That's the Poltimore Arms, Kim

Devon is likely to feature fairly heavily on the blog over the coming weeks, as family commitments see Prop Up the Bar decamp to the south-west coast.

Plentiful opportunity to visit some of the counties Good Beer Guide pubs.
Yet - just when I feel I've ticked off LOADS of them - a quick check reveals that I've only just topped 70 current entries - a lowly 58%.
Not that I'm keeping lists or stocking up on Stabilo highlighters - honestly!

Anyway, here's a random quartet of Devon delights...

Starting in the middle of nowhere.
Up on the edge of Exmoor, a mile-and-a-half from the nearest neighbours is the Poltimore Arms.

On a minor road junction (I think one car passed down the lane in front of the pub in the half-hour I was sat outside in the sunshine).  There has been a coaching inn on this site since the 13th century.

Poltimore Arms (Yarde Down, Brayford, EX36 8HA)
When I arrived on a weekday afternoon there were a couple from the campervan, a motorcyclist, and the landlord, with his cup of coffee and roll-up, sitting out front.

Ambling in to the bar, with the landlord following me, I asked what ales they had being as there are no hand pumps of any nature on the counter.
"Exeter Brewery. 3.6%, so you can drink a lot of it".
"If you want lager", the gaffer continued, "it's in bottles.  Tried the electronic dispensers once but they're too much trouble and with bottles there's no line cleaning".

The Exeter ale comes straight from the barrel and was on fine form.  Seemingly the drink of choice at the Poltimore, it gets a quick turnover.

Continuing to chat to the landlord, I was told that the pub is off the grid, generating its own electricity and getting water from a Spring.  Hence the Poltimore being immune to the hiked utility bills that have proved the final straw for a number of pubs who've shut their doors in recent troubled times.

In a way, the Poltimore reminded me of the Peyton Arms in North Oxfordshire: both pubs in a world of their own, far removed from the modern era of food-orientated country inns, and both with characterful landlords keen to engage you in conversation.
A great pub that I was really pleased to have found my way to.

Heading back down south, 12 miles north of Exeter at junction 28 of the M5 you'll find the town of Cullompton.
Seven and a half thousand residents and seven pubs, although I was just looking for the Pony & Trap.

Pony & Trap (10 Exeter Hill, Cullompton, EX15 1DJ)
A cracking simple town pub with one rectangular room, the local blokes sat at the end of the room by the bar covering the hot topics of the day.
There are outdoor WCs, CAMRA awards displayed on the wall, homely decorations, local cider, and an interesting choice of beers.
Including this stuff..

On good form.  In a superb pub.
I now ask Mrs PropUptheBar if she wants to pull off the M5 every time we pass Cullompton, but she hasn't succumbed to this Devon Bass temptation yet.

4½ miles from Cullompton down narrow Devon lanes (intermediate level) is the village of Butterleigh.
According to Wiki, home to just over 100 people, a public house, village hall, and award-winning blacksmith.  You never know when you might need an award-winning blacksmith.

The Butterleigh Inn (The Green, Butterleigh, EX15 1PN)
No obvious front door as I wandered along the lane grumbling that the sun was in the wrong place for the perfect pub picture.
The entrance is via a vine-covered patio to the side, taking you through to an inviting bar.  There were local blokes at the bar counter, a dog excitedly running around looking for someone to throw a ball, a few tables of folks tucking into food.  And a lady in the side room doing the ironing...

The Butterleigh Inn has clocked up an impressive 35+ years in the Good Beer Guide.  And the Hanlon's 'Simcoe New IPA' was testament to that.  Exeter 'Ferryman' and two Sandford's ciders occupied the other handpumps.
The beer was superb: I supped half of it whilst sat inside on high backed benches, then retreated to the outdoor tables to make the most of the fine Devonshire evening.

Back in Exeter, I was on what some consider the 'wrong side of the river' in St Thomas, visiting new Beer Guide entry the Sawyer's Arms (121 Colwick Street, Exeter, EX4 1JD).

A far cry from the spectacular surroundings of the Imperial or George's Meeting House, this is a rare flat-roof Spoons.
Busy with a crowd of cheery locals who were all better at getting served at the bar than I was.  It's been ages since I've had to stand at the bar waiting for any length of time to be served.
Worth the wait for a great pint of South Hams 'Sherman', £2.57 less a 50p voucher being something of a bargain for my 6.4% American IPA.

It's just 30-minutes on foot from St Thomas to the picturesque village of Ide, somewhere which would have been swallowed up into greater Exeter were it not for the ring-road acting as the city limits.

Ide is home to 586 folks and 2 pubs.  The Huntsman Inn was closed when I was there on a Monday, so just a trip to the Poachers for me.

