Pilchard Press Alehouse, St. Ives

Third time of asking for the Good Beer Guide Tick and I time it right to get in..... from 4pm only, on the half a week it does open. Down a dingy alley, where you can determine how much vegetable oil a Thai restaurant gets through. We arrive bang on 4pm and as it is so small, those in the know were slightly ahead of us. Waiting to get served took a while, with one bar staff, whilst the rest of the parties played musical chairs trying for the best spots in a windowless former pilchard factory. Beers all on sillage - Dartmoor Legend the only one I had heard off. I went for the Treen Krowser, which of course lost any resemblence of a head or lacings once the initial sip was taken. Good to have some beer variety and something a little different but I never really found a "destination" pub in St Ives. Maybe I shouldn't have been too hasty with the Three Ferrets.

Up an alley off the main drag past some bins – not exactly enticing. Interior is a small atmospheric poke; bare boards, whitewashed stone walls, blue ceiling and no windows at all so the amusing wall-mounted webcam to the outside world gets a decent viewership, especially as a hoolie had blown-in on my visit. Extremely busy, I had to stand at the end of the bar as there wasn’t a spare seat in the house. GBG listed, the liquid offerings were two cask (off stillage) and three keg with a couple of ciders as well; apparently there are more ales during the summer. I decided to give both the cask a go with Treens Sunbeam (NBSS 3.5) and St Ives Meor (3) both drinking well-enough to justify the listing. Amusingly the internet went down halfway through my visit prompting matey behind the jump to chalk 'cash only' above the bar, to the consternation of a couple of grockles. I could well-imagine this place could be a great place to have an evening drink during the week in the winter.