Moving on from the previous 2 blogs, things are looking up regarding a vaccine (BBC), so I thought let's talk about great pubs, well worth reading to cheer us up!
This is my second attempt at this blog, it shouldn't be too hard to remember as I only just deleted 90% of the first relevant blog in error! Ggrrr... 😡
Anyway, I'm going to talk about, with a few anecdotes, 16 public houses I have visited before and loved, and want to return to. I shall write 4 blogs with 4 pubs in each, starting in the South West, an area where I have lived in the past (Cornwall and Devon), second blog will look at the North West plus Newcastle, third, the East Midlands, then the West Midlands down to London...
Here I go, again, hopefully as entertaining as the original! 😉
The Royal Oak Inn, Lostwithiel
OK, calmer now... The Royal Oak Inn, 5 Duke Street, Lostwithiel, Cornwall PL22 0AG (website) was my local when I lived in the town whilst working in Bodmin. This is a lovely old building that had been a school before it was turned into a pub in the 19th century, and serves up excellent ales and food, indeed, it is in the 2020 CAMRA Good Beer Guide (GBG). I remember the first time I ever drank Phoenix Brewery (website) Wobbly Bob, it was down here in Cornwall surprisingly, and a very easy to drink 'traditional' bitter, though at a rather strong 6.0%!
I have a few stories to tell about my time here, around 30 years ago, but I'll mention just 2. Whilst living in Cornwall heavy storms had brought down many electricity pylons, and a team from Ireland came over to help repairs, coincidentally they stayed at the Royal Oak, and we became friendly, so much so that I was regularly included in their 'expenses' bill, great to have Wobbly Bob and other excellent ales paid for by my electricity bill, and they were great company too, certainly we all enjoyed the craic, memories, cheers lads!
The other anecdote was at the end of a group of night shifts for me; people who know me well will also know I can't sleep during the daytime, indeed, I am an 'early bird' awake as soon as it's light outside. So, I had just worked 3 night shifts, if I was lucky I may have slept at most 10 hours since I started nights, consequently, I had a plan. Make sure my dinner was ready to re-heat (homemade curry), as this was just before all-day opening, I'd drink a few pints at lunchtime, then go home to my wee Two-up Two-down 300 year old cottage (cute wee place with walls a couple of foot deep!), eat my dinner, then pull out the bed-settee and fall asleep watching television.
It didn't work out quite that way, I got on pretty well with the landlord and landlady, and their daughter and her husband/partner*, as well as quite a few locals and, to cut the story short, about a dozen of us 'locals' though none of us were born in Cornwall, including the lad behind the bar* were 'locked in' after 14.00 hours (much nicer than lockdown). No doubt I was quite 'merry' as well as being tired, and when I eventually got home I successfully managed the reheating of dinner, no problem, I sat down on the settee with my food in a dish on a tray... I woke up hours later with the food scattered at my feet. I never told anyone at the pub though, or did I?!? 😏
The other anecdote was at the end of a group of night shifts for me; people who know me well will also know I can't sleep during the daytime, indeed, I am an 'early bird' awake as soon as it's light outside. So, I had just worked 3 night shifts, if I was lucky I may have slept at most 10 hours since I started nights, consequently, I had a plan. Make sure my dinner was ready to re-heat (homemade curry), as this was just before all-day opening, I'd drink a few pints at lunchtime, then go home to my wee Two-up Two-down 300 year old cottage (cute wee place with walls a couple of foot deep!), eat my dinner, then pull out the bed-settee and fall asleep watching television.
It didn't work out quite that way, I got on pretty well with the landlord and landlady, and their daughter and her husband/partner*, as well as quite a few locals and, to cut the story short, about a dozen of us 'locals' though none of us were born in Cornwall, including the lad behind the bar* were 'locked in' after 14.00 hours (much nicer than lockdown). No doubt I was quite 'merry' as well as being tired, and when I eventually got home I successfully managed the reheating of dinner, no problem, I sat down on the settee with my food in a dish on a tray... I woke up hours later with the food scattered at my feet. I never told anyone at the pub though, or did I?!? 😏
The Dolphin Hotel, Plymouth
Time to cross the border into Devon/England methinks (many Cornish folk look on England as a foreign country, true, some have never visited England!), and just across The Tamar is Plymouth and The Dolphin Hotel down at 14 The Barbican, PL1 2LS (facebook page). The Dolphin is another GBG listed pub that was built over 200 years ago and is famous for selling the best draught Bass (now brewed by Marston's I believe) you will ever drink, and for the (then) local artist Beryl Cook's patronage, who was a regular customer, and sketched whilst drinking in the pub. A fine example of her paintings is Hen Night which depicts a group of women 'bustling' their way into the Dolphin, but many of her paintings were set inside the Dolphin and other pubs. Indeed, the walls of the Dolphin are adorned with copies of many of Cook's infamous prints.
And, maybe you are not fond of draught Bass, which I describe as the 'best you will ever drink,' well, maybe I exaggerate, but not much, I would certainly stand by the statement that you are unlikely to ever drink a better pint of Bass! There are a number of cask conditioned ales sold in the pub but when I first entered the Dolphin, I think it was in the 1980s, but may have been earlier, I remember seeing this line of kilderkins (18 gallon casks) of Bass lined up at the back of the bar, very impressive, and I do like to drink real ale gravity fed, nothing but the best!
The Dolphin is in the heart of the Plymouth fishing quarter at The Barbican, Plymouth's old fishing port, though the old fish market has been relocated across the quay, but nearby Cap'n Jaspers resides (website), where to go to fill your stomach after drinking copious amounts of ale! Cap'n Jaspers sells the best valued food in Plymouth, I first visited many years ago when it was in a hand-built hut, and you queued up at the serving hatch, but now it is in larger more permanent premises, but still selling huge portions at decent prices.
