Plympton Pub Explorations

In which I visit the town of Plympton, where there will be Bass.  And a castle.  And Doom Bar.

But the observant will spot that the first pub picture isn't from Plympton at all...

The Dolphin (14 The Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2LS)
Yep, I arrived at Plymouth train station just after 11am and with a 4pm opener in Plympton to take into consideration, figured it was probably too early to catch the onward bus.
So I strolled down to the Barbican and somehow avoided the soaking that seemed to have caught out several early pub-goers on their way to the Dolphin.

For pre-noon, the place was buzzing, with a good crowd in and the cask ale seeming to be the drink of choice.  Wet people took it in turns to stand in front of the fire for a couple of minutes, a small dog did the rounds checking if anyone was of any interest, a family played cards whilst dad discovered Bass and enthusiastically returned to the bar for another pint.

Other South-West ales are available, but unnecessary... 

Top quality.  Good enough for me to pop back for a second pint, switching plans of a sit-down lunch somewhere to just grabbing a pasty instead.

 

Just after 1pm, the drizzle set in over the bottom corner of Devon, I scooted up to the Royal Parade and boarded a bus for the 6-mile, 30-minute trip to Plympton.

Plympton now just gets called a 'suburb of Plymouth' but was once an important town in its own rights - one of the stannary towns trading in locally mined tin, located on a main route from Dartmoor to the coast.
I'm not sure if I missed many sights of the town, but due to the weather I just pulled my hood up and made haste to the London Inn.

The London Inn (8 Church Road, Plympton, PL7 1NH)
This was an absolute gem.  Just like the Dolphin, it was pleasingly busy on a midweek afternoon, a decent number of punters spread throughout the two rooms.

There were seven cask ales available, including two from South Hams Brewery, a 'Surfin' USA' IPA by St Austell that I've not seen before, one each from Nuttycombe and Piddle Brewery, and the temptation of Sarah Hugh's 'Dark Ruby Mild'.  And Bass on special offer.
Not a bad choice, eh?

Shame I was predictably dull and stuck with more Bass.
Which I took to the bench labelled 'Bullshit Corner', the neighbouring seats with their 'Grumpy Area' signage already taken. 

The Bass was on great form, but I did branch out and returned to the bar to order a superb South Hams 'Eddystone'.  I'd been constantly impressed by all the South Hams beers I'd had and made a point of calling into their brewery tap a week or so later.

Anyway - the London Inn is great.  Do visit if you're in the area.
Quality beer and brilliant staff.

Ariel shots and charcoal drawings of the pub on display - shame about the flag from that mid-table football team poking out between them...

Horse racing on the TV - the 2:30 from Market Rasen - with the volume down, The Undertones and the Clash providing the soundtrack.
And their own beer mats...

Despite the weather, I did clambour up the mound to the remaining few walls of the castle.

This historical and wet diversion out the way, I walked back to the main commercial street of Plympton and a retreat to Wetherspoon's.

The Stannary Court (95-99 Ridgeway, Plympton, PL7 2AA)
The building was once three shop units, before combining into one and becoming first the job centre, then the library.  Some would argue both those may be more enriching to a town that a Wetherspoons pub.  

It's not a bad branch of the chain, whilst not being anything special.  The guest cask ales were a Hanlon's 5%er or, my pick, the Bay's 'Devon Dumpling' at £2.63 (Spoons 50p off vouchers left at home again).

A little further along the same street I fancied trying something other than 'spoons and the beer guide pubs whilst in town.  And picked the black and white signage of the Craft Union local...

The Post Office Inn (39 Ridgeway, Plympton, PL7 2AW)
There are some pretty bold statements on their website...
"Pull up a stool at Post Office Inn Plympton – Plymouth's premier watering hole
Hunting for the top pub in Plymouth? Look no further, you've hit the jackpot!"

I'm not sure about those claims.  It was comfortable enough, although very quiet, failing to entice the daytime custom away from the competition up the road.

Doom Bar was the sole cask option, keenly priced at £2.70 a pint.
Obscure football on the TV screens, All About Eve 'Kind Hearted Woman' the pick of the tracks on an eclectic soundtrack.

I just had one more place to visit, the time having well and truly ticked past its 4pm opening time.  It was a fair trek to another part of town to reach the Union Inn, the dim lights giving me a moment of concern that it didn't look open when I arrived.

The Union Inn (17 Underwood Road, Plympton, PL7 1SY)
But step inside and this was another pub with an impressive midweek crowd of drinkers.  This is a much loved local inn where real ale and cider rules, the walls and beams covered in pump clips from the ever-changing range.
There were three real ciders when I visited, alongside more Bay's 'Devon Dumpling' and Tintagle 'Cornwall's Pride', the latter being my choice.

The landlord popped over to ask how the beer was - on great form, thank you very much.

