Pub Ticking in Minehead and Surrounds

July 2024.  The British summer is noticeable by its absence.
I'd rather hoped to spend a couple of days on the Somerset coast looking across the Channel at Wales with glorious blue skies and sunsets.  It didn't work out that way and I got rather wet instead.

This was a short trip to visit a few pubs in that western bobble of Somerset that includes Exmoor and the Quantocks.  The bit that's letting my Somerset pub-ticking down.

Let's start a couple of miles outside of Minehead at the picturesque medieval village of Dunster.
This is a spectacular place and an obvious tourist draw, with a National Trust castle on the hill, and a high street full of gift shops, galleries, and tea rooms.  Up at the top of the High Street, by the old octagonal market hall, is the Luttrell Arms Hotel.

The Luttrell Arms (36 High Street, Dunster, TA24 8SG)
Dating back to the 15th century, it's Grade II listed, originally three houses, one of which belonged to a Richard Luttrell who provides the current name.

The route to the bar - directing you away from the main door so as not to upset the hotel guests - is a convoluted one.  In through one door, out into a small yard, back inside, past some folks dining in a snug that isn't really a snug, turn right...by this point I was wondered if I'd ever manage to find the bar.

I'm glad I did.  It's a bit of a museum piece, with timbered ceiling, pewter mugs hanging from the high beams, and displays of brass, guns, swords, and antlers galore.
Early afternoon it wasn't very busy - just a couple of chaps sat at the bar drinking the Exmoor ale, a few folks eating, and a couple of people outside in a hidden outdoor courtyard - a mini George, Southwark, with galleried walkways looking down on it.

The cask choice at the bar was Exmoor 'Ale', Otter 'Bitter', or Quantock 'Glimpse of Summer' (a very apt name - I think the last glimpse was on a Thursday at the end of June).
Efficient service from the smartly attired staff, and I was soon settled on a big wooden table with the superb Quantock pale ale. 
A nice place, but not really very 'pub.

Minehead would provide my lodgings for the night but, before wandering the streets of the seaside town, I decided to travel further west along the coast to visit...

Porlock Weir turned out to be a mile and a half beyond Porlock village.  You can tackle this by walking down the lane towards the bay, then picking up a nice flat section of the SW coast path.
It's a pretty hamlet when you get there - a handful of cottages, a hotel, and the Ship Inn, along with some fine views across the Bristol Channel, even on this grey day.

The Ship Inn (Porlock Weir, TA24 8PB)
I really liked the Ship: everything I expect an old fisherman's pub to be.  It had a simple whitewashed frontage with plentiful picnic benches that it was too chilly to comfortably use.  Stepping into the bar there were thick stone walls, big fireplace, flagstone floors, and boxes of cider stacked precariously three-high on the bar counter.
I stuck with the beer, with RCH 'PG Steam', Exeter 'Ferryman', and three picks from Essex brewery Brentwood being available.  I don't see those Brentwood ales very often so opted for the porter, which suited the glum weather and was an excellent dark ale.

With no music and customers spread out, this was a very quiet visit, only livened up by laminating woes for the staff.  It seemed a page had gotten stuck in the laminating machine, which someone eventually noticed was smoking.  A young chap was duly dispatched to unplug it and deposit the machine in the back yard ("Nothing to see here"). 
It turns out that acrid burning plastic really doesn't enhance the rural pub experience in the same way wood smoke from a real fire does.

I departed as the young lady at the bar was on the phone to someone explaining why they hadn't quite finished preparing the laminated menus for the evening ahead.

The Ship at Porlock Weir is known as the Bottom Ship.
And that's to differentiate it from the Top Ship in Porlock village...

The Ship Inn (High Street, Porlock, TA24 8QD)
This is an absolute corker of a pub, which would only have been enhanced with a bit more trade, except I will insist on visiting places on rainy Monday afternoons.
The Ship is a sprawling place with with an L-shaped layout -  dining rooms leading at two angles from the bar in the corner.  And what a bar - it has a heritage feel with fixed wooden benches along the back wall, red and black tiled floor, and a big inglenook fireplace in the corner.

"Ooh, that looks like nice" the customers sat at the counter commented when my Exmoor 'Ale' was poured, the chap behind the bar replying that it was fresh on, before contemplating the clear golden nectar himself.  Stop admiring it and just give it to me!!!
Other cask beer on my visit was Exmoor 'Beast' (so tempting, but I was feeling sensible), Otter 'Ale' or 'Amber', St Austell 'Proper Job' or 'Tribute'.

