A couple of tourists have taken to the internet to begrudge a Lake District pub - famous for its small size - for being "too cramped" and "claustrophobic".

Sometimes people really don't help themselves, do they?

The Crafty Baa, located on Victoria Street in Windermere, has previously been named as the North West’s best pub at the prestigious ‘Rural Oscars’ awards.

According to their website, The Crafty Baa was built by Vince, Lisa and Ben in just seven months. They used over 80% recycled and up-cycled materials and opened on August 12th 2016.

It has had rave reviews ever since and won several awards.

But obviously, you can never please everyone.

One reviewer took to Tripadvisor to moan: "Small, cramped, overpriced, loud, poseurs (posers) paradise, emperors new clothes, waste of a parking space, overpriced, sorry that's twice, thought 6.2 was the ABV. Turns out it was the cost of a frankly average IPA".

Another said: "Very small and shambolic bar , stuff / junk hung on walls & ceilings everywhere , very uncomfortable and claustrophobic and not worth a visit. Needs stripping out and revamping , back to basics for a small bar and do not rely on filling the place with junk everywhere."

Perhaps they weren't aware of where they were?

Recommended reading: 

Windermere award-winning family Crafty Baa reflects on business philosophy

"So small we want it to have its own postcode"

Back in 2021, owner Vince spoke with us to discuss their beginnings and success: "The whole journey for us began in 2016 when we opened the bar. The one we opened in Keswick was opened last year in 2020.

“For the future we are looking to open the smallest pub in the Lake District. So small we want it to have its own postcode.

“For this business we put in three years research to find out what others were doing, and we found everyone was copying everyone else.

"Everything we do is the opposite to everyone else. It makes it more fun"

“We don’t copy others. Everything we do is the opposite to everyone else. It makes it more fun.

“We use recycled materials that others discard. For example, when the Royal Oak replaced all its furniture, we began our set up with what they didn’t want.

“We grew from there. Anything others don’t want we use to grow our business.

“We’ve got things from pubs local to us and even some from Grasmere.

“Our ceiling is also used as a place for lost property. If someone loses something we put it on the ceiling for them to collect when they come back.

“Now some people are leaving things on purpose so we can get them up there.

“My son Ben runs the Keswick pub, while myself and Lisa run the Windermere pub.”