Oxfordshire Pubs Round-Up V.2021

As with 2020, I've opted to finish the year with a post that mops up a few Oxfordshire pub visits that never made it as far as a blog post.

Starting in Oxford city centre, where one pub has taken on a new lease of life...

White House by Tap Social (38 Abingdon Road, Oxford, OX1 4PQ - web)
A short walk south of the city centre, across the river and down Abingdon Road takes you to the White House - previously run by Wadworth's until 2019.
It was taken over by local brewery Tap Social (whose empire has also expanded into Banbury's food court and should soon include a site in Oxford's covered market).

We visited in 2020 when the pub was under scaffolding and Tap Social were selling their beers from the horse box bar out front.

2020 - work in progress.

It was good to revisit in 2021 once the scaffolding was removed and we were allowed inside.

As with the brewery tap at the top of Botley Road, The White House appeals to a varied customer base.  Heading there on a recent midweek lunchtime there were folks with coffees behind laptops, a couple of groups settling down for lunch and a few people meeting up for pints of beer.
There are two cask ales at the side of the bar, one of which serving up a cool crisp pint of Oakham 'Citra' on my visit, plus a tap wall at the back featuring their own creations and guests.
 

 

Back in June we made a trip out to Ardington, reached via bus to Wantage and a couple of miles walk along the Ickneid Way.

Ardington is a prim & proper well-kept village, most of which is owned by and maintained by the Lockinge Estate.  It's the kind of place where the locals begin to get nervous at scruff-bags like me wandering around in circles waiting for the pub to open.

Boar's Head (Church Street, Ardington, OX12 8QA - web)
"NEVER trust ANY pub that says they open before 12 noon on ANY day of the week unless it is a Wetherspoons" said BRAPA around this time.
And he was right.  Everything online pointed to the Boar's Head being an 11:30 opener, but the front door was bolted shut when we arrived.  We loitered, then walked around the village several times, which didn't take long.  
Then completely missed the door being opened just after 12, with the landlord popping out to ask us "do you want to come in or not?"

According to their website the Boar's is "a traditional, cosy and friendly, country pub".
Their definition of a traditional country pub differs a bit from mine...

So,this gets added to the Oxfordshire dining pub collection, not designed with the casual drinker calling in for a pint in mind.
We splashed-out on some very good food and a decent pint of Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge'.

It may be smart surroundings, but I still managed to find a bit of mild smut in Gents WCs...

Mild smut in the Gents, no.47 in an ongoing series

Leaving the well-to-do South Oxfordshire folk to their luncheons, we made our way back across footpaths to Wantage where The Lamb had appeared as a new entry in the 2021 Good Beer Guide.

The Lamb (59 Mill Street, Wantage, OX12 9AB - web)
This will appeal to fans of thatch, being the only thatched roof in town.
And to fans of old buildings, being the second oldest in town, apparently, with only the Parish Church dating back further.

That said, you'll need to bag a table in the small front section, under low ceilings and wooden beams, if you're after the olde worlde feel.
The entrance is via the car park into a sky-lighted rear extension.  The bar is in this part of the pub where the environs in which to sup your 'London Pride' are a bit more modern.

Next up, just what you want in a proper pub blog...
a Brunning & Price Double-Bill

The first of these is found right at the foot of the county with a Reading postcode.

The Packhorse (Woodcote Road, Mappledurham, RG4 7UG - web)
I approached this the hard way, walking a couple of miles through Caversham with a final death-defying trek down the busy main road.  
All because I'd very stupidly not realised the X40 Oxford to Reading bus stops right outside.

Perhaps the thirst I'd walked up helped, but the Froth Blowers beer was exceptionally good.  

My second B&P is situated just above Abingdon in Besselsleigh.  According to Wikipedia this is a village with 87 inhabitants, but as far I can see it consists of nothing but the pub. 

The Greyhound (Besselsleigh, OX13 5PX - web)
Similar to the Packhorse, this pub sits just back from a busy main road and, in a location like this, probably wouldn't exist as a pub without being a dining destination.
The Greyhound is a former coaching inn dating back 400-years, much expanded with a conservatory on the side.  It's more restauranty than the Packhorse - I did take some pictures of decorative fireplaces,but decided no-one needed to see them.

A hefty amount of beers on the bar, mostly from local breweries, with my choice of Vale 'Red Kite' being a decent pick, well-kept and good quality.

