Gipsy Moth, Plymouth

The Gipsy Moth has a bar counter along the left wall with a glass topped resin counter top made of two pence pieces. In amongst the standard and premium keg are two banks of three hand pumps that were drawing Prescott Brewery’s Chequered Flag, Dartmoor’s Jail Ale, Exmoor Ales’ Gold and Salcombe’s Seahorse alongside Weston’s Old Rosie and Thatcher’s Stan’s Cheddar Valley ciders. The seating is split level with a raised area in a front window and another at the rear that sits above a sunken seating area. The barmaid was very friendly, as was the nervous new starter who had obviously not poured many pints before my Seahorse. This isn’t the biggest pub so around twenty people made it feel comfortably busy. I didn’t spot any televisions, but some background music played. I really liked it in here and would certainly make the effort to visit again.

Whatspub has it listed as a 10am opener. Its midday. Stones thrown from the Seafront and the hoe. Split over three levels with a nautical theme. I was rather hoping that I could get on the little terrace above the extension over the front by this is part of the B&B room and not open to punters. If you are staying, I would ask for this room on booking. A GBG 2021 entry, with three cask on. The Bays Brewery Topsail was in great condition, even when first pour of the day. Functionaly, smart, clean pub with decent beer.

A pleasant looking pub just opposite the Hoe gardens, it looked quite inviting from the outside and has presumably had some refurbishment recently although we did think that it perhaps had something of a gastro-pub look about it. Internally though it’s more traditional with something of a rustic, and perhaps slightly nautical feel to it and split over a couple of different levels. The main bar area had unusual wooden planks on the floor, quite short and with a couple of brass screws at arch end, they were perhaps all part of the nautical feel. Elsewhere there was carpet on the floor and some weathered pale blue boards on the walls as well as deep red paintwork. The ceiling too was boarded and a rolled up projector screen was off to one side with various sporting fixtures advertised on notices. Wooden balustrade separated the different areas, some of which included thick ship’s rope. The menu offered a reasonable looking selection of pub grub dishes such as ham egg & chips, sausage & mash, fish & chips, lasagne, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £8 - £10 mark. In addition to this there were also a dozen or so burger options. I opted for the chicken topped with cheese and smothered in a barbecue sauce and whilst this was a generous enough portion the chicken was a little dry and across the table the fish and chips looked promising enough but was a little on the greasy side. Beers on tap were Hunter’s Devon Dreamer and Tavy Ideal Pale Ale. There seems to be a little more focus on ciders here though, with the line-up on my visit including Thatcher’s Gold, Strongbow Cloudy Apple and Orchard Pig Philosopher. I initially opted for my default choice of Gold, but the friendly barman suggested the Philosopher and offered me a sample, and I’m glad he did, it was a great pint. He also told me about the other guest ciders that were planned. All in all I thought this was a decent enough pub for a pint, although the food certainly wasn’t anything special.