Taunton Pub Explorations

A Somerset trip where we get to sit in front of the Ian Botham picture, meaning I could tell Mrs PropUptheBar how he challenged us to eat three Shredded Wheat in the '80's.  Which is better than trying to explain anything about cricket - a subject I'm a bit hazy on.

We found more than cricket in the Somerset county town...we found a dalek, a ghost Spoons, some annoying table service, and the best pint of the day in a sports club a hefty trek from the centre.
But let's keep up the regular habit and start the day in Wetherspoon's...

Perkin Warbeck (22-23 East Street, Taunton, TA1 3LP)
This is an enormous branch of the chain, stretching waaaaay back from its entrance on the shopping street.  You know the score: booths and high benches along the side, regimented tables-for-four down the middle, those precarious tall perching spots for the hardened drinkers in front of the bar.
And the whole place was almost full - we traipsed the length looking for a suitable seat, marveling at the Perkin Warbeck's ability to attract the fair folk of Taunton on a Saturday lunchtime.

When we eventually found a free table next to an eccentric lady with her cider and chips, we ordered beer and food on the app.  I opted, perhaps unwisely, for the Exeter Brewery 'MC6' - a wicked 6% dark old ale which was a meal in itself - a cracking beer.  You'd be bold to go back for a second at lunchtime, though.

Fed and watered, we headed back into the sunshine to wander the streets of the town a little more.
Our route took us to Taunton Minster, with its striking 40 meter high tower, built at the beginning of the 16th century when the town was prospering from the wool trade.

A few quiet back streets took us from the minster to the beer-guide listed Ring Of Bells.
Which absolutely looked the business from outside as I took the picture - church tower, cricketing floodlights, hanging baskets, and mobility scooter.

The Ring Of Bells (16-17 St James Street, Taunton, TA1 1JS)
The problem was the 'please wait to be seated' podium greeting us at the front door.  To be fair, the young man welcomed us heartily, told us we could sit where we liked, and held the floor, chatting to us and a handful of regulars.
But I was perplexed as to why they figured table service for drinks was best.

You can look at the current pump clips on the wall, but some high tables are strategically placed to stop you getting anywhere near the pumps themselves.

No complaints about my Otter Brewery 'Twelfth Man', a special for the pub  
I just never got over the odd fact that it had to be brought to my table by a legion of staff that was threatening to outnumber the customers.

I'd hate to suggest that Taunton isn't a great pub town, but we were feeling a bit short of options at 3pm in the afternoon.
We contemplated catching a bus up to Bishops Lydeard and the Quantock Brewery Tap, although we'd been there a couple of days previously and probably didn't to make a return visit so soon.
Instead, we ambled into the Musuem of Somerset.

I'd recommend this highly - lots of interesting exhibits in the old castle buildings, keeping us occupied for much longer than I expected it would.   Roman mosaics, fossils, coins from the Frome hoard, plus a Doctor Who exhibition.

  

The dress-up section was definitely not just for kids and I looked great as a Tom Baker era Doctor.  Mrs PropUptheBar is under strict instructions not to release the picture.

Right, time for more beer.
We back-tracked almost all the way to the railway station to the Plough...

The Plough Inn (75 Station Road, Taunton, TA1 1PB)
This was a pub I really liked.
Entrance is via the alley to the side, with a door to the right taking you into the bar, or straight on to the back room.
It's a proper cider place as you can see from my picture of the shelved boxes behind the bar.  There was just the one cask ale - a St Austell 'Tribute' racked to one side.  The cask was tapped especially for me, making for a quality fresh pint, served straight from the barrel.

 

We settled down in the more basic back room: wooden benches as opposed to battered sofas in the front.  A top notch pint of beer, friendly staff, and bench seating picture of the month...

Heading back toward the centre, we passed what used to Taunton's second Spoons.
After several years standing empty, it reopened this July as an independent venue, so we figured we'd investigate.

The Coal Orchard (30-32 Bridge Street, Taunton, TA1 1UD)
The odd name comes from the fact that an orchard once stood across the road from this site. It was later cleared to make way for a landing stage on the River Tone for boats shipping in Welsh coal.

It didn't have the crowds that we'd encountered in the Perkin Warbeck, but hopefully that'll pick up.  Real ale choices were Tim Taylors Landlord or Boltmaker, Wadworth 6X, or - my pick - the Severn Brewing 'Double Hopped Pale Ale'.  A well kept beer at a bargain weekday happy hour price.

 

It doesn't look like much has changed since the Spoons days in terms of decor, signage, and big upstairs WCs.  There was a distinct lack of furniture creating much more open space to admire the carpet design.  And the new owners didn't have the kitchen up and running, which I guess made a difference to how busy it was.

We just had one last place to go to.
I didn't want to come to Taunton and not visit all the Beer Guide entries (3), so we'd had to wait for a 6pm opening time for the Wyvern Club.

We reached the Club just before six, satisfied we'd clocked up a good step-count for the day, and seen more of Taunton housing estates than the average visitor.

Wyvern Social Club (Mountfields Road, Taunton, TA1 3BJ)
This is a club without any panic of trying to find your CAMRA membership card, or checking if your copy of the Beer Guide is enough to grant you entry.
The door is wide open and a sign noted that this operates as a regular pub.

The beer range offered a couple of South West regulars and a local Doonicans brew - 'Bollotics', the Houses of Parliament featuring on the pump clip.

That Doonican's beer was delicious - packed full of flavour with a bitter, hoppy finish - beer of the day.

