• "No! that's two and a half quid a round, you Southern Jessie!"

Evidently, this sort of attitude did not go down well with Cromwell's troops. When they finally stormed the place they shot everyone inside.

"Das Boot" is located right slap bang in the city centre, on the Rows near to Meze, the Turko-Greek restaurant. The atmosphere is pretty much exactly what you would expect in an older pub - old men with red faces drinking at the bar, popping out to put a bet on every half hour and a piss every five minutes, and the random group of male students dotted around the outskirts discussing sex and showing (if overheard) an alarming ignorance of anatomy, practicality and legality (for example: one of them thought that a "Cleveland Steamer" was some kind of boat...)

Facilities are a little dated, for example the toilets appear to be outside… but in my opinion this all just seems to add to the effect of the place. It even has some exposed Roman wall, dating back to, erm, Roman times I suppose. If you are nice to the guy behind the bar he will show you his expensive and extensive selection of tattoo's...

All in all, the location, atmosphere and price make it a good place to start your evening off in, or end your afternoon session in. Or just go in and stay all evening.

[edit] Comment

Cheap, old fashioned, this is what pubs used to be about. Smelly, skanky, with the biggest collection of freaks and oddballs you're ever likely to see (unchanged since 1643). Rumoured to have gone downhill since they stopped playing music (see here why), and got rid of the D Pils. It is still ridiculously cheap though.

An exiled Cestrian who "lives quite a long way from our beautiful city.... asks 'Do they still serve Samuel Smith's bitter here??' An acquired taste admittedly but okay by me.......". We are pleased to note the answer from another Cestrian, "yes they still sell it. Both The Boot and The Falcon are Sam Smiths pubs that serve Sam Smiths bitter in Chester". For the confused, some further info on this brew can be found here.

(I checked at the end of October (and November) and they are still selling Sam Smiths OBB - Hooligan)

[edit] More info

Some people say The Boot is the oldest pub in Chester (1643) - if you visit you will see why - some think that a step through the door is a step back to the days when beer was cheap, others think they have wandered into a Neanderthal cave. Other contenders are:

• Bear and Billett
• Pied Bull

360 have some pics here

[edit] Other Reviews

• Beer In The Evening
• A marvellous review from olde worlde pubs
• Chester@large admits he likes the place