Exeter Arms, Derby

Multi roomed eating pub run by the Dancing Duck brewery. The main bar and counter are to the right when entering from the side door, it has a covered patio/beer garden at the rear. Seven pulls, three from Dancing Duck, a cider and three guests; today from Thornbridge, Little and Carlsberg-Britvic Pedigree which was clipped but which wasn’t on, quality of our drinks was fine. One room is a small shrine to punk band Anti Pasti. The gaff suffers from pervasive food smells and reserved tables, the reservation details being written on empty wine bottles! Nothing objectionable in the staff or customers so it’s ok for a quick pint on a crawl.

The Exeter Arms has a quirky snug room with seating and a fireplace behind a waist high panelled wall to the left of the entrance. To the right the bar counter faces towards the rear where raised seating runs up the right to a tile floored seating area with exposed brick walls at the rear. The bar counter supports premium keg and seven hand pumps that were drawing Dancing Duck’s Ay Up, 22 and Dark Drake alongside Thornbridge’s Hacksaw, Pedigree, Little Brewing’s TAJ and Snails Bank Mango Cider. Having loved the Dark Drake in an earlier pub I decided to have a pint of it here, top-drawer. This is a decent pub with very friendly staff, I’ll certainly be returning.

Official site of Exeter Arms - www.exeterarms.co.uk

Official site of Exeter Arms - www.exeterarms.co.uk

The Exeter is the multi-roomed home of Dancing Duck Brewery. It may not look much from the outside, but it's a veritable ale house inside, with 7 pumps on the bar serving up their own beer, plus guests from the likes of Thornbridge. Beavertown have a dual-headed keg font, with further taps for Tiny Rebel and Thornbridge. It's worth a bit of a wander inside to get a feel of the place and, while moderately busy early on a Friday afternoon, there were seats to be had in the various nooks and crannies. Glad I came: my favourite of the small selection of the city's pubs that I visited.