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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
The Blue Ball Inn, Exeter
Clyst St. Mary
Postal town: Exeter
EX2 7JL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Blue Ball Inn
Situated in front of the Exeter Chiefs rugby stadium (Sandy Park), this is a large thatched pub with a pleasant garden to the left-hand side. The car park is on the other side of the pub. Inside, the front room has bare boards, whilst most tables were laid out for dining on our Thursday afternoon visit. However, we didn't see anybody eating and there were plenty of drinkers around. The interior decoration is modern. Free wifi is available.
I'm not sure if this is a St Austell Brewery pub or not, but the regular ales are Tribute & Proper Job. The guest beer was also from St Austell - Super Smashbro. After ordering the Super Smashbro (which seemed a little past its best), I noticed a small board on the bar listing the real ciders. Sandford Orchards Devon Red had been on handpull, but others listed were Norcott's Cherry Cider. Sandford Orchards The General, Hunt's Hazy Dazy, Kent Cider Company Toffee Apple Cider & Thistly Cross Whisky Cask. On draught, Harbour Arctic Sky was the most adventurous option, whilst keg cider options were Thatcher's Gold & Juicy Apple.
The CAMRA website indicates that a discount is offered for CAMRA members. However, when I enquired about it on my second round, none of the bar staff had ever heard of CAMRA!
On 11th August 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Blue Ball Inn
This is a fairly large dining pub in a small village close to the M5 and Exeter Rugby stadium, making it an obvious destination for fans wanting a pre-match pint and meal. The remote location is perhaps best accessed by car, although I was able to walk here in about 20 minutes from Newcourt station. The pub has a spacious, modern, but rather corporate feeling interior with an L-shaped layout and a long servery following the same shape. Plenty of tables and chairs fill the space through both arms of the room, mostly laid in readiness for diners when I turned up shortly after opening. The room is bare boarded with a bland gastro colour scheme and minimal decor, mainly of the corporate kind. Bar has a decent modern counter and simple bar back, with the corner of the bar positioned opposite the entrance. Despite arriving so early in the day, I was advised that I couldn’t sit inside as all the tables were booked, so I had to take my pint out to the very windy beer garden, where plenty of picnic tables have been set out across a part grass, part gravel space to the side of the pub. The gravel section is beneath a huge awning and fronts an outdoor bar, whilst a couple of tables can be found in little huts to the rear. Colourful planters and a couple of old beer barrels help give the garden a nice feel, but I was freezing sitting out here on a bright afternoon due to the biting wind. A gazebo out in the back garden was packed with what seemed to be a private function and quiet background music plinked away in the background inside the pub.
This is a St Austell pub, so no major surprises on the bar, where the cask pumps offered St Austell Proper Job (£4.85 a pint) and Tribute plus Dartmoor Jail Ale and a real cider. The staff were pretty brusque, making it very clear that as a drinker, I wasn’t really welcome. The Proper Job was at least in good condition, but I was cursing the fact that I had to while away the best part of an hour before setting off for my train, as I was chilled to the bone sitting in the garden.
This seemed like a decent enough pub to come for a meal or a pre-match pint, but on a busy Saturday lunchtime, it was a bit of a nightmare, with gruff staff, a simple beer selection and no indoor seating combining to make this memorable for mostly the wrong reasons. It serves its purpose well, but I wouldn’t make the effort to trek out here again.
On 17th April 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Blue Ball Inn
Large thatched pub with a strong emphasis on food but a good and welcoming bar area also. Beers seemed to be mainly from St Austell and in fine condition. Only stopped off briefly but worth investigating properly; very handy for M5 junction.
On 18th July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3641 recommendations about 3576 pubs]