Bicester Pub Crawl

After a recent day out exploring the pubs of Didcot, I figured I'd make it a mission to visit the other towns of Oxfordshire this summer, delving in a little deeper than the regular real ale haunts and CAMRA favourites that I often stick to.

Which is what took me to Bicester on a sunny Tuesday in June.
A smooth bus ride up the unpredictable A34 got me to the town before noon, meaning I had to activate the early arrival action-plan and stride into Wetherspoon's.

The Penny Black (58 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6JW)
Opened in 1997, this is located in what was formerly Bicester post office and sorting office.  It has a familiar Spoons design: bar midway into the building, high tables and games machines directly opposite, booths and tables to the rear, back doors opening onto a shaded patio area for alfresco pubbing.

Real ales available, beyond the regulars, were Vale 'Red Kite', Titanic 'Plum Porter', and Frome 'Funky Monkey'. I briefly considered diverting into cider/perry territory with the Pear Mania, except 7.1% before midday would be mighty decadent.

'Funky Monkey' was more sensible: a decent malty pale ale, which I took to a booth with bouncy cushioned seating toward the back of the pub.

There must be a Bicester baby-boom, as there were pushchairs and infants everywhere I looked.
A trio of different generation ladies tucked into breakfast on a table near me, occasionally stopping to squeeze the squeaky dinosaur to entertain the toddler in high chair.  Then they rested a napkin on the youngster's head and kept repeating "who's got a new hat" in silly voices.
Right...I'm outta here!

I strolled down the pedestrianised main street and steered into The White Hart.

McCafferty's at The White Hart (3 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6TB)
This is a pub with a claim to fame that Pam St Clement (Pat Butcher in Eastenders) pulled a pint behind the bar earlier this year, as reported in The Mirror.
Disappointed I missed her, but at least the pushchairs of the Penny Black had been replaced by mobility scooters and a dozen or so early drinkers tucked into alcoves or sitting at the bar.

They were all on the Carling or Guinness.  The connoisseurs real ale choice was Greene King IPA or Doom Bar - not one for the ticker of rare Oxon microbreweries.  The IPA wasn't too bad and was competitively priced at £3.40 a pint. 

The odd thing about the White Hart - as the full name suggests - is that it's two bars merged into one.  The front room is traditional in design, with dark wooden floor and beams, a long bar counter, and sport showing on the TVs.  Once you reach the back of this, you're in the McCafferty's part with a second bar counter a few meters away from the first one.

The McCafferty's bar features a few more whiskys on the shelves, old Jameson's and Guinness adverts decorating the walls, and a lorry-load of 1990's pub tat strewn about on the route to the garden.
I don't think I've ever been anywhere in which I can straddle the gap between Irish theme bar and regular town pub.  So I sat on a stool betwixt the two, vaguely enjoying my IPA and a soundtrack which included Def Leppard, Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, and a Journey track that remarkably wasn't 'Don't Stop Believing'.

There was rockier music to be found in the next pub...

The Bell (84 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LP)
Yep - great hard rock playlist, but no early afternoon custom.  I had the whole place to myself.
Which is a shame, as this was a contender for pub of day and just needed a bit of life adding to it. 
An attractive old 18th century stone building, this was the Hobgoblin for many years.

Stroll in through the front door and there is a room with pool table and its own bar counter to the right, whilst the more characterful part is on your left hand side. Good chunky stone walls, inglenook fireplace, scuffed wooden floor, benches and settles to perch on.

A trio of real ales from which to pick...

I opted fro the Wadworth seasonal 'Amarillo Gold', which I hadn't seen before, even though you should always go for the beer with the hand-made pump clip.
It was a really enjoyable summer pint, not suffering at all from the lack of trade, so I assume they must pick up the punters later in the day.
I settled into a sunlit seat by the front window, briefly visited by the pub dog, and entertained by Marilyn Manson, The Scorpions, Trivium, and Twin Atlantic...🤘

Pint finished at the Bell, I started to walk away from the town centre and decided I'd poke my head into the recently re-opened Plough.  This straddles North Street and Field Street, with ways in from both sides, although oddly enough, whichever way you approach, it seems like the back of the pub.

The Plough (63 North Street, Bicester, OX26 6NB)

This former Greene King pub looked like it may be doomed until a consortium of locals, under the Olive Tree Pub Co banner, came to the rescue in January 2024.

Sitting underneath it, I was going to be critical about the 'Your olive experience starts here' squiggly writing on the beam.  But I've had a change of heart because I want them to do well.

