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.

Plymouth - the GBG '24 Mop-Up

2023 was the year that I tried (and didn't quite manage) to conquer the Devon chapter of the Good Beer guide.

At the end of September I'd reached a total of 104 ticks and the county map was looking like this...

The 2024 'churn' (© BRAPA) dropped me back down to 92.
My last trek around Plymouth had seen me standing waiting for a bus outside the Indian Inn, where, unbeknownst to me, they were probably peeling the back off the Beer Guide '24 'We're In It' window sticker. 
Three of the pubs I visited that day lost their Guide place: The Cherry Tree, Queen's Arms and Admiral MacBride.

Under threatening grey autumnal skies I made a trip back to the city to put matters right.
One pub that has always elluded me is the Prince Maurice, being as it's a fair trek out into the suburbs.  With time to spare this time around, I found my way to Eggbuckland at lunchtime...

Eggbuckland chippy

The Prince Maurice (3 Church Hill, Eggbuckland, PL6 5RJ)
The Maurice the pub is named after is Maurice of the Palatinate, who did a good deal of trekking around Civil War battles in support of his uncle, Charles I, and ended up assuming command of the armed forces in Cornwall.
Pub ticking is great to enhance your Civil War knowledge.

The Prince Maurice is every bit the locals pub, tucked away in quiet streets with an elevated position overlooking the chip shop and Frogmore green.
The bar counter straddles two rooms, each with it's own entrance.

It's one of those pubs where the hand pumps are different in each room, so I ended up with a choice of the much-seen trio of Dartmoor 'Jail Ale', St Austell 'Tribute', or 'Doom Bar'.
It was only after I'd ordered the Jail Ale (not again!) that I spotted the blackboard listing 'Proper Job', Salcombe 'Gold' and South Hams 'Sherman' as also being available.

Despite my picture of an empty room there were a few locals in on an early week lunchtime, greeting each other by name and getting into a conversation about reality TV.
The young lady behind the bar had never heard of Big Brother - there's hope for the next generation yet.
And the locals had mixed views on Strictly Come Dancing - "I fast forward all the talking and just get to the bits with Angela Rippon".

Right...back into the centre of Plymouth and a walk down Union Street.
I've always meant to get a picture of the ornate and derelict Palace Theatre and Hotel...

The new entry for the 2024 Beer Guide is a short way up Octagon Street and is a little less architecturally impressive than the Palace.  The Duchy of Cornwall looks like it's had a recent paint job (possibly in a colour on a special offer clearance sale) and the front door replaced by something thoroughly modern, plastic and and un-pub-like.

Duchy of Cornwall (Anstis St, Stonehouse, Plymouth PL1 5JT)
As tends to happen a bit too much in my pub explorations, this was completely empty when I stepped through the door to a frenzied bout of barking from the pub dog.  I must have won him over, as he sat at my feet for the rest of my visit giving me determined nudges every time I tried to stop stroking him.

What Pub tells us they have "One rotating beer usually from Plymouth-based breweries". 
So having gotten in the Beer Guide with their one local ale, they'd replaced this on my visit with something from Greene King.

To be fair it was one of their Future Brewers range, which tend to be quite good - a very enjoyable 'Dark Star Porter'.

It's a simple one-room backstreet boozer with pool table, darts board and sleeping cat on one of the chairs.  Brightly lit, with a thoroughly modernised decor, and cricket on the big TV screen. (I know little about cricket but I know that England weren't doing very well).
The landlord, resplendent in one of those t-shirts with an all-over colourful print featuring beer n darts, told the next chap who arrived that he might have to make it a quick pint.  Apparently he was waiting for a phone call to pick someone up, at which point he was shutting the pub.
So I guess I was lucky not to arrive half-an-hour later and been frustrated by this one.

You realise just how spread out Plymouth is when wandering on foot from one side to the other.  I passed through the shopping streets, diverted to the Barbican and strolled around the harbour, before heading just east of the centre.

Vessel Beer Shop (184 Exeter St, Plymouth PL4 0NQ)
And I arrived at the beer shop just as a sudden vicious downpour ensued.  Good timing.
This little single room shop has around 5 tables, a bar at the back, and several fridges stacked full of all manner of tempting crafty cans.

On tap were 6 beers, 3 from Left Handed Giant, and 1 each from Donzoko, Ideal Day and Pomona Island.  £3 brought me a half of the lemon saison from Saltash-based Ideal Day, a brewery I've not come across before.

It's a decent little craft beer place, although a bit of an unusual pick for the Beer Guide.  The owner mentioned that he occasionally put a cask on, but didn't sound like he had that much enthusiasm for doing so.
Still - good beer, with a decent alt rock/indie soundtrack, so I'm not complaining.

Next up I needed to get to Stoke Village which was far enough in the wet weather to require a couple of bus rides.  Even going round on the scenic route I got there far too early for the 6pm opening.

£3 selected pint in the Stoke Bar Fun Pub?  Hmmm, maybe not.

Better bloggers than me would have filled a post with the wonders of Stoke's 'interesting' and plentiful collection of boozers.  

The Masonic Hall was looking impressive - it's namesake pub sounding quite appealing when I looked it up later on WhatPub.

 

Top marks for the chip shop name...

 

By the time the clock ticked 6pm I was back at the Indian Inn, no competition to be first customer of the evening.

Indian Inn (82 Devonport Road, Stoke, PL3 4DF)
The inner door of the Indian Inn has a bit of mag lock on it and a keypad to one side, not fully instilling confidence in the surrounding area.  You don't need a code to get in, but you do need to give the door a good shove - something I didn't do, leading me to loiter like a fool for 5-minutes before deciding the lights were definitely on and I should try it again.

The current licensees have presided over the pub for an impressive 32 years and I assume that it was the landlady who I disturbed from her comfy spot in the armchair by the fire watching the news (all doom and gloom). She did give me a wonderful friendly welcome though.

It's a spectacular front parlour of a pub, a symphony in brown, full of ornaments and trinkets and pictures.

Just the one hand pump on the bar - on this visit serving Summerskills 'Whistle Belly Vengeance'.
An ESB with a bit of an odd flavour to be honest and not my favourite of the day.

So...a satisfying day in that I could finally mark Plymouth beer guide pubs as done & dusted for 2024.  Just how far I'll get with completing the rest of the county is anyone's guess.

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.