The Abbey Inn, Buckfast, Buckfastleigh

This is a lovely 18th century quarry house situated in an idyllic spot on the banks of the river Dart, it is now a 9 room hotel/pub owned by the St Austell Brewery. The building appears to have two storeys when viewed from the main road but from the river it can be seen to have three levels as it is built into the bank. The pub part of the building is entered from the river side terrace which is at the bottom of a path from the car park on the left of the hotel. The pub has two rooms and if viewed from the river side there is a single storey extension containing a cosy public bar on the right and a larger dining lounge in the main building on the left, the main entrance from the terrace leads into the public bar which has a small dark wood bar counter across the back of the room, half wood panel walls, a couple of old wood settles opposite the counter, above the counter and on the walls were a dozen Royal Navy ships pennant plaques and a couple of old paintings. In the wall dividing the two rooms is an ornate double sided fire place with nice cast iron stove, brass coal scuttle, pokers and toasting forks. In the back left corner of the public bar is a doorway through to the dining lounge, the lounge has some classy full wood panel walls and a large inglenook fire place in the left hand stone wall. The paved terrace has several picnic tables with nice views down the river to the old stone road bridge. Regular ales are currently St Austell Tribute and Proper job with a single changing guest beer also from St Austell which was Trelawny on this occasion (GBG 2012 and Cask Marque). The Tribute and Trelawny were both in excellent condition in my opinion. A great pub with a pleasing traditional décor and despite also being a hotel there was a good atmosphere for us to have a relaxing drink in. I was a tiny bit disappointed that the guest beer was also from St Austell, I always feel it is a missed opportunity by the large pub owning breweries to not have an offering from an unusual local micro brewery to add a bit of interest. The terrace is delightful in the warmer months with flower boxes on the railings and the river gently slipping by. I enjoyed our all too brief visit, I would like to try the food when I’m in the area next time.

Abbey Inn pages at the St Austell brewery site - www.staustellbrewery.co.uk

Abbey Inn pages at the St Austell brewery site - www.staustellbrewery.co.uk

Single bar St Austall pub with large dining rooms to the side. When I visited the new landlords had only recently taken over and things were a bit up and down. The food was good and staff friendly. Beers were Tribute, Proper Job and another St Austall unsurprisingly, I went for the Proper Job. This always seems well regarded as a beer and the pint I had here was in excellent condition, but I'm not sure the beer itself warrants all the awards.