Seale Arms, Dartmouth

The Seale Arms has a large U-shaped bar that faces the entrance. Seating runs along both sides of the bar down to a dartboard to the left and pool table to the right. The bar supports two handpumps that were drawing Sharp’s Doom Bar and Exeter Brewery’s Avocet, alas the latter was off. There is also a standard and premium keg selection. This pub has the sparse feel of a live music venue, but I only saw live music advertised for Saturday nights. My visit was early on a recent Thursday evening when the only customers seemed to be staff. This isn’t somewhere I’ll be returning.

This is a family run pub and B&B which was built in 1836 and first established as a pub in 1841, regardless of the pub sign it actually takes its name from a family of local land owners who virtually built the town during the 1700’s. The interior has two rooms, a large public bar at the front and a smaller snug across the back of the building. The public bar is U shaped around a central wood panel bar counter which protrudes from the back wall, the walls are half wood panel, there are two very basic fire places with log burning stoves, one in the middle of the left wall and one in the middle of the right wall. On the left of the room are some traditional pub tables with a couple of brown leather sofas in the back left corner, a dart board and a large flat screen TV on the back wall showing sporting news. The right hand side of the room has more pub furniture at the front and a pool table at the back. Both sides of the U shaped room have doors that provide access to a smaller snug area across the back of the pub which has a couple of black leather sofas and arm chairs. The pub also provides bed and breakfast with four en-suite rooms. Regular ale is currently Sharps Doom Bar with a single changing guest beer which was Skinners Betty Stogs on this occasion. Unfortunately my first choice, the Doom Bar was just on the turn but the Betty Stogs was fine. An unusual feature on the bar was Whitbread Best Bitter (on keg of course) which I did not think was brewed any more but the bar man assured me that it was genuine. I was intrigued, but not enough to try it. A decent pub that despite having some history somehow lacks character, this may be due to a recent refurbishment that has left the place a bit bare and soulless. I personally think the pub would benefit from some local photos or other furnishings to add interest and create talking points. Not a pub that I would rush back to, but I would pop in for a quick one again, especially if on a crawl around Dartmouth as there are not that many pubs in the town anyway.