The First & Last Inn, Exmouth

Not much to look at outside, to the extent the area and look is unwelcoming. Better inside, lower bar and sports area t the rear and courtyard outdoor space. Real ale

This place came to my attention as the birthplace of the Checkstone Brewery in 2016, although they have seemingly now moved to a new premises, leaving behind a spacious, sports-led pub with an opened out interior across split levels. You enter the pub through a courtyard seating area with plenty of picnic benches but not that much of interest to look at, before emerging into a large, open plan, bare boarded room with the bar directly opposite the entrance and sizable seating areas to either side. The servery is along the rear wall and has a very plain counter front and uninteresting bar back with a couple of plain mirrors and a few miniature bottles. The space opposite is relatively open, with a row of pillars through the middle and high tables and stools in between each. A drinking ledge on the opposite wall had one of several TV screens above it, showing live football, whilst over to the left of the bar, there is a lower carpeted space which is very much empty except for three tables around the perimeter and a stage in the far corner, which was being set up for live music. There is one large pillar in the middle of this part of the room, which might impede your view of the live music, but a few folk were arriving in anticipation of the evening’s entertainment and I could imagine it working well as a decent venue. To the right of the bar is a large raised area with comfy lounge furniture to the front and a pool table and dartboard to the rear. Any background music that might have normally been playing, had been turned off in favour of the Cup Final commentary which was playing to a small interested crowd, whilst most other punters were content just playing pool. I’d hoped to find some Checkstone ales on the bar, especially having seen the large brewpub sign outside, but there was none to be found, with the handpulls instead dispensing Otter Ale, Teignworthy Neap Tide and Dartmoor Jail Ale plus a real cider and two unused pumps. I took a half of the Neap Tide, which was a decent enough drop, served to me by a rather disinterested barman, and watched a bit of the football whilst chatting to some of the friendly locals. I wonder if this place has passed its prime as a destination for ale drinkers, now that the brewery isn’t featured so much, or whether I just caught it at a bad time, with the Cup Final dominating proceedings and no Checkstone beer in sight. It seems like a decent enough place with a few decent beers to go at, but the all-conquering TV screens and live music may be off-putting to some.

Two Brew pubs in a single town. This is home to Checkstone Brewery. We picked a right night to come in.... 7pm and its barbara's 60th in the bottom area - the place is going mental to very loud 50s and 60s music and not all the people jiving could have been guests. No one goes to a party in walking boots, do they? Upstairs was dominated by people watching the end of the Liverpool Arsenal game. We couldn't get a table and had to bar hang - which provided plenty of time to see what was on offer. I went for an Xmas Ale called Warm Yer Cockles and it was excellent. The bar was a perfect place to people watch. And boy, were there some interesting people to watch. GBG 2022 entry and I loved it.

A large sports-oriented pub with numerous TV screens, darts and pool in one large room on a couple of levels. There are some interesting old aerial photos round the walls, while the yard through the entrance archway is tabled for outdoor drinking. Ales on were Otter, Dartmoor Jail Ale and Teignworthy Neap Tide in good condition. The pub is also home to the Checkstones Brewery, however the only offering visible from them was a craft keg which had sold out the previous night.

Looks alright from the outside but the interior is a big, deep barn with a sports TV section in the rear extension (up a couple of steps), which also contained a pool table and two dart boards. Table football also spotted. This area also had many squashy sofas and a couple of hefty hand-fashioned tree trunk tables that pleased Mrs Quinno and an interesting 3D chrome seagull wall mounting which I wanted to take home. Ambience was provided by music, the volume and style of which was ready for the Friday night piss-artists who looked set to descend. GBG listed, there was a good ale selection; some regular standards plus a couple of interesting (local, I think) ones. I tried Neap Tide (good) and Golden Seahawk (mediocre) which were both on stillage at the bar. Nice tiled bogs, somewhat spoilt by the minging ceiling. 7 for effort, 5 for the venue; it tries to straddle two horses but doesn’t really work. Still, worth popping in to see what ale is on if you’re that way inclined.