Poachers Inn (55 High Street, Ide, EX2 9RW - web)
Looking superb with the blue sky and sun shining on the white frontage.  The leader of the Ide teenage posse told his mates to stop so as not to get in the way of my picture.  We're not in Cowley now.

Inside is a brilliant cluttered selection of various types of furniture, framed rugby shirts on the wall, and a grand fireplace with antlers displayed above the wood burner.
One chap sitting inside in an armchair with paperback and a pint, the rest of the afternoon custom basking in the sunshine out back.

The ales on offer came from Salcombe and Branscombe, alongside several real ciders.  But it was the Exeter Brewery 'Tomahawk', served straight from the barrel which I opted for.  An above average beer in this and all the other pubs on this post.

I was pleased to have made it to Ide, somewhere which I'd wrongly assumed was a tricky place to get to having thought it was further away from Exeter than it actually is.
I did, however, manage to get hopelessly lost trying to find the outdoor WCs.  Someone, who may have been the landlord, had to correct me as I was wandering half way down the garden, embarrassingly unable to follow simple directions.

And what picture would I have used to finish the post if I hadn't been able to find the loos?

A Leeds Tap Room Tour

WARNING
Contains Shiny Brewing Kit pictures.
And Brewdog.

A sunny Saturday in Leeds provided the opportunity for a bit of a taproom tour, with Mrs PropUptheBar in attendance to be in charge of directions, input scores on Untappd, and ensure we ate some food.

We spent an hour wandering the streets of the centre, the arcades and municipal buildings looking glorious in the good weather.

Until we neared midday and decided it was time to make a start on our brewery explorations, catching Bus 39 northbound into the suburbs.  Here's the route...

🕛 12noon - Brewery Number One

Terminus (8a Stonegate Road, Meanwood, Leeds, LS6 4HY - web)
We really ought to learn not to arrive at places too early.  
The tables and chairs were still stacked to the side of the room when we bowled in, hollering "are you open yet?"

This is the taproom of Meanwood Brewery, who produced their first beers in 2017 and opened Terminus in November of 2018.

  

From the very neatly chalked beer board, I opted for the cask option - a Meanwood Brewery 'Court of Horrors', 4.2% session IPA.
A superb easy-going pint of murk in a handled glass to get the day started, enjoyed on the patio outside.

Setting off from Terminus, Mrs PropUptheBar needed steering away from the Boot & Rally - micropubs being her other temptation rivaling pudding-orientated craft beers in brewery taps.
An uninspiring walk took us down Meanwood Road on our longest trek of the day.

🕜 1:30 - Brewery Number Two

North Springwell (Springwell, Buslingthorpe Lane, Leeds LS7 2DF - web)
It's not the most obvious of locations, through some scruffy side streets, past the battered-looking Primrose pub, light industrial units and the inevitable student-living complex.
But at the end of the road we caught sight of happy punters sat in the sunshine next to a decorative bit of brewing kit.

North began life as a beer bar in 1997, before opening their own brewery just outside the city centre in Sheepscar in 2015.  They outgrew this as business boomed, converting a former Victorian-era tannery in Springwell ready to be opened in 2020.
This has a capacity of 16,000hl - 2.8 million pints of beer a year.

With everyone enjoying the sunshine, it was deserted inside except for the odd person popping to the bar and a couple of folks having a tour around the brewery.  You can explain it to me a hundred and one times - I still don't know my mash tuns from my fermenting vessels.

I contemplated the various IPAs and continental lagers but - let's face it - I'd decided on the strongest on the beer list as soon as I walked in. 
A rich and complex barrel aged imperial stout.  Wonderful stuff.
Accompanied by bao buns from the food vendors in shipping containers to the side of the outdoor seating.  You can explain bao buns to me a hundred and one times - I still don't know what they are or what the appeal is.

Thoroughly satisfied by imperial stout, we departed from North and continued on our route back toward the centre.  We called into a small yard of workshops to check out Ridgeside Brewery.  Sadly they were having a 'well earned break' - which we realised when standing outside their closed shutter, Twitter being the one place this was mentioned and the only place we hadn't checked beforehand.  Doh!

So it was onward to Sheepscar Grove...

🕒 3pm - Brewery Number Three

Tartarus Tap Room (Unit 6, Taverners Walk Estate, Sheepscar Grove, Leeds, LS7 1AH - web)
We were now at the original home of North Brewery.
When they first moved to Springwell, this Sheepscar site was used to concoct sours and barrel aged brews for their Small Batch Project.
In 2022 it was sold to Tartarus - a brewery founded by Jack Roberts and Jordan Orpen in 2020 with a view to brewing European, experimental and foolishly strong beers.

Ah foolishly strong.  I will do well.

'The Mackenzie Potergeist', please.  A 14% 'Dulce de Leche Imperial Stout' which was pretty much as good as imperial stouts ever get.  I've had a few of the Tartarus double-digit beers and am in awe of how they make them so fearsomely easy to drink.

