This British Pub Has A 4-Year Waiting List For Its Sunday Roasts

According to BristolLive, it has gained in popularity for its Sunday meals, and landlord Sam Gregory says "we've made a tremendous rod for our back" as a result of its popularity.

For the time being, Sam claims he's forced to turn off the pub's online reservation system to honor all of the tables that had been reserved since the beginning of Covid and throughout the different lockdowns and restrictions.

Image: Dan Regan/BristolLive

Sam says: “It had got to a four-year waiting list until the pandemic but because we had a huge backlog of bookings for people who couldn’t eat here due to Covid or lockdowns, we made the decision to honor every booking.”

“We’ve closed off the booking system so you can’t book online and if we get any cancellations, we are simply back-filling with people in the diary from two years ago. We are up to January 2020 now so it’s going to take a while to get through all the bookings.”

Image: Dan Regan/BristolLive

"A lot of the tables of two have been easy to rebook but it’s the larger tables of eight or ten which are taking a bit harder to fit in.”

To help with rebookings, Sam said the pub now has a fourth sitting on Sundays from 5 pm to 7 pm.

Even after sending reminder emails and phone calls, he says the pub still gets the occasional "no show."

Image: Dan Regan/BristolLive

On Sundays, Sam recommends checking around the bar in case a table becomes available at the last minute.

He said: "We always say to people if you are in town, stick your head around the door because sometimes tables come up if we get no-shows. It’s always worth checking just in case.”

Image: Dan Regan/BristolLive

The sustained popularity of the pub's Sunday roasts, according to Sam, is due to "consistency" as well as "attention to detail."

He added: "We stick to the same meats all year round but add seasonal alternatives like lamb and venison, but our starters and desserts change every week.”

"A lot of places doing Sunday roasts only release bookings for three-month slots and if we knew we were going to be this popular, we would have done that but it’s a nice problem to have!”