Exeter Pub Crawl

Weird things you find in pubs

This post finds me on a January day which leapt between rain showers and blue skies, setting about exploring a handful of the drinking spots that the city of Exeter had to offer.

I headed to have a quick look at the cathedral which was handy for the first bar of the afternoon...

With it's back door facing onto the cathedral yard, I headed to the Beer Cellar (2 South Street, EX1 1DZ).  This was originally a noodle bar, prior to being converted to corner the Exeter craft beer market in 2013.  It's micro in size, although doesn't fit the official description of a micropub.  There's just three tables and a handful of stools.

Bar at the Beer Cellar, Exeter

On my visit in 2017 I seem to remember they were featuring Irish breweries - this time around there is still plenty left over from a tap takeover by Gibberish Brewing. 
Starting out at the tail-end of 2017 and hailing from Merseyside, this is the venture of Mad Hatter brewer Gareth Matthews.  As Untappd only lists the Beer Cellar and the Gibberish brewpub as places to get the first batch of their beers, this is what I believe they call a 'scoop'. 

I tried the 'Chevalier' on cask, a 4.8% ESB brewed with coffee leafs, then couldn't resist the brightly coloured 'Eton Mess Sour'.  It would have been easy to stay longer and try all the offerings from this new brewery, or yield to temptation and grab the 11.7% barrel aged Cloudwater DIPA. 
But 11.7% in the first pub never bodes well for a pub crawl, so I moved onwards....


I headed westwards through the centre and out to the Imperial (New North Road, EX4 4AH).  I've gone through a bit of a grumpy phase with Wetherspoons pubs of late, but I will concede that I do have a fond spot for this impressive pub.  Built in 1810, it operated as The Imperial Hotel between 1923 to 1994 before the pub chain converted it and opened in 1996.  Inside there are a number of splendid rooms and an wonderful orangery which has a separate bar and is a great place to sit when the sun is shining through the panes of glass.  I picked a pale ale from Peerless Brewery, brewed in the Wirral, 
Local Devon beer sampling not not off to a flying start.

The Imperial, Exeter

Walking downhill from the Imperial brought me to St Davids train station, where I headed across to the Great Western Hotel (St Davids Station, EX4 4NU) which sits on a corner overlooking the station and its car park. 

Many years ago this used to be a regular point of call for me when I used to regularly catch the train from St David's and popped in whenever I had any time to spare before departure. 
So it's a nice change today that I don't have to keep looking at my watch and rushing my beer. 

The bar has had a make-over since the days I remember it - the signage on the front is smarter, the hotel has a proper reception desk, and the bar looks like a proper hotel bar with neat and tidy furniture.  I'm sure it used to pretty scruffy and.....I like scruffy! 

There were 9 hand-pumps along the bar, but only a choice of three beers on this visit.  I picked a Pitchfork Golden Ale - Western-Super-Mare - getting closer! 

Having picked up an Exe Drinker magazine, I'd spotted an advert for the recently reopened Iron Bridge Hotel (St Davids Hill, EX4 3RG), so made this the next stop.  It's been rescued after several years closed, which is great to see.  With a front and back room, this has been nicely and carefully refurbished with lots of mirrors and pictures covering the wall.  Amongst half a dozen hand-pumps  they stock Exeter Brewery's beers, so I'd finally got onto the local ales in the shape of a 5% winter ale, 'Falls Over'.

The Iron Bridge Hotel

Walking along the Iron Bridge that the pub is named after, you can see the buildings to the left that would once have been St Anne's Well Brewery.  I stroll on, back past the Beer Cellar and further down South Street to my second Wetherspoons outlet of the day - Georges Meeting Place (38 South Street, EX1 1ED). 
This was my first visit to this pub and it's one of those amazing Spoons conversions that make me go wow as I walk through the door.  This was an 18th century chapel and retains the pulpit at one end of the bar, stained glass windows and mildly precarious staircases to first floor balconies.  

Interior of Georges Meeting Place, Exeter

Hourglass, picture from their website as
mine didn't work and I figured they
wouldn't mind as I'm full of praise for
the place.   

Further away from the city centre, across a roundabout, I make my way on to The Hourglass (21 Melbourne Street, EX2 4AU), which I'd seen in the Good Beer Guide and on a 'Devon's best pubs' list where it was categorised as "Best for a cosy date with plenty of conversation starters". 
Which was unfortunate, as my date was 150-miles away back in Oxford and would be upset if I was here starting conversations with anyone else.  Besides there was only one gent busy reading his paper and the pub cat which was wholly uninterested in me. 
It was quiet on a Monday evening. 
That didn't detract from the wonderful surroundings - this is a characterful old pub, with a circular bar, the smell of the real fire in the air, dim lighting and barrels and dried hops decorating the bar.  It's a place I'd certainly recommend heading a short distance out the centre to visit and I enjoyed sitting here with my Exeter Brewery 'Avocet' ale.

Monday's suck for the pub-crawler - several places I'd otherwise have headed to on this visit were closed until later in the week.
Which just means I'll have to come back and do it again.
Cheers! 🍻