A lovely place to end the afternoon's explorations as I started to think about catching those buses and trains for my journey.  A town with a couple of pubs well worth the effort of getting out of Plymouth to visit.

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.

Deddington - the final 2024 Oxford GBG tick

Right...let's get completion of the Good Beer 2024 Oxfordshire chapter out the way with.
To do so, I needed to catch the S4 bus northbound out of Oxford to Deddington.

The Deddington pub scene is looking rather forlorn: one-time Hook Norton pie pub the Crown & Tuns has been closed for a while now, a big 'For Sale' sign out front.  We found the Unicorn with the shutters down and A4 signage on the front door suggesting this has gone the same way.
And our target - the current beer guide listed Red Lion - also has a 'To Let' board attached to the front of it.

The Red Lion (Market Place, Dedddington, OX15 0SE)
The Red Lion reopened in 2019 after an extensive refurbishment that was underway the first time I passed through Deddington.  According to whatpub "it is now established as the premier village pub" which upped my expectations.
But with no lunchtime food it was quiet, although the landlord was predicting a busy day ahead with big live sport fixtures scheduled throughout the day on the TV. 

Early doors there were a half-dozen locals sat in the corner: tea from the pot, Carlsberg, and Harvey's 'Sussex Best' the drinks of choice.
We picked a table close to them where we could earwig their entertaining conversation about the state of Saturday night TV, whilst being able to keep half an eye on the early football kick-off.

One decent pint of Hook Norton 'Off the Hook IPA' later, and we were checking the bus schedule. Time for one in the other open pub in the village?  Yep, course there is.   
This is a characterful hotel on the bend of the road at the top of the market place...

The Deddington Arms Hotel (Horse Fair, Deddington, OX15 0SH)
To the right side is a simple bar where the wooden beams have been spoilt by a liberal splash of white paint.  Logs were crackling in the fireplace; a handful of smartly dressed drinkers propped up the bar; folks tucked into their £8.50 sandwiches; and a family group seemed to dropping half their chips on the floor.

Here's the cask ale choice...

I picked the 'Hooky' and wondered if it has always been just 3.4% or if they've lowered the ABV?
To be honest, this wasn't an especially enjoyable pint - very thin - although I didn't have time to savor it for long as we realised time had raced by and we'd better get to the bus stop.

Back on the S4, we made a 10-minute trip northbound to Adderbury.

Red Lion (The Green, Adderbury, OX17 3NG)
I wanted to visit somewhere new in Adderbury other than going back to the previously tried and tested Hook Norton and Wadworth inns.  And it was this sense of (very minor) adventure that took me to the Red Lion. 

This is a former coaching inn dating from 1605 which is branded as one of Greene King's Old English Inns.
I was about as thrilled by the Red Lion as this fella was...

To be fair, the front two rooms have flagstone floors, beamed ceilings, and nice seats in the windows. With any late luncheon patrons tucked safely away in the large restaurant to the back, tables around the bar were occupied by a few tourists like ourselves, plus a couple of local folk and their four-legged friends.

Two beers were on offer: Old Speckled Hen or Greene King IPA.

The grand fireplace wasn't matched by a roaring fire, although one chap did relocate to the armchair next to it and set about getting the logs burning again.  I have to say, we were more mesmerized by his methodical fire-starting than we would have been by any sport on a TV screen.

Just a couple of hundred meters away, alongside the green is the Coach & Horses... 

The Coach & Horses (Adderbury, OX17 3ND)
The Coach & Horses made it into Retired Martin's Half-a-dozen pubs in Oxfordshire selection, where his choices were...hmmm...60% correct.😏
This is a great proper village pub in a charming location.  They have locals knocking back 6X by the fireplace, live music advertised for the evening, Morris dancers popping by in the summer months, and a surprisingly down-to-earth food offering.
Last time we were here we marveled at the blackboards advertising Sunday roasts for £4.
Well..look out..they're £6 now!

The regular Wadworth cask range was on offer: '6X', 'Swordfish', or 'Horizon'.
I went for the 6X purely on the basis that this is what the regulars were drinking, although it's never been a beer I've especially raved about, even supping it at source in the Devizes taproom.

Music came from the TV, tucked away on a wall in a back corner, tuned into the Now 70's channel which was counting down the biggest hits of the decade.  A rare outing for a Bonnie Tyler song that isn't Total Eclipse...or Holding out for a Hero.

We got chatting to long-standing landlord Tony, who came to ask how we'd found ourselves in this neck of the woods and how Mrs PropUptheBar's 'Swordfish' was.
Apparently, retirement is on the horizon for him and his other half after many years at the Coach & Horses.  I meant to say 'All the best - well deserved', but came out with 'But what about the pub?'
Sadly, I suspect it'll likely get a makeover and a quadrupling of the food prices.

