The Stratford Townhouse

About The Stratford Townhouse

The Stratford Townhouse occupies a 400-year-old Grade II listed building at 16 Church Street, in the quieter Old Town end of the centre and directly opposite the schoolroom and guildhall where Shakespeare was educated. It works as a pub and restaurant on the ground floor with twelve bedrooms above, which is a format that suits Stratford well: you get the location and the atmosphere of a town-centre inn without the scale of a hotel.

The twelve en-suite rooms range from standard king doubles and twins through superior kings to larger signature rooms, and none of them are identical. One has a free-standing bath, another a window seat over the street, and the older rooms carry the beams and floor levels you would expect in a building of this age. Some rooms are dog-friendly on request for a charge. Check-in is from 3pm and check-out is relatively early at 10.30am, which is worth noting if you like a slow morning.

Downstairs the kitchen works with local suppliers and changes the menu regularly, and the bar keeps a rotating choice of real ales alongside a decent wine list. The mix of rustic and modern in the interior is deliberate and it mostly comes off. Being on Church Street means you are five minutes from Holy Trinity Church one way and five minutes from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre the other, with the Sheep Street restaurants directly around the corner. There is no on-site car park, so plan for the town centre car parks.