Bass Discovery in Barnstaple

I made a rare foray into North Devon during our recent Christmas travels, picking the town of Barnstaple for an overnight stay.

We arrived just gone 2pm with a craving for food, making Wetherspoon's the most logical first point of call.  I didn't realise at the time that this was the first of the two current Beer Guide ticks in the town - at this rate we'd be done and back in the hotel watching The Weakest Link by teatime.

The Panniers (33-34 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1RX - web)
This turned out to be super-busy, as we trekked around the various sections of the pub, just managing to grab a high table as someone was leaving.  At the next table was the postman in his shorts, other customers included Barnstaple youths, families, professional drinkers and old boys in Christmas jumpers.

The run of guest beer pumps was probably one of the best I've encountered in Spoons - unless you don't like dark ales.  Bradfield 'Farmers Belgian Blue', Titanic 'Plum Porter', Nethergate 'Growler', Nottingham 'Oatmeal Stout' and Exmoor 'Exemas Ale'.
I stuck local with a lovely pint of the Exmoor winter brew, the temptation being to just stay here and make my way through the lot of 'em.

The pub takes its name from the Panniers Market just across the road.
Which looks like this...

Giving no opportunity to walk off the calories from lunch, our next stop was just a minute further up the road.
I'd almost missed this, spotting the day before that it was on the Wickingman Bass list, and a day after we'd been there that it's on CAMRA's list of pubs with historic interiors of national importance. 

Corner House (108 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1SY)
I loved it from the outside - a fine curved frontage with a road sign inconveniently in the way of pictures; a retro Bass advert above the side door and a no-nonsense look about it.

And here's the beer range...no messing around with Christmas beers here - the 6X just gets a Santa hat for a couple of weeks.

Mrs PropUptheBar picked the Extra, a St Austell beer that I haven't seen before which was very nice indeed.  Better, if I'm being completely honest, that my Bass.

The building dates back to 1935 and remains little altered since.  The main room has a curved counter, the seats just beyond the end of it by an inglenook fireplace once being a separate room.  Wood panelling covers most of the walls with a plethora of rugby themed pictures hanging from it.

It was quiet when we arrived, but a group on a pub crawl arrived shortly afterwards and livened things up.
Is there any Country and Western one of them inquired, heading to the jukebox.  So it was that we were entertained by Freddy Fender's 'Before the Next Teardrop Falls', followed by a bit of Dolly Parton - a most unexpected pub soundtrack.

Having put up with me taking pictures of my Bass glass whilst listening to country & western, Mrs PropUptheBar demanded a micropub and craft beer to make up for it.
Let's see what I can come up with...

Beer Matters (7 Tuly Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1DG - web)
I'd spotted this brand new micro pub in a 'Stop Press' article in the North Devon CAMRA Beer Tiz magazine.

We received a warm welcome and a description of the four ales on offer, all from very local brewers: GT, Clearwater, Country Life and Coombe Brewery.
A decent pint of 'Ruby Sunset' from Coombe for me.

To say they've only been open a matter of weeks there were a few locals settled into seats and chatting away to the owner as though they'd been coming here for years.
One chap arrived, ordered his beer, and asked if he could stick a leaflet on the small notice board for the Earwax Removal by Microsuction place he'd just been to.
He then sat sipping his pint completely oblivious to the other customers asking him questions...
"Take his leaflet down - it doesn't work!"

Next up, the craft diversion...

Latitude 48 (96 High Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1HR - web)
A minimal bit of research suggested we had two options for craft murk in Barnstaple - a respectable shop/cafe at the side of the Pannier market or Lattitude 48 on the High Street.
Both advertised beer, gins and cocktails. We picked Latitude which looked the place to be for young hipsters like us. 
Most of the beers on offer were your standard big brand 'craft', with the Fierce & Noble standing out as the lesser-seen beer-ticker option. 
Even if the font did make my eyes go funny and I initially thought it read 'birthday sex' - thankfully not what I tried to order.

In the back of the bar all tables looked to be reserved for later in the evening, with a decent late afternoon crowd already making headway's on the cocktails and G&Ts.
The front section of Latitude 48 was the sporty bit, with shuffle board, pinball, pool table and an unnecessarily large TV displaying a log fire.

A hefty £1.50 for pool and payment by card only, which scuppered the chap traditionally lining up his coins on the edge of it. 

We still had one Good Beer Guide pub to visit, so drank up and set off through the drizzle beyond the shops, alongside Pilton Park and across the River Yeo to the Reform Inn.

Reform Inn (Reform Street, Pilton, EX31 1PD - web)
This was a grand spacious pub with pool table in pride of place in the middle of the main room, seats in a few nice nooks and crannies, hi-vis bloke at the bar, skittle alley out back.

As the 'Brewery Tap' signs out front suggested, this is home to Barum Brewery, four of their beers being available when we visited.
I picked a thoroughly enjoyable 'Reformation Ale', at a bargain happy-hour price, then missed some absolute sitters on the pool table for which I'm blaming a dodgy cue.
Coin-operated and 50p a game - I don't care that the Latitude table has grey felt and looks a bit sexier - the Reform Inn is hands down winner.

Sat in the Reform Inn, we realised that we were actually only a 10-minute walk away from another Beer Guide pub listed as Bradiford to confuse us.
So we headed out into the night to find the last pub of the day.

Windsor Arms (55 Bradiford, Bradiford, EX31 4AD)
Our visit to the Windsor was a quiet and uneventful one, which could mean it really was quiet and uneventful or that it was the sixth pub of the day and I don't remember much about it.

In a very quiet street, this was a two room local pub, with a handful of customers sat on high stools around the bar.  The friendly landlord popped over to ask what we thought of the GT 'Santa's Pod' - a new creation by the brewer apparently.  

To say my plan had been to visit the two beer guide pubs then 'see what else we find', I think we did rather well in Barnstaple.
Several great pubs offering a bit of variety, Bass, murky craft, home brew, pinball and pool.