The Fishermans Arms, Plymouth

It took a bit of walking to find the Fisherman’s Arms, up the steps of Castle Street and then through a housing block and up another set of stairs to the rear of the pub. I don’t think I took the scenic route! Outside the pub on a thin path are some small café type tables and chairs. Inside the L-shaped pub a staple shaped bar faces the entrance and to the left is some seating with more seating on a raised area beyond. To the right is more seating, that was set for dining, and at the right rear is another raised seating area. The bar supports three handpumps that were drawing Salcombe’s Shingle Bay, Dartmoor’s Dragon’s Breath and Summerskills Brewery’s Famous Mr Jones, which is apparently brewed for this pub. There are also ten premium keg fonts on the back bar. I liked it in here because it was easy to settle, which was down to the friendly staff. No problem with returning for another pint or two.

Originally The Duke of Wellington, this is an excellent pub offering just about everything. It’s close to the sea front but just tucked away enough in the surrounding housing to be free from grockles, so it has a great local feel. Superb beers and good home-cooked food, and the pleasant bar staff make you feel instantly welcome. On tap were Yellowhammer plus two other ales in perfect condition, totally justifying the GBG entries. Yorkshire puddings on the bar left over from lunchtime made for a nice bonus. The food is very good and fairly priced. Dogs are made very welcome and even catered for if you want to feed them while you enjoy a pint. This is definitely on my itinerary for future visits to Guz.

2nd GBG Tick and pub of the evening. Location isn't much to shout about - surrounded by 1960's council flat properties, but the pub is charming inside. Standout attraction was the landlady who came out an engaged in a lengthy chat with three strangers to make them feel welcome. Beer was in good nick, from Summerskills. Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2MsN5nm

Close to marina & estuary but also just inside a housing estate area making it a strange location, an end of street local. On a number of split levels due to the hill it a bizarre, dark atmosphere, with part using dimmed lighting and French boudoir furniture. 3 real ales but slightly warm

A traditional looking pub at the end of a dead end residential street, it’s not likely to get much in the way of passing trade, but is nonetheless only a couple of minutes walk from the popular harbour front area and is well worth taking the trouble to track down. Internally it’s an L-shaped pub split over a couple of levels, with the long leg of the “L” to the right perhaps being a more recent extension which looked to be primarily used for dining. Décor wise it’s fairly traditional with a wood strip floor in the main bar and carpet elsewhere. Walling is a mixture of exposed stone as well as painted plasterwork in various shades including deep blue and deep red. A cosy old snug was up a couple of steps to the left, although first impressions were that it was quite dark, with little lighting other than the candles on the tables. This had an old fire-place stacked full of logs, a shelf running around the top of the wall with a collection of miniature whisky bottles and a few beer mats tacked to the wall, although not the quantity that you see in many pubs. Other signs of a proper pub included a selection of board games on a shelf, as well as a darts board and small TV. The menu offered a decent selection of pub grub dishes such as burger, fish & chips, chicken curry and chilli con carne, and these were mostly priced at around £9 - £10. A chicken, bacon and leek puff pastry pie was really very good indeed, a generous portion, very tasty and excellent value at £9. Less successful was a prawn Thai green curry from the specials menu, which although tasty enough had very few prawns in relation to asparagus and green beans, and some of the asparagus was quite tough. They redeemed themselves with a crème brûlée and salted caramel ice cream, which was again very good. There was also a small section in the corner of the menu for any visiting canines! Beers on tap were Summerskill’s Famous Mr Jones (named after the pub dog) and Hanlon’s Yellow Hammer. A third pump appeared to have run out. Ciders meanwhile were Cornish Rattler and the excellent Otter Wildsider which was a new one on me, very good and tremendous value at £3.20 per pint. We had planned to go on and explore a few more local pubs after eating, but with such a cosy spot, friendly staff and great cider, we ended up staying the whole night.

Fairly tight pub with dimmed lighting, wood floor, red shades and those awful hipster-style filament light bulbs on a wire. A pleasant small dining area is up a couple of steps to the left. Three pumps with two ales on; Otter Winter Warmer (so-so) and Summerskill Mr Jones (good nick). On closer inspection the ‘flowers’ on the tables were those naff velvet-style ones from the 80’s (probably best consigned to the dustbin I think). Not much to offer for the more discerning pub-goer really, but decent crawl fodder.

Official site of Fishermans Arms - fishermansarms.co.uk

Official site of Fishermans Arms - fishermansarms.co.uk