The old black dog (dt7 3tj)

The Old Black Dog is currently a Bed and Breakfast Guest House.

It was built in 1916 as a public house/hotel by the builders called Spillers of Chard who are still trading today.

Prior to 1916 The Black Dog Inn occupied the site, but had to be demolished because the building became unsafe.

As far as we have been able to find out, so far, there has been a Black Dog Inn on the site since before 1700.

Like all hotels it has had its highs and lows – in the 70s it was a thriving hotel/pub/restaurant, with people coming from miles around for the good food and hospitality.

Sadly, in 1994 the then owners decided to close it.

The building was boarded up for some time until it was finally sold to our predecessors who undertook a massive refurbishment which included creating en-suite bathrooms for all the rooms, central heating and decoration.

We are still piecing together information about the design of the building (it has circular chimneys, one elliptical chimney, a fireplace built between two windows in a bay), the original layout of the rooms and a chronological history of its owners.

We are grateful to guests who have dined, drunk and stayed in The Black Dog in the 70s, 80s and 90s who have provided us with pieces of information about the layout of the public rooms, the people who came to it and what it was like at various stages of its life.

The name was changed to “The Old Black Dog” by our predecessors who wanted to try and change it from a public house to a B&B – they found people sitting in the dining room, on several occasions, waiting to order a drink! However, many people still think it is a pub, mainly because it looks like a pub and the name still sounds like the name of a pub.

We do not think we can do anything about this!

There are several legends, or versions of legends, about The Old Black Dog, see “Black Dog Legend” at the end of our website.

Accommodation

We have four rooms, one twin, two double and one family room which has a double bed, bunk beds and space for a third single bed, if required.

We are also able to provide a cot for guests under three years of age.

Although we do not have any single rooms we operate a single occupancy rate.

All rooms have en-suite facilities, tea/coffee making equipment, colour TV with remote control, radio alarm clock, hairdryer, fans for use in hot weather and an iron and ironing board are available on request.