EBG Rating: 8/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
The pub serves the 11 degrees version of Polička (which is the regional beer brand) on point, but also offer Bernard, which is a treat on tap, almost anywhere it’s found. Typical Czechia back bar.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
A collection of timber chalets and stabling in a clearing, with farming equipment and other rustic touches left in the courtyard.

Inside, as promised, the tiled oven is located by the bar, radiating heat to a series of chunky tables with bench seating around the perimeter.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Such a commitment to the rustic look is a novelty in its own way, but the pub takes on different moods depending on the season. A relaxed feel in the beer garden, a cosy and intimate heated pub in winter.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Food, snacks, outdoor seating, playground, shop.

Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Fairly priced for food and drink.

Description:
Described modestly on their website as “a timbered pub heated by a tiled stove”.

As you approach the pub, signed “Svandova U Lesy”, (like many Czech pubs this place confusingly carries different names) it feels like you’ve entered a Skanzen/ethnographic village. A collection of timber chalets and stabling in a clearing, with farming equipment and other rustic touches left in the courtyard.

Although set just off the main road, there is a certain sense of rural peace about it – you could be in Scandinavia, the Alps, or so they’d like you to think.

U Lesy means by the woods, and in this case that is literal.

Inside, as promised, the tiled oven is located by the bar, radiating heat to a series of chunky tables with bench seating around the perimeter. Large enough to be practical, small enough to feel pretty cosy and social.

The pub serves the 11 degrees version of Polička (which is the regional beer brand) on point, but also offer Bernard, which is a treat on tap almost anywhere it’s found.

There’s a family feel here during the day, and the outdoor playground will keep kids occupied while the adults enjoy the calm of the beer garden in summer or cosiness of the interior in the winter.

The pub doesn’t only hint at rustic, it dives headfirst into it, and for that commitment it deserves credit. This style is not uncommon in the Czech countryside but you don’t always have the ensemble on offer here.

For that reason it is a secure inclusion on our guide.