Around a mile from Besselsleigh is the equally tiny but slightly more remote hamlet of Eaton.  This contained another new Beer Guide tick for me - the Eight Bells. 

The limited opening hours (5-9 most evenings) had been the main reason it'd taken me so long to head out here, but the even more limited (ie.closed) hours scuppered me completely first time.
Walking there on a Saturday evening, we found a handwritten 'sorry closed today' notice on the door. 

Eight Bells (Eaton, OX13 8PR - web)
We did eventually make it - heading there on a midweek evening to partake in the tasty Thai food on offer.
Having seen the food offering, I assumed this would be another dining pub, so was pleasantly surprised by the rustic country-pub main bar, with it's wooden benches and beamed ceiling.

I'll finish the post with a picture of the Vine Inn in Cumnor.  If you walk back toward Oxford from the Eight Bells I guarantee you'll have just missed a bus and will end up with a pint of '51 Deep' in here...

Thank you once again to anyone who's found their way to the blog, looked at the pictures and even read some of my waffle whilst tutting at the copious grammatical errors.
I've even gone one better in 2021 getting Hydes and Holts breweries mixed up, and confusing feet and meters in my claims of how high a pub is.  Here's to more mistakes in 2022!

Happy new year. Cheers!  🍻

Newton Abbot Pub Crawl

In which we set out to visit the two current Good Beer Guide entries in Newton Abbot, plus a couple of other pub picks and one of the last remaining cider houses in the UK.

10:30 we set out in mist and rain from our East Devon base.
1:30 we made it to Newton Abbot having been scuppered by bus diversions and cancellations.
Heck, Devon by bus is hard work.

But at least by the time we arrived the weather had dramatically improved...

The church tower was decked out with seasonal decorations, whilst the library was looking magnificent in the sunshine...

After our journey we needed somewhere to eat and were keen to do something other than a predictable trek to Spoons.
That's how our first pub came to be chosen quite randomly on the basis that we happened upon it and they had a sign promoting home-cooked food.

The Jolly Farmer (8 Market Street, Newton Abbot, TQ12 2RB - web)
This was originally built as the Bradley Hotel in 1864, whilst it's now an interesting town centre pub and music venue.
The soundtrack was full-on Christmas music, although Frankie Goes to Hollywood somehow managed to hijack the festive selection providing a welcome change, even if it was just one track.

The Jolly Farmer advertised the best Jail Ale in town on one of their A-boards outside - it was okay, but whether it's the best in town I can neither confirm nor deny.  If you fancied an alternative ale, that would be a St Austell Tribute.
Great big menu of food with a huge plate of bangers 'n' mash filling me up nicely.

Food sorted, we made a walk through the town centre and down to the railway station.
We quickly popped across to Tuckers Maltings to check the opening times, which is how I came to have blue-sky pictures of a 5pm opener in December.

Then made our way to the Railway Brew House,adjacent to the station...

Railway Brewhouse (197 Queen Street, Newton Abbot, TQ12 2BS - web)
It's not actually a Brew House any longer - the Platform 5 Brewery used to be based here but have since moved to Torquay.

The Bass, teased by WhatPub, wasn't on, the choice instead being Exeter 'Avocet', Tim Taylor's 'Landlord', more 'Jail Ale', or the aforementioned Platform 5 pale or stout.
I'm making the most of the available stouts in the winter months, so plumped for 'The Black Crow' which was most enjoyable.

The pub is a simple one-roomer, where big screens were showing Empoli v AC Milan which no-one was watching.  There was a good afternoon crowd in, quite a few of them getting merry sinking the Jager shots.

And the railway memorabilia made a change from mild smut in the gents...

Heading back toward the centre, then branching up to East Street, we were making our way to somewhere a little bit special...

Olde Cider Bar (99 East Street,Newton Abbot, TQ12 2LD)
The building started out as three houses, built in 1838 to replace a farmhouse.  It was later converted into a very basic public house, owned by Whiteways cider makers of Whimple.  In spartan surroundings punters would quaff cider that was ladled out of 54-gallon hogsheads.
The addition of the bar in the sixties (still the same one you can see today made out of old barrels) made it a little more formal.

Former mutton-chopped owner Richard Knibbs took over in the 70's and ran the pub until 2015.  He caused a furore with a rule that women were only allowed halves, which he relaxed after losing a live debate on TV about the issue.