There was a choice of two cask ales on the bar: Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' or the local Vale 'Brill Gold'.  I went local - the golden ale from across the county border in Buckinghamshire was cool and crisp and in good condition.

There hasn't been a random picture from the toilets on the blog for a little while, so here's one.  I seem to remember the reason for taking it was being impressed by the giant retro light shades and extra wide sink.

Next: let's head to the Greene King estate pub to keep Life After Football happy, having not visited the Brewers Fayre closest to the football ground that I know he would have wanted to hear all about.

I made the ten minute walk up Buckingham Road, past the town's second train station (Bicester North), and into the streets of the housing estate.

White Horse (Churchill Road, Bicester, OX26 4UA)
Okay, there are a few negatives on arrival at this Greene King local. 
Firstly, the grim artificial turf area behind the wooden fence masquerading as a garden.

Secondly, the fact that everything seemed to be out of action: printed A4 signs stuck up throughout apologised that the kitchen was closed today; the Ladies WC was out of order; I was even denied the thrill of the Toy Podz machine... 

But let's look at the positives.  The spacious rear section of the pub was home to two pool tables and a back wall of great-looking competition-style dart boards. 
There was a decent crowd of local folk in for mid-afternoon, mid-week.
And someone from North Oxford CAMRA has visited, lobbying for the real ale discount and topping up the leaflets.

I ordered my second Green King 'IPA', of the day, even more reasonable than the first at £3.20 a pint.
Then took this to the far side of the pub in the quietest section, being the unsociable soul I am.

I set off from the White Horse and made the half-mile walk back to the centre of Bicester.  Where I poked my head into the King's Arms on the Market Square... with no cask, John Smith's Smooth, and one chap sat with his head in his heads, I gave it a swerve.
I figured I really should visit the second Beer Guide listed pub, the Angel (The Penny Black being the first), but I still had twenty minutes before this opened.
So I decided to pass the time in another 'no cask' option: The Lamb Inn.

The Lamb Inn (59-61 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LG)
Actually, despite the 'no cask ale' notice on WhatPub, they did have hand pumps with a turned-around Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' clip.  I guess that may have been an option on busier days of the week, but on this occasion I was on the draft Brixton 'Resilience'. 

Never mind Pat Butcher at the White Hart - Harry Kane's popped into the Lamb in between providing us with hours of exciting football (???) in the Euros.

The Lamb was given a big refurb in November of 2019 and it looks like the main remit was:
 'make sure there's absolutely nowhere you can sit and not see a TV'. 
The screens are everywhere, including built-in to the end of many of the tables that run down the length of the bar.
"Good for the football", said the lady at the bar, although I thought part of the joy of watching sport in the pub was everyone facing the same way rather than huddled around a small TV at the end of your table.

Glitter balls and flags too, what more do you need?
A quick half of the Brixton beer finished, it was time to make my way up the road for the final pub of the day.

The Angel (102 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LP)
The Angel is part of the local, much applauded, Oak Taverns group, whose pubs I've featured on the blog a fair bit in the last year or so.

This was always my go-to pub when passing through town and is somewhere I'm more familiar with the other places I'd been throughout the day.  So I can confirm that it is much more fun of an evening or weekend when there are a crowd of folk to liven it up.  Not so great for me, 10 minutes after the 4pm opening time, sat by myself, checking the times for the next bus home.

The beer choice was also reduced for early in the week, with several more set to come on later.  As it was I ordered the very chewy and enjoyable Chiltern 'Double IPA'.

Bicester had provided me with a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine, a reasonable choice of ales, all in good condition, and two more pints of Greene King IPA than I really needed.
It may not be the top town in Oxfordshire in for a pub crawl (that's coming up next) but it had been a good day out.

Devon Done & Dusted!

From Kingswear to Kingsbridge as I continued with the mission to tick all the current Good Beer Guide pubs in Devon.  I'd left a glorious section of the south coast for my final assault.

This journey starts on the eastern side of the Dart estuary at Kingswear, just a few miles from Brixham.  I made a short stroll uphill from the water's edge and heritage railway station to the Ship Inn.

The Ship Inn (Higher Street, Kingswear, TQ6 0AG)

A big draw of the Ship is the tiny terrace in front of it - next to the church and looking out at Dartmouth on the other side of the river.  Inside there is a central bar with seating areas either side, folks settling down for fish and chip lunches.
I grabbed a quick half of Salcombe 'Shingle Bay' (St Austell and Otter being the other options).  No space on the terrace, so I sat on a table out of the way, watching everyone get confused placing their food orders whilst I enjoyed a decent pale ale.

