ROAM Brewery Tap and Plymouth Pub Explorations

Two blog posts now with reports from a couple of visits to Plymouth which demonstrate the folly of trying to tick off all the beer guide pubs so close to the publication of the next edition. 

Let me start back in September, when we rocked up at the railway station on a day of glorious blue-skies and sunshine.
Instead of following most folk to the ticket barriers, we stayed on the platforms and caught the Bere Ferrers branch line, one-stop to Devonport.

Navigating through the residential streets we found the way to our first destination, Lounge. Not the most traditional of pub names and it doesn't look especially pub-like either.
But it's a bit of a cracker!

Lounge (7 Stopford Place, Devonport, PL1 4QT)
Stepping through the doors, there are glorious wood panels covering two thirds of the wall, shades of burgundy paint, satisfying traditional lighting, and a proper pub carpet.

This is one of Plymouth's Bass outlets, the pump clip with the red triangle joined by Dark Star 'Hophead' and a Robinsons seasonal brew.
"Pint and a half of Bass please".
The lady behind the bar searched the shelves for the right glass, then asked the landlord "do we have any half pint Bass glasses?"
"Dunno.  I've never had a half pint of it", came the response.

Mrs PropUptheBar didn't get her branded glass, but was happy with the Bass.
Probably sitting around a NBSS 3, but perhaps we suffered a little by arriving early before much (if any) of it had been poured beforehand.

Lounge had a great old-skool laminated lunch menu of toasted sarnies and jacket potatoes at sensible prices.  So we sat in the table by the window, filling ourselves full of toasties and a giant portion of fries.
The pub began to fill up nicely with rugby the dominant topic of conversation at the tables nearest to us - this being handily close to Plymouth Albion's Brickfields ground.

I could be wrong, but I reckon every pub with a big curtain around the door is a bit of a winner.

We had a couple of miles to travel across town to get to our next destination in Pennycross.
We headed up to Milehouse Road to catch a bus, found the stop closed due to roadworks, so had to keep on walking to Stoke Village.
Which meant we stood a few meters away from the Indian Inn, slyly looking like it'd never trouble the Good Beer Guide.

Talking of unlikely Beer Guide entries...

Cherry Tree (291 Ham Drive, Pennycross, PL2 3NH)
The Cherry Tree is a large estate pub set back from a busy road with picnic benches out front.
This didn't seem to be a very encouraging sign on the way in...

Were we about to be surprised by a bank of handpumps serving up unusual ales from West Country micro breweries?
Nope.  Proper Job or Doom Bar.

The St Austell 'Proper Job' (£4.15 for a pint AND a half) defied the expired Beer Marque signage and was actually really enjoyable.

And I've no complaints about the Cherry Tree, even if it is more in Life After Football territory than CAMRA real ale crawl venue.
Darts, pool, sport on TV, and a good number of cheery local custom.

We sat to the side of the room where I could see no less than 5 TV screens from my vantage point, with a soundtrack of Dua Lipa and Tones & I.  Whoever they may be.

 

Then Mrs PropUptheBar demanded the craft beer in a brewery tap that she'd been promised.

Departing from the Cherry Tree, walking seemed the best way to get to Peverell - helped by the fact that it was downhill most of the way.
Some great views down the cobbled lanes between back yards, looking towards Home Park in the distance. 

We stopped briefly to ponder how you're supposed to get the car into this garage...

Before we were guided to the ROAM Brewery Tap by the smell of pizza and the murmur of cheery conversation.

Roam Brewery Taproom (New Victoria House, Plymouth, PL3 4NU - web)
Roam opened their taproom in the summer of 2019, returning brewing to this site which once housed the New Victoria Brewery Company until that closed almost 70 years ago.
There's a bit of a garage forecourt appearance to the outdoor seating under the flat-roof canopy, whilst brewing takes place somewhere underneath the taproom.
Here's the beer list...

I figured I should try the cask ale from the sole hand pump on the bar - in this case a 'Tavy' IPA, your most economical option at £4.50 a pint.
I also plumped for a third of the tasty 6.9% 'Wonder' stout.

We sat inside the industrial unit - brightly lit by sunshine through the high windows - the furniture German beer-fest style benches - the customers a mix of respectable Plymouth citizens with a high quota of babies in buggies.   

Leaving Roam, we caught a bus back into the centre of town and walked the short distance down to the tourist hub which is the Barbican.
Alongside the classic Dolphin, there were two 2023 Beer Guide entries to visit here.
Starting with the Queens Arms...

The Queen's Arms (55 Southside Street, Plymouth, PL1 2LA)
The current building dates back to the 60's after an older pub on the site was a casualty of the blitz.  It's an unfussy proper boozer, with banquette seating around the sides of the single room and a good crowd of Saturday afternoon drinkers.
"Tends to attract older customers" says WhatPub and they were pretty much right (except for Mrs PropUptheBar of course).

 

And there's a choice of good old fashioned ales for the older customers - none of this new fangled crafty stuff or beers with weird names brewed in people's garages.
Tribute, Jail Ale, or Doom Bar.
I decided to plump for the Doom, which was okay, I suppose.

A little further along the road took us to the Admiral MacBride.

The Admiral MacBride (1 The Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2LR - web)
It calls itself a 'traditional English pub', but I fear the vast majority of tradition has been sucked out and replaced by various shades of grey paint and dubious decorations.

And as far as traditonal cask ale was concerned, they offered a Dartmoor 'Jail Ale' or St Austell 'Tribute', with the third pump clip (Salcombe, I believe) turned around.
As illustrated in the picture below, the crowd at the time of our visit weren't really your typical real ale day-trip posse...

Outside, a sudden heavy shower of rain came out of nowhere and the crowds of drinkers on the quayside tables across the road made a beeline to the shelter of the pub, filling it up uncomfortably.

A combination of the distance we'd traveled around the city and those last two pints in pubs full of tourists must really have worn me out - I checked the train times and Bass in the Dolphin didn't even cross my mind.