BITE user comments - Mrs_Ethel_Fronge
Comments by Mrs_Ethel_Fronge
Large, utterly characterless place which thrives on its closeness to cheap holiday accomodation. If you're passing, it's not worth stopping.
12 Sep 2008 00:09
Rather a noisy place, a bit too popular these days for those of us that like to sup a quiet pint and enjoy a chat.
12 Sep 2008 00:05
Lovely-looking, ancient pub. I agree that the beer is good, but there I have to part company with the previous reviewers. I don't think I've ever felt less welcome in a pub - going into the Ship is so reminiscent of that moment in a Western where the stranger walks into the saloon that I'm pretty sure that I've seen some of the locals hurriedly taking cover under their tables! Seriously, this is an odd atmosphere for a landlord to nurture in a place so reliant on tourism.
The food in my experience has attained levels of blandness that invite some form of grudging admiration, after all, it must be technically quite difficult to remove every single trace of flavour from an entire meal.
For some time I lived only a couple of hundred yards away and after giving the place the benefit of the doubt several times (it's such a lovely building that I really wanted it to be a good enough pub to be my local) I avoided it totally for two years. Revisiting recently, I didn't find any improvement, alas.
13 Aug 2008 02:14
Friendly and surprisingly unspoilt little pub in a quite remarkable location where the lovely village (it's pronounced Ditsum, by the way!) meets England's most beautiful river. Definitely best to arrive by water (there are visitor moorings on the adjacent pontoon). Love the unusual door-closing device and the Gents' loos in the old chapel next door.
16 Jun 2008 01:45
The Sportsmans Inn, Hemborough Post
In my youth this was a lovely old wayside pub, a warm and cosy retreat in a high, windswept location. These days it has been comprehensively spoilt and feels more like a bog-standard 'Harvester'-type eatery. That said, on my last visit the food was enjoyable and not too badly priced, and the beer was good too.
19 Mar 2008 14:13
Interesting old hotel with a grandiose Regency facade like a great castellated cake rather badly grafted onto a crooked Elizabethan inn. On the left is the former public bar which the owner did up in a bizarre yuppified style reportedly to get rid of his local regulars in favour of the wealthier visitors, and which is now therefore empty most of the year. The lounge bar on the right is much more pleasant and in character with the building and remains popular. Beer is generally ok, but no more than that. Food is quite good but decidedly overpriced.
19 Mar 2008 14:06
Not in the least grotty! Quite a pleasant small pub and much improved since the time of the previous owner.
19 Mar 2008 13:53
The Warren House Inn, Postbridge
Remarkable pub, literally in the middle of nowhere. If the weather's good get a pint of cider and sit at one of the benches on the other side of the road - the views are quite simply stunning. Be careful crossing that road though!
23 Jan 2008 03:31
Standard Wetherspoons pub, hidden in an edge-of-town-centre location where it must be missed by many tourists, which would be okay if it weren't for the uncouth locals!
23 Jan 2008 03:26
Why this awful place has such a good reputation is a mystery. The food was inedible (undercooked meat and something described as 'onion rings' which seemed to be deep-fried onion skins), the service was lousy beyond belief and the whole place was packed full of howling children. I'm usually pretty tolerant and forgiving but this is one place I will not be revisiting.
23 Jan 2008 03:18
The Spinning Wheel Inn, Paignton
The cod-medieval decor is rather fun and the gigs are often quite good. Just don't drink the beer.
23 Jan 2008 03:08
The Prince Of Wales, Princetown
Probably the least characterful of Princetown's three pubs, but pleasant nonetheless. The beer remains excellent, of course, though the brewery has now moved to its own rather flash premises a couple of hundred yards away.
23 Jan 2008 02:56
The Old Inn, Widecombe in the Moor
Good beer, friendly staff and a quite remarkable beer garden, all set in a famously beautiful moorland village.
23 Jan 2008 02:46
The Famous Hop'N'Grapes, Torquay
Sometimes known locally as the 'Hope and Grope' this a a bit of a schizoid establishment. In the evening it is noisy, cramped and full of 18-20 year olds (so probably best avoided), but at lunchtime or during the afternoon it can be quite a pleasant retreat for a quiet pint. The vicinity is insalubrious to say the least, being sandwiched between a cliff and the loading bays of Union Street's businesses and dominated by a grim multi-storey car park provided by Torbay Council as a launch pad for a large proportion of local suicides.
23 Jan 2008 02:23
I really can't stress too much how good this place is. As has been remarked, the exterior hardly looks inviting but step through the door and - after a slight feeling of having fallen through a time warp - you will find an extremely friendly establishment with a quite unique character. Excellent ciders to suit all tastes and a range of delicious fruit wines (not just for the ladies!) not to mention a selection of snuffs! If you only visit one establishment in Newton Abbot, a town which seems to have more than its fair share of pubs, this is the one to choose.
