Foresters Arms Hotel, Minehead

A basic, no frills boozer towards the lower end of this pleasant village, it’s largely all one open plan room internally, although segmented off in to a couple of different areas and there is also a public bar off to the left. First impressions weren’t great with a few locals taking up all the available space at the bar, but they seemed friendly enough and I just about managed to squeeze through. Décor wise it’s fairly traditional with a mixture of dark wood strip and carpet on the floor, rough white plasterwork on much of the walls and a couple of chunky black beams on the ceiling. A few old black and white pictures of the locale were dotted around. The bar counter was unusual having a number of beer barrels inset in to the front of it and a thatched roof up above. A free standing wood burning stove was off to one side and there were a couple of old leather sofas and a low wooden table opposite the bar. To the right was an area with further seating segregated by a dual aspect free standing chimney breast, while a separate room off to the right housed a pool table and darts board with a TV screen showing a sports channel. A blackboard listed a basic selection of “pub grub” dishes such as gammon & chips, steak & ale pie, burger and a number of baguettes, and these were mostly priced somewhere around the £8 mark. Beers on tap were Cotleigh IPA and Doom Bar, whilst a third pump appeared unused. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Haze and Cheddar Valley. Overall, this was a decent enough local’s pub, but not somewhere I’d make a particular point of visiting if in the area again.

Quirky old-world bar (thatched 'roof'), pool room (with parrot) and eating areas. 3 handpulls plus ciders and lager. Fairly quiet when I visited, but the few drinkers and the barmaid were friendly and the beer was fine.

OK sort of place - beers kept OK and friendly enough welcome, but not the best place to drink in the area. Average.