From the archives
The story behind Bideford’s reborn local, from the Patch & Parrot to The Patch.
Tucked away on Cooper Street, just back from the quay, sits one of Bideford’s best-loved old buildings. Today it’s The Patch Wine Bar & Kitchen. For generations before that, it was the Patch & Parrot, and the story of how one became the other is worth telling.
A building with history in its bones
The building at No. 5 Cooper Street is no ordinary spot. It’s Grade II listed, dating back to the early-to-mid 1800s, with its rendered front, slate roof and tall brick chimney still standing much as they would have two centuries ago. For most of its life it was the Patch & Parrot, a proper old Bideford pub, right down to Polly the parrot who gave the place half its name.
Like a lot of traditional locals, though, time caught up with it. The pub closed its doors in 2018, and then came the hardest years of all: standing empty, slowly falling into disrepair while the town walked past and wondered what would become of it.
Rescued from the brink
When Ali Gould took the building on, it needed far more than a lick of paint. Years of neglect had taken their toll. Ceilings that had been boarded over for decades came down, and underneath them the original timber beams were waiting to be rediscovered, sanded back and brought to life. The floors were another matter entirely. As Ali puts it, when they lifted the boards the joists were basically gone, and someone could easily have fallen through.
It would have been easier to gut the lot and start again. Instead, the choice was made to save what made the place special. The original windows stayed. So did the curved seating & the beautiful tiled floor in the main bar. Where the old building could be kept, it was kept.
You’ve got to love it.
Why The Patch, not the Patch & Parrot?
With Polly the parrot long gone, the Parrot part of the name went with her. There didn’t seem much point dreaming up a fancy new name either, because to everyone in Bideford the place had only ever really been one thing: The Patch. Some things don’t need changing.
The Patch today
What was once a traditional pub is now a relaxed wine bar & kitchen, built around good wine, good food & good company. The focus is simple: somewhere to settle in with a glass of wine and a proper meal, rather than a late-night, shots-and-silliness sort of place.
The kitchen leans on honest, comforting food, from rotisserie chicken to traditional pies made to Ali’s own recipe. And the building lends itself beautifully to it all, with a cosy bar downstairs, the restored Upper Rest, a garden for brighter days, and a function room upstairs for something a little more special. There are even letting suites, so you can make a proper night of it and stay over.
It’s drawn a lovely crowd too, the sort of place you’d happily bring a partner, meet friends, or mark an occasion.
Come and see it for yourself
Few towns get to watch a landmark like this brought back from the edge. The Patch is proof that with a bit of vision & a lot of love, the best of the old can carry on into something new.
Pop in, pull up a chair in a building that’s seen two hundred years of Bideford life, and raise a glass to the next chapter.
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