It's just a short ferry ride across the river to reach Dartmouth, at a cost of £2 if the fella can make his way around the foot passengers in time before docking on the other side.

Dartmouth is a full-on Devon tourist destination, hordes of folk wandering the historic streets.  They were desperately trying to squeeze into the Royal Castle Hotel, facing the harbour, enticed by £18 crab sandwiches and St Austell Tribute.

I made a quick visit to the very pleasant Seven Stars, which served a good ale despite dropping out of the Beer Guide this year, before making my way to the Cherub.

Cherub Inn (13 Higher Street, Dartmouth, TQ6 9RB) 
This is one of the oldest buildings in town, a Grade II listed former merchants house.

Looking great from the outside with three tiers of overhanging timber and added flower basket action.  Time to test that 'good hanging basket = good beer' theory again.

 

I loved the ground floor room, even excusing the condiment collection surrounding the wooden post in the middle.  Lots of timber, some good bench seating along the side, horse brasses as decoration, men in floral shirts examining the menu.

Cask ales were a local/national mix - Exmoor, Salcombe and South Hams representing Devon, with Proper Job, Brains Gold, and Rev James making a longer journey.

I picked the South Hams 'Stumble Bee', despite honey beer reservations (quite enough Fullers Honeydew when it was a new-fangled thing in the Euston Flyer).  It was okay - but not as good as the hanging baskets.
Also, don't drink too much of it if you're going to tackle the precarious winding staircase to the second floor loos!

Stoke Fleming is just a few miles south of Dartmouth, situated above the cliffs of Start Bay.  There's not much to the village - a vicious right angle turn on the coastal road, a church, restaurant, and holiday village.  I considered walking down to the splendid Blackpool Sands, but realised if I walked down I'd have to walk back up again, contenting myself with a blue sky view along the coast from up high.

The Green Dragon (Church Road, Stoke Fleming, TQ6 0PX)

The pub is tucked up a side street, near the church, as may have been expected with it being on Church Road. 
Legend has it there is a tunnel from the pub to the coast, although that would be an awful long tunnel, so I'm skeptical.

Inside, there are slate stone floors, tankards hanging from wooden beams, dried hops suspended from the ceiling, darts board in the corner, and a great pub dog.

Despite the rare sighting of Pedigree in these parts, I went with the 3.4% Otter 'Oak'.
And supped it to a soundtrack of Genesis, Steve Winwood, and The Four Seasons.

The Green Dragon has a Proper outdoor WC...

A little further along the coast I found myself at Slapton Sands, once used as a practice area by American troops preparing for the D-Day landings.

The village of Slapton is a half-mile walk inland from the beach.  A picturesque place which is home to just over 400 residents who have two pubs to chose from.  The Queen's Arms for me...

The Queen's Arms (Slapton, TQ7 2PN)

This is a charming trad 14th century village inn.  The bar counter is to the right of the front door, with seating to the left, a proper busy pub carpet, wooden beams, lots of brass implements on display.

Head out the back door and there is a wonderful garden with views of the village rooftops and the neighbouring church.
I stayed inside in the window seat, enjoying a well-kept 'Jail Ale'.

Interesting choice of artwork in the toilets, too -  would that be Pink Floyd-orientated mild smut...

Just a little further along the coast, past Torcross, and around the end of Slapton Ley, I opted to call into the South Hams Brewery tap. 

South Hams Brewery Tap (Stokeley Barton, TQ7 2SE)
This is part of Stokeley Farm Shop complex - Devon tourists do like a good farm shop.  There are lots of cars in the gravel car park, although I wasn't quite sure where everyone was.  Pass the decorative retro tractor and you're able to buy jewellery, metal art, and cashmere, get your hair done, and load up on shrubs and bedding plants.

The last metal shed has housed South Hams Brewery since 2019, seating and the bar in the one half of the unit, the 22 barrel brewery in the other. 
Beers 1-6 are the keg, 7-12 are the cask...

I really like the South Hams beers, so was happy to have one of these at source, even though it involved a patient wait behind someone having several growlers filled up painfully slowly.
I eventually procured a 'Devon Porter'.

And took this out to where all the other custom was, on outside benches in the sunshine.  It did feel a bit like drinking in a garden centre, but the porter was superb.

