The Totnes Brewing Co, Totnes

Three-part operation, with the alehouse-style taproom on the right-hand side, the Library Bar off to the left and the Barrel House Ballroom music venue upstairs. Relaxed atmosphere (with backgrounds tunes to suit) on a Sunday afternoon. We found two of the four handpumps use - offering their Golden Pale (£4.50) and Shark Bait from St Austell - and a variety of craft beers on the keg taps.

According to the polite barman, the Totnes Brewing Co and the Barrel House Ballroom are separate venues, but they have the same owners and customers are free to walk between the two. Sounds like the same venue to me, but anyway… The Barrel House was closed during a recent Tuesday evening visit, the exterior suggests that it’s a live music venue. The Totnes Brewing Co was open with a handful of customers who were supping on the premium and craft keg, as well as Totnes Brewing’s own cask Summer Ale, Citra Burst and Barrel House Best that are brewed in the rear. Sandford Devon Scrumpy was on a fourth hand pump, but I opted for the Barrel House which was past it’s best, I was glad to have only ordered a half. I plotted at one of the two tables in front of the bar counter that runs across the rear where I noted a well-worn wooden floor throughout, beer shelves and stools across the front windows, a snug in the right wall and a study with more seating and a piano a bit further along the right. The toilets are upstairs in the … erm…. Barrel House. I didn’t take to this place so I don’t plan on returning.

Official site of The Totnes Brewing Co - thetotnesbrewingco.co.uk

Official site of The Totnes Brewing Co - thetotnesbrewingco.co.uk