The Stags Head, Minehead

A traditional looking pub in the heart of Dunster village, it’s basically all one open plan room although segmented in to a couple of different areas. Up a few steps at the rear was a small beer garden which was a little on the scruffy side, as well as something called a garden room which was perhaps available for private functions. Décor wise it’s quite traditional, with wood strip flooring in the left hand half which also housed the bar counter and quarry tiles to the right. There was some exposed stone walling with cream plasterwork elsewhere and wooden panelling on the lower part of the walls. A few beams on the ceiling had been covered in brown paint, and there was a brick fireplace with a pair of antlers mounted up above it, appropriate I suppose given the pub’s name. A few old black and white pictures of the locale were dotted around. A smaller room up a couple of steps at the rear had some bookcase style wallpaper in places. The menu offered a decent looking selection of “pub grub” dishes, although going on our experience I suspect it was all just bought in and reheated, which made it a little expensive. An “Ultimate” fish pie for example was tasty enough and had a very cheesy topping, but for something that they’ve presumably just popped in the oven, £14 seemed rather a lot. Beers on tap were Exmoor Ale and Otter Amber, whilst the ciders were Thatcher’s Gold and Cheddar Valley. Overall, a decent enough boozer without being anything spectacular.

Official site of The Stags Head - www.stagsheadinnexmoor.co.uk

Official site of The Stags Head - www.stagsheadinnexmoor.co.uk