The City Arms, Wells

Certainly one of the most visually striking pubs I’ve come across, a curved corner building looking like the base of a castle turret, painted a somewhat eye-catching salmon pink – apparently this used to function as the city’s gaol 200 years ago. Enter through a pleasant flagstone courtyard to an interior that has been fairly brutally modernised and lacks any real charm. Three ales over four pumps, all of which were bitters (sigh) though my half of Dartmoor Jail was reasonable, if perhaps not cellared long enough for full flavour (NBSS 3), served-up by a cheerful mature barmaid. Worth a look for the first time visitor to Wells but I doubt I’d see the need to revisit unless the day was sunny and the courtyard inviting. 6.5

Well described by PSM, below, this old town pub is entered through the courtyard which was full of drinkers and smokers. Once inside though there was plenty of space to sit and enjoy the table service. The staff were pleasant and helpful, the other inside drinkers mainly civilised. Three ales on draft were Potholer, Tribute and Glastonbury’s Hedge Monkey, all in excellent condition. This was a really enjoyable visit and one I’m keen to repeat, hopefully to try the food next time.

This is a pleasant city centre pub at the far end of the High Street, with a smart interior split across two wings and a convivial drinker’s atmosphere in contrast to many of the city’s more food-led establishments. You enter via a very nice little front courtyard which sits between the pub’s two halves and offers some decent garden furniture amongst plenty of greenery. The entrance is to the rear right of the courtyard and brings you into a fairly plush seating area with tables of various sizes down both sides of the room served by high stools and standard chairs. Walls are half panelled with plain uppers and as you move towards the rear, you eventually reach the bar area, with a short servery along the rear wall sporting the same tongue and groove panelling on its counter front as well as a modern bar back, part of which is exposed brickwork. To the left of the bar is a small lounge area with bare brick on the lower half of the wall and more of the same tongue and groove panels above. Sofa and tub chair seating has been used to fill this space and there was a TV screen on one wall which was switched off in favour of pop tunes played in the background. A connecting passageway from here leads past the toilets and on into the bare boarded left-hand wing of the pub – a large seating area which runs back towards the street and offers a mix of basic seating to the front and comfier sofas to the rear. There were quite a few customers in when I visited a couple of hours before closing on a mid-week evening, including one or two children, which I was a little surprised at. A friendly barmaid took my contact details at the bar and then came over to take my order once I’d chosen a seat. They had managed to get four ales on the bar, giving me an interesting choice between Cheddar Ales Potholer, Wild Beer Bibble, St Austell Tribute and Glastonbury Love Monkey. Having enjoyed a good pint from Cheddar Ales earlier in the day, I decided to try the Potholer, which was in good condition but not half as tasty as the Crown & Glory I’d enjoyed elsewhere. I really liked the feel of this place, which struck me as a far better bet for the ale drinker than many of the city’s more prominent pubs. There was a good range of mostly local ales on the bar, friendly service, comfortable seating and a good wet-led atmosphere which all combined to make this a very pleasant stop-off.