Arriving at opening time, and unable to hang around for too long if we didn't want to miss our train, we didn't get to the see the Wyvern in full swing.
It was somewhere I was comfy, sat on the cushioned banqueting bench seating which ran under the big windows looking out on the sports fields.

The Wyvern Club was our last port of call on a day out in Taunton.
Somewhere that doesn't have the strongest line-up of trad pubs, but had never-the-less provided us with a good day and a few decent pints.

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.

Proudly Brewed in Clevedon

A pier, a micropub, and a brewery tap?
Sounds like just the kind of day out I like, so off I set with the promise of those three things in the Somerset coastal town of Clevedon.

An early arrival gave me the chance to stroll along the seafront, admiring the views to Wales across the Severn estuary, before visiting the pier.

It cost me £3.70 to walk down the pier - and there's not even any slot machines.
But it is one for the pier enthusiast, Grade 1 listed, opened in 1869 as somewhere for pleasure trippers on steamers to be able to disembark and experience the delights of Clevedon.

Despite the blue skies there was a nippy cold wind blowing and I decided it was time to warm up in the first of Clevedon's two Beer Guide establishments.
Located up an alleyway from the seafront, the Royal Oak is set on a very smart looking quiet backstreet.

Royal Oak (35 Copse Road, Clevedon, BS21 7QN)
The bar was to the left of the front door, offering a real ale choice of Butcombe 'Original', 'Doom Bar' and Tim Taylor 'Landlord' on the hand pumps.  Those were the regulars, but I plumped for the guest ale: People's Captain 'Local Hero', a brand set up by an ex-rugby pro, raising money for good causes, brewing at Fourpure in London.

A quick check of the nautical decor necessary in any pub called the Ship...

Then an exploration of the rooms beyond the bar, the sun streaming through the windows in the rear lounge, a quirky Captain's Cabin snug beyond this.
Big TV screens showed futsol - which at least made a change from rugby.

Moving on, I wandered inland up Alexandra Road, then around the corner to where you'll find Somerset's first micro pub.  And a model Swiss cow on the hillside if you look closely enough...

Fallen Tree Micropub (43 Hill Road, Clevedon, BS21 7PD)
To be honest, my attention was caught by Woods Estate Agents whose signage is a bit more prominent than that of their micro pub neighbours.
The Fallen Tree opened in 2018 in what was once a launderette.

The landlord was a very friendly fella with a clear passion for his beers.  On discovering I'd made the trip from Oxford he searched out the Oxbrew pump clips among the collection on the beams. 

Beers on offer on my visit were Blindmans 'Mine Beer', Bristol Beer Factory 'White Desert', and Pinkers 'Northern Soul Western Funk'.  I opted for the Pinkers, brewed nearby in Western-super-mare, this particular ale paying homage to 50 years of the Wigan Casino Northern Soul venue.

The micro filled up nicely with some local custom.
I was given a recommendation to walk to the Old Inn who, I was told, would have something interesting on the bar, as opposed to Greene King in most of the other town pubs.

The Old Inn (9 Walton Street, Clevedon, BS21 6AE)
It was a good 15 minute trek up to the commercial hub of Clevedon, then along a main road to the Old Inn.  Old in this case meaning it dates back to 1754, although its olde worlde features amount to little more than a couple of low beams to bang your head on.

Six hand pumps on the bar: two Stans ciders and a Twisted Oak duo should the Doom Bar and Butcombe not tickle your fancy.
A bit of a musical theme to the Twisted Oak brews - 'Reasons to be Cheerful' and 'Fools Gold'.  Which meant I ignored the descriptions and picked the wrong one based on Ian Dury.
'Mosaic and berries', hmmm...I wasn't convinced. 

The Old Inn has a long L-shaped room, with the rear leg being more aimed at dining, but of the proper pub grub and Sunday carvery variety.  There were a fair few locals in on a Saturday afternoon and a good town pub feel to the place.

Mild smut in the gents - "Hello sailor" sub genre.

I moved on with the aim of finishing the day with a brewery tap.

Having trekked up past Asda and through the industrial estate my first thought was that I'd had a wasted journey.
On the wrong side of spiky railings, with dark windows and stacked up patio furniture, the Cleveland Brewery Tap looked very shut.  I would have given up if I hadn't caught site of head of silver hair moving in the window.

Clevedon Brewery Taproom (Unit 1, Tweed Road Industrial Estate, Clevedon, BS21 6RR)
I walked up the road, back-tracked down a footpath and tried the door.

And of course, the half dozen folks within had all been watching me prancing around taking pictures, wondering if I was going to find my way in or not.

The bar was a tiny square room, seating options reduced even more by one bench being repurposed to house a TV which had been brought in to show the rugby world cup semi-final.

The locals were a friendly, chatty bunch.
"You on a CAMRA trip?" they asked.
Well, sort of.  A one-man one.

As new regulars arrived they were introduced to the odd bloke in the corner who'd come all the way from Oxford to try the Clevedon beer.
"In your version of this place in Oxford, are the customers as crazy as us?" I was asked.  Hmmm, I don't think we have a version of the Clevedon Brewery Tap in Oxford, sadly.

I will never know what happened with the drama of the sweep-stake list for the rugby world cup having been mislaid.  
"Well, I know I had New Zealand", said one chap.
"So have about half a dozen of you", responded the gaffer.

I drained the last of my porter and bade my goodbyes to the folk of Clevedon Tap.
"So, when are you going to move here?" asked the lady by the door.