The Fat Pig, Exeter

A decent back street boozer with a relaxed atmosphere and good beer. We called in on a Friday Eve and there were two beers on out of the 3 handpumps. The two choices were Hanlons Mister Lightside and Powderkeg Hangtime. Both were excellent, still trying to work out why they have a table football game plonked in the middle of the lounge area.

Corner pub in a quiet backstreet of Exeter city centre. It's located on a bit of a slope. So, there are 2 rooms on different levels. The upper room has an attractive wooden bar and bare boards. There are a few pot plants around to give a kind of rustic feel, but there is a table football table occupying the centre of the room. There are 3 handpulls. 2 were clipped with Utopian British Pale Ale & Powderkeg Hangtime. The third one was unclipped. Craft beers were Salcombe Pale Ale & Meantime Cutty Haze IPA. Ciders were Annings Mixed Berries & Sandford Orchards Devon Red. Whilst waiting to be served, there was a rather annoying bloke stood next to me, who just couldn't stand still and I had to take avoiding action to ensure he didn't bump into me. The barmaid was quite friendly and apologised for the wait to be served. When another guy, who I took to be the landlord, appeared and asked her if she needed any help, she indicated that I was waiting. Instead he said that he would go the other side of the bar to talk to a friend instead, who happened to be the bloke who couldn't stand still. It didn't take long before the barmaid was able to serve me, but I found the landlord's behaviour quite ignorant and unprofessional. He then proceeded to block up the entire room by playing table football with the friend. Quite a nice pub and my Hangtime was very nice when I eventually got it. Just a shame that service was lacking.

This is a smart two room pub down a quiet city centre backstreet, with a higher quality interior than your average craft beer bar. You enter a lively front bar with bare boards, plain painted walls and the bar down the right-hand wall. A good amount of bench and chair seating is available under the front windows, through the centre of the room and in a recess to the rear right. The bar has a modern counter and bar back but still manages to fit in nicely with the pub’s overall aesthetic. A smart fireplace stands to the right, with an unusual bottle collection on its mantle, whilst the rest of the room is full of lots of cool art and a few bits of breweriana. A set of steps past the end of the bar lead down into a cosy tile floor seating area with exposed brick walls, hard backed benches along the far left wall, and some standard tables and chairs elsewhere. Walls are decorated with plain mirrors, modern art prints and pop culture images whilst shelves hold potted plants, curio bottles and a few smaller pictures. Bi-fold doors to the front suggest the room may open out to the pavement in the summer, but there’s very limited pavement space outside, so not a great deal of room for overspill. A TV screen in the front left corner remained turned off, with a nice retro soundtrack just about audible over the general hubbub of a good Friday night turnout. A trip to the gents toilets was memorable for the unbearably cramped layout - I’m glad I was the only punter in there at the time! There were just two cask beers available on this visit, and one of those sputtered its last when I ordered it, leaving a sole option of Powderkeg Idler, which was a pretty good drop. The expired ale was quickly replaced with Crossed Anchors Big Red Ale and there was a good keg selection and plenty of bottles and cans to choose from. This felt like quite a cool craft beer bar, aimed perhaps a little more at students than the typical hipster crowd, and benefitting from cosy, comfortable environs and some decent beer. I’d picked this out as a potential highlight for my time in Exeter, and whilst it didn’t quite live up to those expectations, it is still well worth a look if you’re crawling around the city centre.

This back street brew pub is certainly worth a visit

Official site of The Fat Pig - www.fatpig-exeter.co.uk