  

Tartarus is an old-school brewery tap set up - a little bit of random furniture and some beer-fest style benches; limited opening hours as you'd be well and truly in the way of the brewing operation at other times.
The staff were friendly and happy to chat about their beers, tempting me to try the Vault City barrel aged barley wine.  It is just possible that I may not have been walking in quite such a straight line departing from Tartarus as when I arrived.

Almost forgot the shiny brewing kit picture...

🕓 4pm - Brewdog diversion

Brewdog North Street (Crispin House, New York Road, Leeds, LS2 7PF - web)
We didn't need to call into Brewdog, especially being as they'd tried their best to hide it from us behind scaffolding.
But we were walking right past and figured we'd poke our heads inside.

"No, we can move on", said Mrs PropUptheBar.
"Are you sure?  They've got an Amundsen Scream Egg Series Salted Caramel Fudge pastry stout".
Which was enough to facilitate a quick change of mind.

The beer was too sweet for my liking, although I didn't seem to have any difficulty finishing it.
In the basement of Brewdog is an interesting games area with an arcade corner and two shuffle boards.

Another bus trip was needed to travel out of town in the other direction - west of the city centre to Kirkstall.

🕠 5:30pm - Brewery Number Four

Kirkstall Brewery Taproom and Kitchen (100 Kirkstall Road, Leeds, LS3 1HJ - web)
The original historic Kirkstall Brewery was several miles up the road with grand old buildings on either side of the Leeds-Liverpool canal.  That's now a student hall and the brewery disappeared for many a year.
Resurrected in 2011, they now recreate many of the old recipes, such as this cracking strong mild which I was drawn to...

Whilst it's every bit the modern building outside, the interior of the taproom is something of an eye-opener.  They've collected all manner of old pub features, from screens, to mirrors to old advertisements, creating an impressive bar that you wouldn't be expecting at first glance.  Just don't spoil the illusion by looking up at the high ceiling and modern ventilation ducts.

The day came to a close in a modern brewpub close to the train station.
If ever a city weren't short of places to drink within a few minutes of the station it's Leeds.

🕡6:30pm - Brewery Number Five

Tapped Brew (51 Boar Lane, Leeds, LS1 5EL - web)
This was the busiest place we visited, as well it should be in the centre on a Saturday evening.  Doormen guarding the entrance and turning a couple of people away, so how I got past them I'll never know.

It's part of the small chain which also includes Sheffield and York Taps alongside several other bars. Not quite the heritage environs of either of those, this is a single rectangular room with the bar on the right-hand-side and brewing kit on the left side.
Not sure how much use the kit gets though, with most of the wide beer range coming from well-known UK and European names.  
I opted for their Sheffield-brewed 'Sheaf Street Pale Ale', an easy-going pint to bring things to a close.

We'd had a fine day out, making it to a varied bunch of places and enjoying beers ranging from familiar murky pales to trad milds to decadently strong porters.
Northern Monk is an omission from this post - somewhere that I called into on another day.  And there's a handful more taprooms that I've missed too.  Always leave something for a return visit! 

Leeds Heritage Pub Classics

A few days in Leeds provided me the chance to explore both the traditional pubs and the craft murk outlets and brewery taps on industrial estates.

Consulting the Heritage Pubs guide book, I decided to spend the first day of my visit trekking around a few of the historic boozers and getting some pictures of them in the sunshine.

I'd been to Whitelock's before, so figured I could skip it this time. 
Except...when you're passing by the entrance to Turk's Head Yard, it just kind of draws you in...

Whitelock’s Ale House (Turks Head Yard, Leeds, LS1 6HB - web)
This is one of the countries classic old city pubs, dating back to 1715 when it was called the Turks Head.  It was rebuilt in the 1880's by the Whitelock family whom it was renamed after, since when it has been little changed. 
Long and narrow, the bar counter with it's polished brass and tiled frontage stretches for some distance, proper pub seating and brass-topped tables opposite, iron pillars holding the ceiling up.

The beer choice is extensive: a mild by Unbarred, Ilkley 'Mary Jane', Fell Brewery 'Foss', Five Points 'Railway Porter' or 'XPA', Theakston's 'Old Peculiar' and Timothy Taylor 'Landlord'.
But then I saw this...

Pre-noon Cheesecake Stout - a decadent delight

My early arrival gave the opportunity to marvel at the surroundings, although it didn't take long at all for a procession of customers to make their way in.  I missed the chance to take a picture of the elegant Luncheon Room section at the far end, with etched glass and mirrors.  A social group began gathering there, arriving one-by-one and all bypassing the Vocation craft cask, each ordering a Landlord. 

Devo were the highlight of an eclectic soundtrack, after which it got a bit duller and poppier and I decided it was time to move on.