Around the bar are three seating areas with basic bench seating, and more space in the corridor to the rear and the yard outside.
The cider choice was pretty over-whelming: specials listed on a laminated sheet and regular offerings advertised on a blackboard.  Lots of cider.

I opted for the Sams Dry from the barrel, £3 a pint.
Mrs PropUptheBar was very happy with her chilli mead from Lyme Bay. 

As we sat down the background music was 'A  Spaceman Came Travelling' by Chris De Burgh - and I thought he only made Lady in Red.  Made a nice change from Christmas music anyway.

Part of me wished I could stay in the Cider Bar all evening.
Another part of me knew I'd fall over if I did.

We moved on, although we didn't have far to go with Teign Cellars being two minutes walk down the same road.

Teign Cellars (67 East Street, Newton Abbot, TQ12 2JR- web)
This corner pub was previously the 19th century Devon Arms, as well as having other names prior to becoming the Teign Cellars.

It's a low-ceilinged single-room bar with plenty of comfy corners to tuck yourself into, or high posing tables if you prefer.

There was one cask ale available - an O'Hanlon's 'Firefly', but we were drawn to the alluring keg fonts, eyes lighting up at the interesting choice.

I had a great Christmas beer here - a 'Pannettone Pastry Stout' brewed by London nano-brewer Jiddler's Tipple, in collaboration with By the Horns.  Wow! 
Vanilla, raisins, citrus fruit and brandy thrown in the mix - it's enough to make even a seasonal grump like me feel a bit festive.

For the last stop of the day, we headed back toward the station (yes - we walked back and forth on a long route through Newton Abbot - we were tied to staggered opening hours of everywhere we wanted to visit).
Here's the early afternoon blue-sky pic of Tuckers Maltings...

Maltings Taphouse & Bottle Shop (Tuckers Maltings, Teign Road, Newton Abbot,TQ12 4AA - web)
The traditional malt house used to be open to visitors, but sadly closed in 2018.
The Taphouse is located in the old visitor centre shop on the ground floor.  Next door neighbours are Teignworthy Brewery and it was their 'Edwin Tucker's Prize Ale' that I drank here - the only ale on cask on this visit.
Alongside this was another brilliant craft keg selection displayed on a video screen.

As you head back from the first floor WC the signage harks back to the days when this was the end of the visitor tour...

We had to drink-up rather too fast in the Maltings in order to ensure we caught our bus, which is a shame as I'd like to have stayed longer.
Great day out - great pubs and bars - amazing cider house.  Yep, I liked Newton Abbot.

Exe Ale Explorations

In which I head down the western side of the Exe estuary, onward to Dawlish, before ending up on the brewpub beer and craft murk in Exeter.
All in a good day's pub ticking.

I headed out of Exeter late morning on the 2B bus, alighting at Cockwood harbour.

It's a picturesque spot.  The railway line westward from Exeter runs across the bank at the side of the harbour, with small boats able to sail through a bridge under the tracks at high tide.
Cockwood may only be small, but it does have two pubs, both of which appear in the 2022 Good Beer Guide.

Best visit both of them then - first up the Ship Inn...

The Ship Inn (Church Road, Cockwood, EX6 8NU - web)
Both the village pubs are renowned for their food, so I figured I'd be the odd one out popping in for a pint.
Indeed most of the tables in this small(ish) pub were booked, but I did manage to get a nice seat by the bar.  We're in peak Devon tourist vicinity here, although the couple sat at the next table were pub locals, as shown by the chef popping out to chat to them, telling them that West Ham would beat Spurs in the Carabao Cup that evening. (He was wrong).

Four beers on the bar - St Austell 'Proper Job' and 'Tribute', a Dartmoor 'Jail Ale', and - my pick - the Black Tor 'Raven'.
Beer-guide quality ale in a nice, relaxed, country-pub atmosphere where I was quite content.

It's not far to amble from one pub to another - I was in the Anchor a minute after leaving the Ship.

The Anchor Inn (Cockwood Harbour, EX6 8RA - web)
This is the picture-postcard pub, looking glorious with it's black and white frontage facing the harbour.  Once a seaman's mission, The Anchor is a 450-year old inn.
It's all wooden beams and nautical decorations inside, with lots of the seating being in snug booths with high-backed bench seating.  That curtails being nosey as to what fellow visitors are up to, so I just sat in my own booth drinking my Exeter 'Avocet Ale' and reading the local CAMRA magazine.

