The George 67 Woolley St, Bradford on Avon BA15 1AQ 01225 865650

WITH the nip of autumn in the air, we headed out to The George at Woolley to find a real fire roaring in the hearth and a warm welcome awaiting.

The pub was reopened this summer, run by Alison Ward-Baptiste and Alex Venables, who made a previous success of another local pub.

And what a transformation: the formerly dark interior has been completely revamped into a clean bright venue, which clearly offers an equal welcome to drinkers and diners alike; refreshing, in this era of gastro pubs which only seem to welcome people intent on a three-course meal.

Warming ourselves at the fire we took a little while over our choices, but eventually settled on starters and mains, postponing a decision on pudding.

There was quite a wait before we were shown to our table, as the pub was clearly very busy, and we were surprised to be ushered upstairs, where two extra dining rooms have been created – we ate in the high-ceiling, interestingly decorated map room, which was peaceful and relaxing.

Glenn’s chicken liver parfait (£6.50) came with a pile of crisp toast, while my rabbit strips and offal on a bed of bacon salad – topped with a runny poached egg and delicious mustardy sauce (£7) – was one of the best things I’ve eaten in ages.

I had decided to stick to game for the main course, and when the confit duck leg with a venison pie topped with apple mash, plus vegetables (£15.50) arrived, I wasn’t disappointed.

The duck was melt-in-the-mouth and fell off the bone, while the venison was rich in flavour. However, I wasn’t sure afterwards whether they sat well together. Just the duck, or a larger pie, with more of the sweet creamy mash, would have been ample.

Glenn said his mushroom ravioli was stuffed with filling but the sauce was not creamy enough as a little water seemed to have seeped from the pasta.

He had room for pudding, and ordered the apple, pear and berry crumble (£6). Again there was a little wait between ordering and delivery, but we weren’t in a hurry and it did mean that by the time it arrived I had room to try a spoonful. The chunky crumble and mix of fruits was good but the accompanying crème anglaise was very thin indeed. He would rather have had proper custard, cream or ice cream, feeling they would have complemented it better.

The new-look George is certainly somewhere I’ll return to: other dishes on the menu looked tempting and included local meats and sausages and I especially liked the inclusion of an Omelette Arnold Bennet, an old-fashioned dish well worth a revival. Their bar snacks look intriguing (I could imagine a fondue eaten in front of one of their log fires being perfect on a winter evening) and we saw some delicious home-made cakes if you just want to pop in for tea.

Our meal, with drinks, cost £61.