Just a few miles further on was Kingsbridge, the location of my final Devon Good Beer Guide tick.  This South Hams market town is located six miles inland, at the northern end of the twisty-turny creeks that make up the estuary.  Beyond the quay, Fore Street is the highlight with some great old buildings alongside cafes and shops.  

 

I could probably have spent a lot more time exploring the pubs of town but, after popping into the King Of Prussia to check if they had Bass on (nope😞), I only visited the Hermitage on this occasion.

The Hermitage (8 Mill Street, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1ED)
Basking in the sunshine in a quiet side street, the Hermitage is a spacious open-plan pub with parquet floors, a seventies-style faux timber framed bar, and lots of old pump clips displayed around the top of the walls throughout.

The giant dog, sitting on the windowsill in the picture below, came to check me out and managed to deposit roughly a half-pint of drool over my trousers.  Cheers. 

There were two cask ales on offer: Exeter 'Avocet' or South Hams 'Stumble Bee'.
I went for another Stumble Bee here - in much better condition than it had been at the Cherub Inn - a superb pint.  

You'll notice there wasn't a party in full swing to greet me in the Hermitage...

A couple of those criminal cocktail bar rotating high chairs on the corner of the bar, later occupied by some locals who at least added some life to the bar beyond me and the dozing dog.  Conversation topics ranged from dubious views on hot current affairs to (much more important) the difficulty of opening the crisps from the Asian supermarket in Plymouth.

I celebrated completion of the 124 Devon Beer Guide 2024 pubs with an ice cream. 
Double scoop.

Right, now what about Somerset?

Yes, I've pencil crayoned my beer guide.  There's more to life than Stabilo highlighters!!!

More Pubs on the Moor

A bumper post of Dartmoor Pub Delights, as I make an overdue attempt to try and write-up some of my 2024 Devon pub explorations.

Starting 8-miles north of Plymouth, on the edge of the moor, in Clearbrook.
Don't expect much of a metropolis - I think I've captured most of the buildings that make up the village in the picture below.

Somewhere toward the end of that row of houses is the pub.

The Skylark Inn (Clearbrook, PL20 6JD)
A whitewashed affair, looking out across at the gentle slopes of the moor opposite.

Points added for: Local real ale, warming fire, Dire Straits 'Sultans of Swing' at just the right volume.
Points deducted for: lots of reserved tables, writing on the wooden beams of the "A meal without wine is called breakfast" variety, and a queue being formed to the bar...

When the three chaps moved, I stood in their place alongside the couple who looked horrified that I wasn't waiting behind them.

Real ale options were Dartmoor 'IPA' and 'Jail Ale', or Tavistock Brewery 'Golden Ale'.  This was my first encounter with the Tavistock beer - a light and floral pale ale, which did the job.
Next to the obligatory Dartmoor pub fire place was an intriguing looking old bread oven.  I was willing the couple sitting in front of it to drink up and move on so I could get a closer look.

And there it is... a model village in a bread oven, complete with railway track and flagon of cider...

I returned my empty glass to the bar and left the increasingly busy Skylark Inn, wandering onto the footpaths at the side of the village.
I was determined to get a picture of the Dartmoor ponies for this post...job done...

Now I needed to find a route to the nearby village of Meavy, where my next Good Beer Guide pub lay.  It's only around 1½ miles from Clearbrook to Meavy, but a lack of footpaths going in the right direction meant most of this would be a trudge along the lanes.
And it's dangerous round these parts: "Man with large belly wanted for exposing genitals on Dartmoor" was the headline I got on a Google search looking for a route to the pub.

Meavy is home to just over 200 folk, and is gloriously picturesque in the sunshine.  At the heart of the village is the large oak tree, believed to be 900 years old, planted during the Reign of King John.

Royal Oak (Meavy, PL20 6PJ)
Dating back to the 15th century, the Royal Oak would make for a cracking picture of a proper village pub if only everyone wouldn't insist on parking right in front of it.
Heading through the front door, the bar counter straddles the two rooms - left side for the more polite dining custom, right side for more casual unreserved seating and an enormous inglenook fireplace that took up most of the width of the far wall.

Here's the real ale and cider choice.  

No surprises there, then.
I took my 'Legend' through to the side room where all the best chunky farmhouse benches and tables had been taken, leaving me sitting far too close to the fire.