My next point of call was the Scarbrough Hotel, close to the train station, with some glorious red tiling and Ind Coopes Ales writing on the frontage...

Scarbrough Hotel (Bishopgate, Leeds, LS1 5DY - web)
I'm itching to put an extra 'o' in the name, but this hostelry is named after its first owner, Henry Scarbrough, rather than the seaside town.

An "exquisite selection of perfectly poured real ales" it says on their website under the dubious subheading 'clink clink fancy a drink'.
The 'exquisite selection' included Nicholson's 'Pale Ale', Leeds Brewery 'Pale', Rudgate 'Ruby Mild' and Yardsman ‘TARA’.  I picked the Yardsman beer as it had a great micro pump clip and had travelled all the way across the Irish Sea from Belfast to be here.

The Scarbrough has a very typically 'Nicholson's interior - a chain that do have a remarkable number of impressive historical pubs.  I sat drinking my ale between the business folk on the lunchtime coffees and tourists drawn in by the tiling, hanging baskets and trad pub grub.


For the next port of call I made my way through the tunnel under the train lines and across the River Aire.

Adelphi (3 - 5 Hunslet Road, Leeds, LS10 1JQ - web)
The Adelphi was built in 1901 by local architect Thomas Winn as a flagship pub for the nearby Tetleys Brewery (pictured at the top of this post. The majority of which is now a building site, creating more hip inner-city hi-rise apartments).

The central bar has counters serving a couple of rooms, but the most obvious place to head to is the servery on the corridor where you can peruse the pump clips.  Leeds 'Pale', Timothy Taylor 'Landlord', Tetley cask, and Signal 'Absolutely Fuggled'.  Ever the 'ticker' I picked the one I hadn't heard of and was disappointed. Should have just had the Tetley.

I misheard the bar staff and handed over £2.20 in coins for a half, which was met by a rather aggressive "I said £2.70!" 
That seemed a pretty hefty price for a standard 4% cask bitter.

But the magnificent surroundings of the Adelphi make up for the price tag.
Lots of etched glass, terrazzo flooring, comfy leather cushioned bench seating, a wall of record sleeves and band pictures of local acts in the back room.
I eventually picked a spot in the front Smoke Room No.2, with mahogany hues and tiled fireplace; tables somewhat over-crowded with candle, condiments, flowers and menus. 

Leaving the Adelphi, I strode out on an unappealing walk along the busy Black Bull Lane and Hunslet Road. 
I was on my way to a...

Heritage Pub Ticking Fail...

Yep, the Garden Gate looked fantastic but the gate was well and truly bolted shut.

Google said 12-11.
WhatPub had a blank space in the opening hours section.
Twitter said 'Merry Christmas 2015'.

I haven't worked out if the pub is still open or not.  I decided I wasn't going to make the trek again in the speculative chance that it may be open later in the evening.
So...back to the centre it was, then a 1.7 mile walk out west to the Cardigan Arms. 

Thankfully open.  Although I spent so long on the other side of the stupidly busy road trying to take a picture without cars in it that I risked them calling last orders.
I gave up in the end...

Cardigan Arms (364 Kirkstall Road, Burley, Leeds, LS4 2HQ - web)
Just like the Adelphi, this is another of architect Thomas Winn's pubs, constructed between 1893-95.
It's an impressive multi-roomer.  I turned left through the front door into the busy public bar and ordered a Thornbridge / Turning Point collaboration ‘Lowline’ mini-milk stout.
Then took this on a tour - take the other door from the entrance and you're in a lobby, the other side of the bar counter offering a further choice of ales, a staircase leading to the first floor, and three doorways leading off to lounges of different sizes.

 

With the light fading, I hopped aboard a bus to take me back to the city centre.
I was planning to call it a night.  But the Duck & Drake was on my route and was tempting me to pop in for 'just the one'.

The Duck & Drake isn't on the Heritage Pub list, despite the J.Duckett & Son urinals...

Duck & Drake (43 Kirkgate, Leeds, LS2 7DR - web)
This is a two-roomer, the bar situated in the middle with counters on either side.
I poked my head through the left-hand door to find musical equipment spread across the floor and hairy blokes setting up foot pedals and tripping over cables.  So instead I entered through the right-hand door, ordered a Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' and sat on the bench seating next to a bloke giving regular updates on the football scores. 

I had a glimpse online of who the hairy folk were and discovered three bands from Seattle were playing for free at 9pm. For Free!!!
And so it was that my quick nightcap turned into a couple more and a departure after 11pm.

Fluffy Machine - a bit of 90's grunge, a bit of pop-punk, a bit of Wayne's World, and a lot of fun

I enjoyed watching all three of the acts and discovering a more interesting choice of beer in this side of the pub, including some welcome dark ales.
A great end to a long and varied day ambling around Leeds.
Right, lets get a bit of sleep and then tackle the taprooms.