Pig & Pickle, Heavitree, Exeter

Busy micropub on Heavitree's main street. Inside, there are red walls lined with many pictures, a skateboard and a couple of guitars. A mirror on the rear wall tries to give the impression of more space. It has a tiled floor. The bar features an old Heavitree Post Office sign above it and on our visit, a CD player was positioned at the end of the bar, where customers were invited to put their names on a list to be able to play their own CD. Although, seemingly only one track was allowed at a time. Whether this is a permanent feature or not, I'm not sure. It may just have been something they do every Thursday evening. For some reason, there were a few animal skulls scattered around too. With seating at a premium, we sat inside next to the windows where there is a drinking shelf. There is also one on the outside. Three handpulls on the bar were stocking Branscombe Golden Fiddle & Summa This, along with Pulpt Level (a cider). There are more craft beers though - Bristol Beer Factory Paint It Trap & Milk Stout, Woodshedding Twigz & St Ives Alba. The fizzy cider was Sandford Orchards Devon Dry. All drinks (including bottles) were listed on a blackboard on the wall opposite the bar. Whilst food is not served, there were a number of pizza menus on tables to order in. With people playing their own music (I didn't recognise any of it), there was quite a lively atmosphere in here. It was certainly the better of the 2 Heavitree pubs we visited.

Stuck out in the Eastern suburb of Heavitree, this is a simple shop converted micropub with a decent sized single rectangular room layout. There are large shop-style windows to the front with the pub’s logo on them, a nicely tiled floor and half panelled walls with red upper sections. The bar is down the right-hand wall and has a decent wood panel counter that looks like it has been salvaged from another pub, plus a great ‘village store’ style bar back with all sorts of bottled drinks and various snacks displayed across shelves with individual price labels. A small pump clip collection is tentatively growing along the bar back and there’s an old Post Office sign here too, as well as a couple of post office van dinky toys on the bar counter, suggesting that this place was once the local Post Office branch. Hard backed fixed benches run down the left and rear walls with low metal stools in support, so it’s not exactly the comfiest pub furniture you’re going to find, although the benches do at least have a load of scatter cushions on them to soften the blow. A large plain mirror dominates the rear wall whilst the left side of the room has a fun collection of photos of famous people drinking beer plus a couple of guitars and the obligatory beer boards. Drinking ledge with high stools offers the only alternative seating, under the front window, and a few books have been stacked on the window sill. The gents toilets have an old Heavitree Post Office sign crammed into them, furthering the theory that this was once the local branch, and the passage leading to loos has been papered with old maps and charts. The pub will forever remain in my memory for the razy avant garde punk/noise rock soundtrack that played throughout my stay - I was one of only two customers on a quiet Saturday afternoon, so the barman was clearly playing stuff that he enjoyed, and it was quite a wild ride. Two of the three handpulls were operational, offering Red Rock Pale Ale and Hunts Wobbler. I took the former, for £4.00 a pint, and thought it was a mediocre beer in good condition. Six craft keg taps from local breweries such as Stanway, TQ Beer and Hunts, rounded out a pretty good range of Devon beers. The landlord seemed a bit grumpy and I overheard him complaining about a bunch of beer-ticker types who had been in earlier in the day, which didn’t exactly make me feel very welcome. This is a decent enough micropub that is worth seeking out if you want to find a decent selection of beers from local microbrewers all under one roof. It had a few faults, such as the surly service and uncomfortable seating, but also plenty of plus points, including the post office themed decor and wild soundtrack, so mileage may vary depending upon your tolerance for such things. Just about merits the journey out of the city centre to check it out.