 

The beer was a great form.
And the effect of sitting on a slightly uncomfortable hard bench in this characterful bar was only spoilt slightly by Heart Radio and half the other customers taking my arrival as their cue to leave.

Five in the afternoon and I eventually made it to Minehead.   Which was supposed to be the feature of this post but has ended up making a late appearance.
In Minehead, I had booked my second ever overnight in a Wetherspoon Hotel.

Duke of Wellington (Wellington Squarw, Minehead, TN24 5NH)
The Duke of Wellington is a grand three storey red-brick building in the centre of Minehead, first opened in 1820 when it served as a staging post for the coaches to Taunton and Bridgewater.
Being an old hotel gives it a bit of a different feel to those Spoons with one big room.  This is a large place with at least four distinct seating areas and 2 bars.
Bags dropped off and splash of water on the face, I headed back downstairs and picked a table in the front right bar.  Mangalorian Cauliflower Curry and a pint of Exmoor 'Gold', please.

My first 2024 Good Beer Guide entry in Minehead was a few minutes walk in the drizzle away from the Duke of Wellington and town centre.

Kildare Lodge (Townsend Road, Minehead, TA24 5RQ)
A "cracking local pub" according to Whatpub, although I'd call it a hotel bar.  After a quick snap of the foliage covered frontage, I headed through the door under the arch to the side, then gingerly through the corridor the length of the place, wary of finding myself in a residents only bit and being told off.

The bar was at the opposite end of the hotel from the door, seating in an unusual high-ceilinged corner room, with the bar up one step to the side.
The nice lady behind the pump clips apologised for lack of custom, with just one chap sat in the corner, although it filled up quite nicely with a selection of retirees and their four legged friends as I supped my pint.  

'Rev James', Butcombe 'Original', and Exeter 'Tomahawk', or Exeter  'Avocet' made up the cask choice. Despite being so quiet when I arrived, the Tomahawk was on good form, enjoyed whilst sat on the big leather benches next to the fireplace.

Drinking up, I strolled down to the seafront for the grey and wet July holiday picture.

The big top style roof of the pavilion at Butlin's is on the horizon.
I've seen Iggy and The Stooges under that roof, back when I used to come down for those great All Tomorrow's Parties festival weekenders.  Whizzing down the water slides and enjoying the wave pool alongside heavily tattooed hairy doom metal fans...those were the days.

I never ventured far into town on those weekends, so the walk along the quayside to the final two pubs of the day was new for me.  

The Quay Inn (Quay Street, Minehead, TA24 5UJ)
This proved to be my favourite Minehead pub without a doubt.  A nice place with a few locals and holidaymakers who'd become regulars and were treated like old friends by the landlord.
It had the best soundtrack of the day, featuring The Move, The Who, and The Small Faces.
And a very enjoyable pint of Nuttycombe 'Doonicans', a beer I didn't rate very highly when I last tried it, but picked because I've had far too much of the alternative 'Jail Ale' this year.

As comfy as I was in the Wetherspoon hotel, I kinda wished I'd stayed in the Quay Inn when I spotted the Channel 4 'Four in a Bed' winners award hung on the wall.
The landlord was a top chap too, popping over to ask how I'd found myself in this part of the world and chatting about Somerset pubs.

Just one more to go then-  five wet minutes along the road.

Old Ship Aground (Quay Street, Minehead, TA24 5UL)
It's in a great location and I'm sure the benches outside would be marvelous in different weather, looking out across the water from the quayside
But I'm afraid I didn't warm to the place much, mainly because all the tables were full with groups eating and there was little in the way of places to perch with a pint.  A Hall and Woodhouse pub, the three cask ales were Badger Best, Fursty Ferret, and Tanglefoot. 

Tanglefoot is a regular bottle on the supermarket shelf, but I don't think I've ever had it on cask before - to be fair it was much better than I expected.  And a seat at the end of the big table in the window became available which improved my mood.

It had been a long day and I was ready to brave the weather to get back to the hotel.  I must have been tired, as a plan to have a cider nightcap in the bar at Spoons was scrapped in favour of sinking into my bed.
I'd enjoyed the pubs of Minehead and surrounds, but I'd appreciate some sunshine next time please.