Bideford Bound - The Joiners Arms

Several blog posts on the way now from Devon, a county which featured heavily on these pages in 2023.  A county in which I was determined to be able to say I'd visited all of the 2024 Good Beer Guide pubs.
We ticked almost everywhere we needed in the northern reaches of Devon with overnighters the previous year in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe.  But we missed the Joiners Arms in Bideford, whose opening hours didn't work out.
So...let's try again...

You'll find Bideford and its 18,000 or so residents on the Torridge estuary, a 30-minute bus ride from Barnstaple.
The town name is derived from "by the ford", but looking out at the River Torridge it's hard to imagine being able to cross it by ford.  Much better to use the nice old bridge, although the constant flow of traffic across it makes it more of a chore than a pleasure as a pedestrian.

Walk up the steepish hills from the riverside and you'll find narrow lanes, interesting independent shops, and a surprising number of people bustling about this old port town.
After two trips to Bideford I've decided that this is my favourite building...

It's on a corner next to the attractive pannier market - do you get pannier markets anywhere in the UK other than Devon?

On the top right corner of the streets surrounding the market you'll find the Joiners...

The Joiners Arms (6 Market Place, Bideford, EX39 2DR) 
This was a pub doing a good trade for an early Saturday afternoon with folks sat at the bar, most tables occupied.
Three cask ales were available: the common sight of Doom Bar; Young's 'Special' which has traveled a fair way from Bedford; and the local Clearwater offering... 

I grabbed one of the last remaining tables in the  left-side of the bar and enjoyed a reasonable local ESB.  Across the other side of the pub is a small stage, the Joiners playing host to bands with names like the Ragamuffins and Basil's Balls Up Band.
This is a proper community town pub and I suspect it's quite lively and a lot of fun of an evening time with a band on stage.

I needed a bite to eat and figured the local 'Spoons would be the logical quick 'n' easy option.
But I was denied the quality pub picture thanks to Consort Scaffold Services who have hidden the frontage of the Rose Salterne.

The Rose Salterne (9-10 Bridgeland Street, Bideford, RX39 2PZ)
Behind that scaffolding this is a building with a bit of history.  It dates back to 1871 when it was opened as the 'Public Rooms' (what that entails, I'm not sure), then it later became the Palace Cinema.  That closed in 1962 to make way for a supermarket, later branching into furniture, then a carpet store. 
There's an odd covered patio area in a recess from the pavement out front, before you enter through the doors into a familiar 'Spoons layout.  I did like the bell lampshades that you see at the right side of the picture...

The beer selection was unspectacular with Oakham 'JHB' and Exmoor 'Gold' being the only additions to the regular Ruddles, Doom Bar etc range.
Jacket potato and five bean chili for me, although with the amount of chili you get on top of your potato you'll be lucky if you get 5 beans in total, let alone 5 varieties of bean.  Generous portion of salad though, and it filled a gap whilst I watched a consortium of staff trying to fix the coffee machine and pondered to myself whether I'd ever read anything by Charles Kingsley. (Kingsley living in this part of Devon and the pub taking its name from the heroine of his 1855 novel Westward Ho!)

The best shot of the Spoons carpet was on the quite majestic corridor to the WCs...

Time for another pub visit in Bideford?
From a choice of half-a-dozen I picked the Appledore Inn which graced the Beer Guide a couple of years ago.

The Appledore Inn (18 Chingswell Street, Bideford, EX39 2NF)
A few minutes walk from the Wetherspoon's, this mid-terrace pub is on the route to the football ground, so you get AFC Bideford stickers in the window alongside the obligatory Exeter Chiefs ones.

It's open-plan within, although I'd guess there were two separate rooms when it was built in the mid 19th century.  There has obviously been a recent make-over in shades of grey and they've opted for one of those dull hard-wearing carpets - functional rather than welcoming.

On the bar were hand pumps for Dartmoor 'Legend', Butcombe 'Rare Breed' and 'Original', or Morland 'Old Speckled Hen'.  
"Oi - who's drinking my Legend?" said the chap at the end of the bar when I ordered, although I don't think he was getting through the barrel fast enough single-handed to keep it in tip-top condition.

With that, my short visit to Bideford was over.  All that was left was to peer over the wall at the local football ground.  Apparently, AFC Bideford haven't been relegated for over 60 years so may be a better bet for me to support than Forest.

And they have some cracking old-school floodlights.