Shears Inn

The Shears Inn is a delightful pub/​small hotel that truly relies on word of mouth to get by. Fortunately, as the food is top notch, the staff pleasant and helpful and the surroundings well appointed, it doesn’t have too much to worry about.
Tucked away on a country back road intersection, you’ll have to be taken by someone who’s been before. There are plenty of returnees though!
It can get quite busy on a lunchtime, especially on a Friday and booking is advisable regardless of when you are planning on coming. That said they can usually fit you in with 24hrs notice.
Finally, although it is a popular and quite often a busy pub, the clientele is rather well-​heeled. Those worrying that the soldiers of Tidworth and Bulford have discovered it needn’t worry, although the officers certainly have.

We visited The Shears Inn for lunch. The Inn is quite pleasantly decorated and laid out. The welcome was friendly. It’s a Breakspear’s pub and the Henley Bridge Bitter was excellent. They also had Hobgoblin. We both ordered Plowman’s lunch but as it came with a baquette, which is a most un-​English and an unappetizing bread, we asked for brown and were offered slices of brown bread. We were served outside with a wooden platter with a chunk of supermarket cheddar, some salad leaves, 3 half slices of brown ready-​sliced bread of dubious quality, a very small pot of apple chutney, a very small pot with a sliced gherkin in it, two small slices of tomato and some butter. No pickled onion, no apple. The charge for this poor Plowman’s lunch was £7.50 each. A bit steep for a supermarket pack of cheese and some sliced bread. I would expect a pub to serve a decent home made crusty bread and some decent cheese at that price.