My last visits to this Dolphin pub were before and after visiting Home Park as away supporters, geed up before the match, less happy after the match, but still enjoyed the ale, cheers!
Pater Tavy Inn
Next, if you drive north from Plymouth on the A386, through another of my old stomping grounds Tavistock, and continue on a couple of miles more to the turn-off for Peter Tavy on your right (Dartmoor side), and you will reach the Peter Tavy Inn, PL19 9NN (website), easy to find really as it's at the end of the track, and close to the church, which is typical of small village pubs. This 15th century pub, on the edge of the Moor, has been in the GBG for years too, and sells only West Country brewed ales, usually 4 or 5, including regular ales from Dartmoor Brewery (website), Roam Brewing (website) and Branscombe Vale Brewery (facebook).
As with the Dolphin above, I am not positive when I first visited the Peter Tavy Inn, it may have been in the late 1970s or early 1980s when I made regular visits to Devonian friends, Steve and Jude, who I met in 1978 when on holiday in Austria with my girlfriend at that time, indeed, Steve and Jude are quite significant in my moving to the West Country in 1985! Or my first visit may have been 1985-ish. 😉 Whatever, I have driven there many times over the years, indeed, walked regularly there when I lived in Tavistock in the 1990s, a wonderful pub to visit it is.
Back in the 1990s, under different stewardship, it was not quite so dedicated to West Country beers as it is now, and I drank my first ever pint of Tetley's Bitter, another ale brewed by Marston's now too, there's a pattern emerging of this ever growing brewing company... That's maybe for another day, but Tetley's yes... Kind of strange that my first taste of this ale was in Cornwall, noting my subsequent removal to Yorkshire, but also my first experience of a swan neck and tight sparkler, used to ensure a big frothy head on the beer, much loved by Yorkshire folk (though not by all, I can assure you, nor by me!). Anyway, I do want to return to Peter Tavy.
As with the Dolphin above, I am not positive when I first visited the Peter Tavy Inn, it may have been in the late 1970s or early 1980s when I made regular visits to Devonian friends, Steve and Jude, who I met in 1978 when on holiday in Austria with my girlfriend at that time, indeed, Steve and Jude are quite significant in my moving to the West Country in 1985! Or my first visit may have been 1985-ish. 😉 Whatever, I have driven there many times over the years, indeed, walked regularly there when I lived in Tavistock in the 1990s, a wonderful pub to visit it is.
Back in the 1990s, under different stewardship, it was not quite so dedicated to West Country beers as it is now, and I drank my first ever pint of Tetley's Bitter, another ale brewed by Marston's now too, there's a pattern emerging of this ever growing brewing company... That's maybe for another day, but Tetley's yes... Kind of strange that my first taste of this ale was in Cornwall, noting my subsequent removal to Yorkshire, but also my first experience of a swan neck and tight sparkler, used to ensure a big frothy head on the beer, much loved by Yorkshire folk (though not by all, I can assure you, nor by me!). Anyway, I do want to return to Peter Tavy.
The Bridge Inn, Topsham
Moving eastwards across Devon, indeed, we could cross over Dartmoor from Tavistock to Exeter (a beautiful drive!), and then on to nearby Topsham. However, my many trips to The Bridge Inn, Bridge Hill, Topsham EX3 0QQ (website) have been by car, mostly by train from Exeter, and once by bus number 57 from Exeter (but no loo on the bus!). Although the village is on the River Exe, The Bridge Inn is on the River Clyst, a tributary to the Exe, and not far from the estuary. I admit I've never seen the pub in the snow, but I borrowed the photograph above from their facebook page because it's a beautiful image, many thanks!
My first trip to The Bridge Inn was in 1985, I believe (maybe before, but I don't think so), when I went in the old days of different opening hours in the countryside, with similar hours to Exeter in the summer (Summer Opening), but closing earlier from the end of the summer holidays. Anyway, fewer evening hours when I went with my girlfriend of the time, and future ex-wife Julie, presumably she knew about the pub and encouraged us to go. Anyway, a bit of a first when I visited, something I'd never seen before, mostly because my earlier drinking had not been in free houses, a BEER MENU, how excited I was, written up on a board, I can't remember how many ales they sold, but somewhere between 8 and 10! The other lovely thing was, they had to go down to the cellar to pour the ales straight from the cask into the glass and bring them back up to the customer, and I've always been dead impressed with ales delivered by gravity ever since, cheers to the Gibbings/Cheffers/Bridge!
Why do I mention those names? Well, this 16th century pub has been in the ownership of the same family since 1897, and what a great job they've done to keep it still such a homely place to visit. We were there midweek, and it was very quiet, with only us 2 and a couple of farmers in the room, and I seem to remember a roaring fire. Although we weren't listening to the other 2 customers, we were in the getting to know you phase of our relationship, we couldn't understand them anyway, they were speaking that fast and with a thick Devonian country accent, and I'd only been living in Devon for a few months. 😃
As you can see from the photograph, the pub isn't that small actually, and when I was living in Exeter, they used to open up a much larger bar in the summer/when more customers were there, and they served ales from handpumps in that bar. My brother, Dan, came down and stayed with us once (more than once actually) when he was attending a friend's wedding in Topsham. We drove him to The Bridge Inn to meet up with other friends of his who were also attending the wedding, and he was dead impressed with the pub too; very likely we went there together again at a later date. However, what I'm getting at is that it is a wonderful old pub selling excellent ales, usually 10 different ales from local brewers, and from afar, and I do want to return very soon.
Cheers to Devon and Cornwall, and to my coming 3 reminiscing blogs!
