The Exmouth Arms, Cheltenham

I kind of guessed that this was a former hardened drinkers pub which has been modernised in recent times to bring it up to keeping with the rest of this section of Bath road and the surrounding area. I will respect Helen’s comment below as she obviously has more knowledge of the pub than me, but I found the interior all a bit bland and samey that you find with these makeovers. E.g. clean wooden solid oak floors, liberal use of Farrow & Ball pastel shades, a large section with wooden chairs and tables primarily for dining and then a lounge drinking section that had large sofa’s and modern art work on the walls, chose by somebody that likes to have a laughing Mick Jagger staring at you while you socialise. As Helen rightly says, at least it means it’s still open and functioning as a pub, albeit a far cry from the days when it was a Whitbred house before being taken over by Arkells in 1991. And therein lays one of the saving graces for this place for me in that the spotless wooden bar top supports four real ales which were 2B, 3B and Moonlight from Arkells and Donningtons Gold. And the second saving grace is a very nice outside decking area and larger grassed drinking area stretching down Bath Road beyond. And on this beautiful weather bank holiday weekend it was a very pleasant spot to consume a couple of well-kept Arkells Ales.

Exmouth Arms official site with menus and event details - theexmouth.co.uk

Exmouth Arms official site with menus and event details - theexmouth.co.uk

Exmouth Arms page at the Arkells site - www.arkells.com

Exmouth Arms page at the Arkells site - www.arkells.com