I won't look back at this and wonder what time of year I was here!

I timed my departure from the Anchor to tie in with the bus, but unfortunately the bus didn't time its arrival to tie in with me.
Fifty minutes I stood at that bus stop.
"I'd wait a bit longer" the nice old lady in a bobble hat waiting alongside me suggested when I decided to give up.  And of course she was right.  It came just as a turned the corner, necessitating an unimpressive dash back, a tut and an 'I told you to wait a bit a longer'.

That delayed bus scuppered my plans to explore Dawlish a little more thoroughly.
Just time for one pub, another beer guide tick, the White Hart Inn.

The White Hart (6 Albert Street, Dawlish, EX7 9JY - web)
This was a great little basic drinks-only boozer.  An unfussy front bar and open-plan design leading to another seating area at the rear.
There was just the one cask ale on the bar -Teignworthy 'Gun Dog', which did the job, although it's not my favourite beer.

There was a lot of jovial banter between the regulars on the front tables and the staff at the bar.  Much of it 18-certificate.
Selective ear-wigging snippet: "he brought me a lovely bunch of flowers and was on his best behaviour, but three pints later he was asking if there was any chance of a shag".
Probably best I hadn't brought my mum.

I really liked the White Hart - a proper pub if ever there was one.

But please can the toilet doors (along with the recent swivel chair seating found in Axminster) be put into the dark closet marked 'things you shouldn't see in pubs'...

Sober as a judge or six pints worse for wear,
there's no way of tackling these doors gracefully

That enormous clock in the bar proved handy to make sure I drank up in good time to make my exit from Dawlish. 

Pub life in the White Hart.

Just long enough to have a quick look down at the seafront, where the JCB's are in a constant battle with the elements to keep the train line running.

Mappiman has recently blogged about a Devon trip - all enjoyable reading and enough to deter me from Air B&B's forever.  It was through reading those posts that I learnt that the Turks Head in Exeter had now re-opened as a pub, making me keen to pay it a visit.

The Turks Head (57A High Street, Exeter, EX4 3DJ)
Located next to the historic guildhall, the pub dates back over 700 years and is one of the oldest in these parts.  As befits an historic inn, there's a tale that Dickens used to drink here and that the Fat Boy from the Pickwick Papers was based on an employee at the pub.

It closed in 2005 and became an Italian restaurant which in turn shut in 2018.  This year it reopened as a pub, featuring a ground floor room, plus two rooms, a second bar and a rooftop outdoor space upstairs.

Their own beers come from the microbrewery behind glass screens beyond the bar...

I picked the very drinkable Turks Head 'Witches Brew Stout'.
And watched the constant comings and goings, with lots of raucous folk and Christmas jumpers.  The Turks Head was bucking the Dec'21 trend of quiet pubs and doing a good trade.

And to finish, with Mrs PropUptheBar having arrived in Devon and demanding craft beer to recover from her train journey...
Little Drop of Poison (154-155 Fore Street, Exeter, EX4 3AT)

I'd hoped to visit here earlier in the year, but at the time WhatPub was showing this craft bar as being permanently closed.  I'm glad it's not - it's a great place.

 

Some odd and intriguing beery concoctions brought the evening to a close, after a varied and interesting day out in Devon.

Next up:Newton Abbot

Propping Up the Bar in Droitwich Spa

In which we set out to visit a quartet of pubs in the Worcestershire spa town, before being lured back to Worcester itself to partake in the evils of craft beer and a final Good Beer Guide tick.

Droitwich boomed in the 19th century when a chap called John Corbett made his fortunes from salt works, taking advantage of the natural brine springs in the area.  Corbett became known as the Salt King and later helped develop the town as a Spa, promoting the medicinal benefits of bathing in the salty waters.

The brine baths are gone now, all the passengers on our busy train heading to Birmingham's Christmas market instead of a day out at the Spa.

The Talbot (19 High Street, Droitwich Spa, WR9 8EJ)
We had a bit of an odd start when we arrived at the Talbot at 11:55.
(I'd read online that they opened at 11:30 - believing opening times on the web in 2021 is a rookie mistake)
"We're not really open, but just wait a minute and I'll get someone" said the staff member who looked a little surprised to see us.
A group of six also made their way in, so at least we weren't the only eager early birds. 
And it was them who got the blame for sneaking in early (erm, through the open door). 
And they got served first.