Bus times allowed for a leisurely visit to the third pub in the centre of Adderbury before picking up a return service.
Just as long as Mrs PropUptheBar doesn't leave a scarf in the Bell, requiring a retracing of steps and a last minute rush.

The Bell Inn (High Street, Adderbury, OX17 3LS)
This Hook Norton pub has been the most consistent Adderbury beer guide entry over the past few years and is well worth a visit.
There was a choice of four Hook Norton cask ales available on this visit.  Sadly not the Mild I was hoping for, so I had to make do with a rugby-themed seasonal brew.

Don't forget your scarf!

A successful afternoon then, with the final tick in the Oxon Beer Guide chapter secured, a couple of new pubs visited, and a couple of pleasing revisits.
We hopped off the bus just before the city centre and called in to the Gardeners Arms to see if they still had Bass on - which they did.  Making for a cracking end to a good day out.
Cheers!

Stockport Pub Explorations

Stockport County are on the rise, now crowned champions of League Two.  Local indie rockers Blossoms have hit the top spot of the UK album charts several times. 
And National Geographic have named one of the pubs among the 12 best in the country!

Time for Prop Up the Bar to make a return visit to explore Stockport.

We set off from our Macclesfield Travel Lodge base, ready and waiting on the platform, next to the brutal concrete staircases of the station bridge by 11:15am.

The Northern Rail service was overcrowded, our carriage dominated by a group of twenty-something lads 'n' lasses on their way to go curling in Manchester.  Which obviously requires a four pack of supermarket booze to be consumed on the train as preparation.
Is going curling a hip thing to do these days?

The trouble with visiting Stockport on Easter Sunday was that absolutely all the attractions we may have liked to visit were closed for the day.  So we just strolled up the road from the station to take a picture of the town hall.

We didn't brave the neighbouring Town Hall Tavern, even though we were spot-on time for the landlord unlocking the door as we passed.  Interesting decorations in the first floor windows...

Instead, our first pub of the day was the Heritage listed Swan With Two Necks.  The walk to it through the modern shopping streets was eerily quiet on one of only two days of the year that almost all retail takes a day off.

The Swan With Two Necks (36 Princes Street, Stockport, SK1 1RY)
So it was little surprise to find that the pub was also very quiet.  Just one old boy in the lobby who looked a little like he may not have left when they called last orders the evening before, plus a couple of chaps in the front room, known as the vault.

A Robinson's house, our beer choice was 'Dizzy Blonde', 'Unicorn', or 'Old Tom'.
I really wanted an Old Tom on cask, but it seemed a tad irresponsible at midday, so I stuck to the Unicorn bitter.  

We took our drinks into the wonderful snug at the end of the bar-corridor, sunshine through the skylight brightening the place up; the leather button-back bench seating proving comfortable.
A nice touch is the old bell pushes still visible behind the seating.

What a lovely pub!
Glasses emptied and returned to the bar, we took a short stroll down the road and made our way to a second Heritage pub in quick succession.

The Arden Arms (23 Millgate, Stockport, SK1 2LX)
Stepping into this Grade II listed pub, you're in a passageway with a staircase, glazed bar to the side, and doors leading off to a cosy-looking front room, outdoor patio, and dining room to the back.
The staff were in full-on Sunday lunch mode, asking us if we wanted to eat, which we did.  When we said we'd rather eat in the bar than in the dining room area, we were offered a seat in the snug.  Which is a little bit special as it's a hidden snug.
This is accessed by being invited to pass through the bar itself.  According to the Heritage pubs description, this is only one of four such snugs in the country.

Okay, so it's also where the staff hang their coats, and where the fridge, coffee machine, and pub stereo are, spoiling the ambiance a little bit.
But the soft red cushioned bench seating around the sides of this small room is wonderful, the sun streaming through the frosted windows, the old couple sat next to us complementing the Sunday lunch.

Sadly the Old Tom on tap had finished (should have started with it after all, shouldn't I) so I had a second pint of 'Unicorn' - on great form - alongside some good pub grub served with super efficiency.

Pub number 3 was another short walk up the hill to the market square...

There are a fair few drinking establishments facing the impressive Victorian market hall and I was a little sad we didn't get to try the Sam Smith's Old Boars Head.  I was told we couldn't visit everywhere.
In a run of three pubs close together on the market square, we started in the Bakers Vaults, a stand-alone, bright and airy place with tall ceilings and big arched windows.  

Bakers Vaults (Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1EU)
The pub was built in the 19th century, replacing a 16th century inn called the George & Dragon, and is apparently on the site where Stockport castle once stood. 

You can do a full circle behind the big bar counter, with a lounge area to the rear.  A big chunk of the front room was taken up by Pete Churchman and his band setting up their gear to provide some Sunday afternoon "rock and blues, folk and fun".

