If you fancy eating and drinking in the place that is reputed to have served as Will Shakespeare’s off licence, the Vintner is your bag. The fine timber-framed building has been little altered since it was built in the late-1400s and provides a handsome setting for the café/bar, a restaurant and private dining in the Private Dining Room.

Handy for the Royal Shakespeare Theatres and open every day of the week the cuisine ranges from traditional English cooking through to Pan-European, and draws on fresh, local produce.

Visitors and locals mingle cheerfully assisted by a wine list that will take you on a challenging journey round the globe all of which helps towards creating the high zing factor that rings around the ancient beams.

The Vintner has to be one of the top places to eat in the town. In 1490 the half-timbered building was completed and after the passage of five hundred years it’s still privately owned. In 1600 John Smith traded here as a wine merchant and it’s reputed that William Shakespeare came here to buy his wine. If the list which he was able to choose from then bears any resemblance to the one on offer to those who eat and drink here now, then Will certainly knew a thing or two.

To kick off the day the restaurant serves breakfast while food from the menu is available from lunchtime onwards. There is also a specials board which changes with the weeks while Sunday lunch is another option at the Vintner.