23 Jan 2008 02:00
It is a very good pub and a delightful building, but the oft-repeated claims of being Dartmouth's oldest building should be taken with a pinch of salt as there are a number of houses around the town of similar age and one or two which may well be considerably older. In fact, The Cherub as you see it today is the result of an extensive and imaginative bit of restoration work about 40 years ago - mischievous locals will tell you they 'remember Fred Mullett building it in the Sixties'!
23 Jan 2008 01:46
Pleasant and surprisingly friendly, though unremarkable, pub in a local centre about a mile from Sidmouth town centre; very much a suburban or roadhouse appearance to the place somewhat unusual in this part of the world.
23 Jan 2008 01:31
A pleasant character pub in a back street not far from the harbour, but off the tourist trail. If you really feel like visiting Brixham (though heaven knows why you'd want to), it's not a bad place to search out. In summer there are makeshift tables and benches in the parking spaces outside with a delightful view of, err, the main town car park (soon to be Tesco's, we're told). Insufferably noisy on Saturday nights.
16 Jan 2008 16:29
East Prawle is a place which feels pretty much like the end of the world, especially in a howling gale in late December. Entering the pub is therefore a delightful surprise. Everything about the place is eccentric including, it seems, the staff! I don't think there was a single square foot of surface to be found in the whole place that does not have a trinket, picture, cutting, antiquity, book, plant or other bit of clutter upon it (I'd hate to have to do the dusting). The drinks were excellent - mostly local with the addition of London Pride. Food was good too.
I'll have to go back one evening when there's a gig on; the pub famously has a large hall attached which, as well as local musicians, occasionally plays host to improbably big names...
16 Jan 2008 16:21
More a sports bar than a proper pub, its only real advantage is that it is the only public house on Sidmouth's sea front. This, of course, means that it is often crowded with the bucket and spade brigade on sunny days. At the back of the pub, at the time of my last visit, was the World's Worst Pool Table. Beer was the selection of over-chilled fizz one might expect of such a place.
There are better pubs in Sidmouth - in fact, all of them!
16 Jan 2008 16:00
One of the most idyllic settings for a pub you could find, and rather more sympathetically developed in recent years than The Watermans just up the road. If you can find it, you'll love it. Local ales (the selection changes regularly) and usually a local cider are available. The menu is often rather adventurous, perhaps even occasionally eccentric, but very rewarding, though a little pricey. If you venture down to the quay you may find barbecues, live music and a sort-of-beach-bar, but if they're not on then just soak up the tranquillity.
Regarding previous comments, as an fairly regular visitor to The Maltsters, often with a child or two, over some fifteen years I can't say I've ever found the pub or its staff anything but extremely friendly and courteous.
5 Sep 2007 01:26
Delightful pub in every way. Comfortable interior, pleasant courtyard beer garden and in particular excellent food. Youngs and Branscombe beers on offer at my last visit. Well worth seeking out.
5 Sep 2007 00:47
Easily the friendliest pub in Sidmouth. A small, street corner pub with no outstanding features, just good beer, nice staff, sociable regulars and a location just far enough off the tourist trail to be a true local's pub. Highly recommended.
5 Sep 2007 00:40
Depending on which side you enter, either a pleasant but unexceptional pub popular with locals or a vast barn-like eatery catering for tourists. The ales on offer are limited but usually good and the food is good value and plentiful without being in any way inspiring.
5 Sep 2007 00:33
A very friendly pub, generally quieter than its neighbours, which is no bad thing. The interior has an unusual nautical theme, created long before the idea of theme pubs was common. Used to boast a regularly changing and wide-ranging cast of guest beers (easily the best Real Ale pub in the area, in fact), but now you'll find Dartmoor and Royal Oak and that's it. This shift has been mirrored in the once-excellent menu which has recently become pretentious and comparatively expensive.
5 Sep 2007 00:21
The quietest of Kingswear's three pubs, but none the worse for that. Always a good selection of real ales from local breweries (on my last visit, Teignworthy, Red Rock, South Hams and Bay were all represented, plus others including O'Hanlons available bottled). The food is good and popular, particularly when the train's running, and there's an excellent view from the lounge and from upstairs. Strange fact: the pub was a naval base called HMS Cicala during WW2 and was claimed as sunk by Lord Haw Haw!
5 Sep 2007 00:06
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Union Inn, Torquay
Very friendly pub in my experience. Certainly better than the nearby 'Oirish' establishments.
12 Sep 2008 00:14