My apologies to Mr Churchman for missing his set, but there were a good number of customers arriving and picking the best spots to see him.
This is a Robinson's pub but, unlike the last two, there was a substantial choice of guest beers here to enable a change from the Unicorn.
I haven't seen a Burton Bridge beer for some time, so picked their strong 'Festival Ale'.

Just a few paces down the street was a bar called Thread which has only recently properly re-opened.

Thread (22 Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1EU)
Between 2018 and 2023 this was a bar called Project 53 which made a brief appearance in the Beer Guide.  After closing in that guise, it reopened on weekends only, but now seems to have extended into a full-time (or as full-time as anywhere is these days) operation.  The name Thread comes from the one-time use of the building as a tailors shop.

Something gave me the expectation that this was going to a crafty micro, so it came as a surprise to find that this was a big space, stretching way back from the front room.

We received a fantastically friendly welcome from a staff member happy to chat about the beers and inviting us to take them out front (not quite warm enough yet), sit anywhere we liked, or head right to the back of the place for the views.
We did the views, which were very rooftop orientated.

The cask options at Thread were from Brew York and Stancill Barnsley Bitter.  But I have to admit I was tempted straight to the keg taps with an interesting selection of Belgian beers, or Dutch for my pick...

We sank into big leather sofas by the back window, music veering from rare groove jazz to Pink Floyd and Hendrix during our time there.
We didn't need to build up much energy to move on, stepping out of Thread and straight into the next door neighbour...

Angel Inn (20 Market Place, Stockport, SK1 1EY)
Surprisingly, this has only been open in its current form since 2018, having been transformed from redundant shopping premises.  But head back to the 1700's and you would found this building operating as the Angel Inn.  The current patterned white facade was completed in 1886 when local brewers Bells took over, looking after the Angel until a couple of years prior to its closure in 1951.

The Angel had five cask ales to pick from six hand pumps when we visited.  A stout or pale from Sussex brewery Only With Love, Beartown pale, Brew York 'Juice Forsyth', and - my choice - the lovely Bank Top 'Port O' Call'.

With a choice of areas to sit in, we took drinks down a couple of steps beyond the bar into a sunken area with sofas and fireplace.  Where we were entertained with the best soundtrack of the day, covering New Order, The Cure, Nirvana, and Martha & the Muffins.

Next up was a pub I was really looking forward to, a recent Stockport CAMRA pub of the year, and winner of the Manchester cider pub of the year award a couple of times.

The Petersgate Tap (19a Petersgate, Stockport, SK1 1EB)
This has the vibe of a large busy micro, having opened in 2016 in a unit which used to be a betting shop.
I thought it was great.  A good crowd of customers in - a bit of luck in a table becoming free just when we needed it to - overwhelming choice of beer which isn't very conducive to a pub crawl.
Normally I raise a frown at any pub/bar with a suspended ceiling, but the display of old brewery trays on the wall made up for that here.

I'd enjoyed the stout in the Angel, so stuck with the dark stuff here with a Wily Fox 'Dublin' Up'.

Right...from one local award winner to another.
You'll find the Magnet back on the A6, just up the hill from the shopping centre, on the way to Heaton Norris. 

The Magnet (51 Wellington Road North, Stockport, SK4 1HJ)
This is the Stockport pub that has been named by National Geographic as one of the 12 best in the country.
Fair to say I liked it here a lot. Although I'm of the opinion that no self-respecting pub enthusiast would be able to narrow their 'best of' list to 12.
The Magnet has various different spaces and a good Sunday afternoon crowd giving it a bustling cheery atmosphere when we visited.

 

And a great beer choice - their website advertises 14 casks and 12 kegs.  I randomly picked the Briggs Signature Beers 'Metal', then returned to the bar when I spotted they had a cask Sureshot beer available (having had their beer on tap at the brewery the previous day).
And the pizza from the stall in the back yard wasn't half bad too...

So that was our pub explorations done for the day.

Well...just about.  We found our return train cancelled when we got back to the station.
I briefly pondered if we'd got enough time before the next service to get back into the centre for an Old Tom, but instead we headed into the bar at the foot of the glass-fronted blocks next to the station.

Bask (20 Railway Road, Stockport, SK1 3SW)
As you can see from the picture, this is a thoroughly modern bar with industrial ceiling, spotlights and speakers suspended from it, TV screens located at frequent intervals on posts between the big windows.
The drinks range is very mainstream, with Beavertown looking to be the beer of choice for most folk.

I picked the keg Bask Best Bitter, none-the-wiser as to who brews this for them.  It did the job for a quick delayed-train beer whilst I tried not to prolong the stay by getting hooked on Bochum v Darmstadt on the TV.

The next train arrived on time and whisked us back to Macclesfield in time for a visit to the Castle.
Stockport had made for a great day out - we'll be back again - hopefully on a day when Runaway Brewery and the Hat Museum are open.