This comfortable, two-bar 16th-century inn can be found at the very top of the western side of Boscastle, set back from the main road. Surprisingly spacious inside, the two bars are set at right angles, the smaller functioning as the 'public' and hosting the dartboard, and TV for special occasions. Child and dog-friendly, the pub is simply furnished with wooden settles, tables and chairs, and the walls display old Boscastle scenes. The larger 'lounge' in fact consists of three separate drinking rooms, and an adjacent restaurant (no dogs allowed), while the decor is a mix of drinking pots and assorted bric-a-brac. Note the gravity dispense; another beer from the St Austell range appears in addition to the regular offerings but can vary, and a fourth brew may appear in summer. The beer garden is at the side in a former orchard, and a beer terrace is across the road opposite. There are singers on Wednesdays and live music Friday & Sunday nights. The pub has a colourful history, having been a 'recruiting centre' for press gangs during the Napoleonic wars, and it enjoyed a reputation as a bawdy house. There are also ghosts said to haunt the place.
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed status: II
SRI. Multi-roomed, early 17th-century pub with fittings from the 1950s and not greatly changed since. The small public bar has a Delabole slate floor, slatted wooden counter, fitted seating and a stone fireplace. Similar floors and fittings are found in the other rooms – a lounge, a small room up two steps, the ‘Fun Bar’ in a (now old) extension and a dining room in what was a separate cottage.
An early 17th-century with later extensions. This multi roomed village pub appears to have fittings from the 1950s - Boscastle Manor Estate sold the freehold of the Napoleon Inn in 1946 so the changes could be shortly after that date. The main bar is the former Saloon Bar and has an old Delabole slate floor, a slatted wood counter (top may be a replacement), old fitted seating, a large old stone fireplace, also a hatch/small bar on the left of the main counter with a door for staff and with an old tongue and groove frontage. It maybe that service was from the left hand small bar and the main bar counter added post-war?
The room on a lower level was two small store rooms and a passage (confirmed by floor markings) and converted into a small lounge with a Delabole slate floor, a couple of settles and a small stone fireplace with old stove. Up two steps is a very small room with an old Delabole slate floor that was the ladies' snug with a hatch so the counter with a stone frontage is a modern replacement. Up two further steps is Boney's Bistro, originally a private living room, now a dining room with modern floor.
A passage to the right of the pub leads to 'Funs Bar' (named after Funny Phelps, a local who came here with his father in the 1950s) in an extension to the original building and is the public bar. It has a modern Delabole slate floor and a curved slatted counter. On the wall is a photo dated 1950 showing a lapped wood counter but it has 8 planks instead of the present 4 so the present counter is a replacement. The lower shelving behind the bar looks old but all the higher shelving is modern. The small stone fireplace looks to be from the 1950s but the two high backed settles are imports / modern.
Casks of St Austell beers are stillaged behind the bar - the shelving above does not look particularly old. Outside gents' and ladies' (modernised).
This Pub serves 2 changing beers and 3 regular beers.
Napoleon Inn, Boscastle