Let me whisk you round to Peter Tavy, where my luck with the sunshine ended. The village, with a population of 296, is only a few miles from the thrills and spills of Tavistock, and a short way along lanes from the A386.  Yet it felt like I was miles from anywhere.
The Peter Tavy Inn is situated at the end of a single track lane, past sheep dogs dozing on dirty quad bikes and farm buildings full of cows.  A very rural aroma hung in the air.

Peter Tavy Inn (Peter Tavy, PL19 9NN)
The building started life as a farm cottage and blacksmiths shop, becoming an inn by the 19th century when it comprised a bar, kitchen, parlour, three lodging rooms and a stable.
Entrance is through a chunky wooden door with a tricky latch, a right turn taking you into the square bar. 
A second opportunity to try the Tavistock Brewery beer here.  Both the 'Golden' and 'English Ale' were on offer, plus a Dartmoor 'Jail Ale'.

 

One intriguing story in which the Peter Tavy Inn plays a part is that of Frank 'Axeman' Mitchell, the only person to escape from Princetown jail.  Despite being a notoriously violent prisoner who had no chance of parole and had previously made an escape from Broadmoor, Mitchell was somehow allowed out with working parties on the moor.  From which he's said to have nipped off in order to sink a few pints in the Peter Tavy Inn and other local pubs.  Legend has it that the Kray Brothers paid his tab, before assisting in his escape. 

Inevitably, the main seating areas of the Peter Tavy Inn have lost much of their traditional feel.  The wooden beams and slate floors and wood burners are present and correct, but to me it felt a lot like a pub for eating in without a more causal drinkers area.  Great location, but mildly disappointing for not being more rustic and ramshackle.

Moving on from the villages at the edge of Dartmoor, I'm heading onto higher ground.

A bit further down the road from whence the above picture came, is the town of Princetown, home to around 1,450 folk, 500-or-so of them who have no choice in the matter.
Princetown prison, from which Frank the Axeman absconded, is the highest prison in the country.  In fact, the town is the highest settlement within Dartmoor National Park and once boasted the highest railway station in the UK, until it was closed in the 1950's.   
And, at 1,465ft, I do believe it has the highest brewery in the country too.

Dartmoor Brewery, from which I must have drunk an awful lot of pints since starting my trawl around all the Beer Guide pubs of Devon, was set up in 1994.  Originally this was in the back of the Prince of Wales pub, although it has since expanded into larger purpose-built premises nearby.

Prince of Wales (Tavistock Road, Princetown, PL20 6QF)
This is a large open-plan pub, with seating on a couple of different levels.  There were a decent number of locals in when I visited, perhaps helped by this being a day when the other pub in town, the Plume of Feathers, was closed.

Welcoming young staff in their smart Dartmoor Brewery branded black shirts served up 'Legend', 'IPA' and 'Jail Ale', with Hunts 'Wobbler' on offer for the cider fans.
A 'Legend' for me, served in good condition as you'd hope in what's basically the brewery tap...

Here's the stash I accumulated from the brewery shop and National Park visitor centre.
Do I really need Jail Ale socks?  Of course I do!

Just one more Dartmoor pub before I bring the long post to a close.  One that I'd been waiting on with baited breath in the hopes that it would open again...

Drewe Arms (The Square, Drewsteignton, EX6 6QN)
This is a Grade II listed building dating back to the 17th century.  By 1890 it had become a public house named The New Inn, later to become the Druid Arms, before taking its current name.  

Mabel Mudge took over in 1919 and remained in charge of the pub for a whopping 75-years, making her the longest serving landlady in the UK.  Mabel retired in October 1994, aged 99, the pub subsequently managed by various folk on behalf of Whitbread, Ember, and Stonegate.  It closed in 2022 and has since been purchased by local residents who will run the Drewe Arms as a community venture. 

The interior has been little altered over the years.  The community effort to get the beer flowing again (the grand opening was on the 16th March 2024) hasn't affected the layout of this old village inn.  They have given it a spruce up and lick of paint.
Personally, I wouldn't have minding some cracks in the wall, stains, and cobwebs to give it that authentic rural heritage pub feel, but that's just me.

A Hanlon 'Yellow Hammer was my beer choice, from a familiar Devon cask selection including Otter and Dartmoor ales, all served straight from the barrel.  There are characterful rooms to sit in either side of the front door, but you really want the room to the left with long benches, fireplace, and hatch for service.

I was most content sat under the retro City Brewery poster and black & white pictures of the pub from another era.  A great heritage tick to wind up this extended post.

Next up, I'll be waffling on about some pubs on the Devon coast.