Castle Inn, Totnes

Sorry, didn’t get this place. Fairly standard one bar pub but with a largeish outside high walled courtyard out the back. It opened at 10.00AM in the morning so seemed to be the first point of refuge for the professional drinkers of Totnes. But what I didn’t get was that this blue fronted pub, of an evening it’s lit internally by dull red lighting which, on approach, makes you think you’ve stepped through a space and time portal to emerge in a certain street off Damm square in Amsterdam or the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Unfortunately this illusion of edginess is quickly burst when you enter to find the same plain pub and same boring choice of Directors and Courage best. Packed out with youngsters though, especially the rear courtyard, so perhaps red fairly lights have some mystical attraction for the Totnes youth. But they don’t for me and I couldn’t wait to leave to find the better pubs at the top of The Narrows.