The front bar, which isn't really open yet

Waiting our turn gave me chance to contemplate which of the four Craddock's beers to pick, although in the chilly weather it was always gonna be the stout.

I really liked the Talbot.  Nice basic front bar with bench seating by the window facing the bar counter, and a fine room to the rear on two levels.
We took our drinks to the armchairs by the log burner at the end of the room and made ourselves comfortable.

But we'd made an hour and a half journey to get here which couldn't be justified by sitting in one pub drinking Craddocks beer all afternoon, however settled we were in our armchairs.

It was just a short stroll down the road to reach the next destination...

Old Cock Inn (77 Friar Street, Droitwich Spa, WR9 8EQ)
Rather unusually, the pub incorporates a large window from St Nicholas' church on its frontage.  On a street that contains several picturesque historic buildings, this is the oldest pub in town, first licensed in 1712.

It's multi-roomed inside, with a central bar which has counters serving the front and back rooms and the corridor.  The whole back room was set up for festive food, with many of the other tables reserved, although we still got a fine spot facing the fireplace in the front bar.

There's a solid Marston's line-up here - Wainwright, Cumberland, Hobgoblin Gold and Banks's Mild.  The Mild is my pick of the bunch, along with some tasty pub grub at sensible prices.

The Old Cock made the Beer Guide in 2021, but has been displaced by the Hop Pole in '22.  And that's where we headed to next - handily just 30 seconds across the road.

The Hop Pole (40 Friar Street, Droitwich Spa, WR9 8ED)
What a lovely place - lots of dark wooden beams, lots of character.

And on the bar a Sarah Hughes 'Dark Ruby Mild'.  Yup, that'll do!
The other options were two ales from Wye Valley and a Ledbury 'Gold', but who needs other options?

And just to show I'm not completely averse to this Christmas lark...

From Friar Street we walked a short way to Vines Park, through which the restored Droitwich canal flows.

Across the other side of the park was our fourth pub, which was looking glorious in the afternoon sunshine, the tower of Dodderill church hidden in the trees behind it.

The Gardeners Arms (47 Vines Lane, Droitwich Spa, WR9 8LU - web)
Arriving at the bar the cask Tetley 'Gold' looked to be an unusual find, but they didn't really have any, making 'Tribute' the only available ale.
I was intrigued with the mysterious bottles and plastic shot glasses.  £1 - oh, go on then.

"Mmm, that's actually quite nice" I said, eliciting a frown from the landlady. 
"Well did you think I'd sell something 'orrible?!"

Actually the Tribute was horrible and past its best, but somehow I managed to get half way through before realising.  Should've been on the ball and taken it straight back for a replacement Stan's cider.

Mmmm...mysterious shots

There were a fair few more pubs in Droitwich, but my prior research had suggested that we'd have drank a lot more Banks's had we explored them.
So instead we caught the next train back to Worcester, where the Craft Inn was directly across the road from Foregate Street station.

Craft Inn (54 Foregate Street, Worcester, WR1 1DX - web)
Crazy names these craft beers - my pick of Pomona Island 'I Feel Weasels On All Sides' wasn't even the wackiest of the lot.  'A Ferret Stole My 60" TV' took that accolade.
I starting babbling about beer names to the lady next to me in the queue to the bar. She clearly marked me down as being completely bonkers, whilst I was wondering how strong those shots in the Gardeners Arms were and whether the second one had been a bad idea.

There was just one Good Beer Guide pub which had eluded me so far in Worcester, so we set out to make the ½ mile walk across the River Severn and past the County Cricket ground.

We were on our way to...

Bull Baiters (43-49 St Johns, Worcester, WR2 5AG - web)
It was worth the walk.  Situated in a medieval timber-framed hall house, this was a fantastically atmospheric place to drink in.
A step-up from the old Bull Baiters micro which used to be a short way down the road and had scuppered us by being closed when we walked out here a few years ago.

Next to the Kettle crisps and pork scratchings were the pump clips advertising today's ales.
I opted for the 'Bull Baiters Mead Ale', brewed in nearby Inkberrow by Ambridge Brewery.  I should know better than to pick anything with 'mead' in the name, as this gave to flash-backs to some ill-advised quaffing of home-made mead last year.

This really was an incredible little bar and a good place to end the day.
I've even managed to resist including a picture of the mummified cat in the wall.

Heading out into the cold dark streets of Worcester it was time to make our way to the station and fall asleep on the train home.
Cheers! 🍻