Is The Farmers Boy Inn Still Open? The Hotel Inspector Update

The Farmers Boy Inn, a roadside pub with rooms on Ross Road at Boxbush near Longhope in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, featured in the Hotel Inspector episode first shown on 2025-09-04 (series 20, episode 7). TheTVDB's entry says owner Phil, who had run the pub for 25 years and was known for his pies, had steady trade but mostly empty bedrooms. It says Alex Polizzi found the building lacked outside appeal and had no sign advertising its accommodation.

The Ross Gazette, in an article dated 2025-09-06, reported that Phil Kiernan had contacted the programme because occupancy in his eight-bedroom courtyard accommodation had fallen to 42 percent. It said Polizzi was unimpressed by the decor and by pictures of pies above the guest beds. Soglos, in an undated article about the broadcast, reported that she also objected to garden sheds and a menu she thought was produced by AI, and that she took him to Ye Old Ferrie Inn at Symonds Yat to see more polished guest rooms.

Both outlets described the changes. The garden sheds were removed and replaced with plain parasols, and four bedrooms were refreshed with new artwork and soft furnishings. The Ross Gazette put the cost at about £60 a room and said the pie-themed room names were dropped. An open day let regulars and locals compare the refreshed rooms with unchanged ones, and the Ross Gazette said the refreshed rooms won public approval.

The inn's own website, last modified on 2026-10-13 and carrying a 2026 copyright notice, lists eight en-suite rooms, menus updated in September 2026, table booking, direct room booking and all-day opening seven days a week. Its menu has a page on the Channel 5 programme that links to series 20 of the show, and another link to a Channel 4 Four in a Bed page.