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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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The Fat Pig, Exeter
Exeter
EX1 1BL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Fat Pig
A decent back street boozer with a relaxed atmosphere and good beer. We called in on a Friday Eve and there were two beers on out of the 3 handpumps. The two choices were Hanlons Mister Lightside and Powderkeg Hangtime. Both were excellent, still trying to work out why they have a table football game plonked in the middle of the lounge area.
On 6th October 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3645 recommendations about 3645 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Fat Pig
Corner pub in a quiet backstreet of Exeter city centre. It's located on a bit of a slope. So, there are 2 rooms on different levels. The upper room has an attractive wooden bar and bare boards. There are a few pot plants around to give a kind of rustic feel, but there is a table football table occupying the centre of the room.
There are 3 handpulls. 2 were clipped with Utopian British Pale Ale & Powderkeg Hangtime. The third one was unclipped. Craft beers were Salcombe Pale Ale & Meantime Cutty Haze IPA. Ciders were Annings Mixed Berries & Sandford Orchards Devon Red.
Whilst waiting to be served, there was a rather annoying bloke stood next to me, who just couldn't stand still and I had to take avoiding action to ensure he didn't bump into me. The barmaid was quite friendly and apologised for the wait to be served. When another guy, who I took to be the landlord, appeared and asked her if she needed any help, she indicated that I was waiting. Instead he said that he would go the other side of the bar to talk to a friend instead, who happened to be the bloke who couldn't stand still. It didn't take long before the barmaid was able to serve me, but I found the landlord's behaviour quite ignorant and unprofessional. He then proceeded to block up the entire room by playing table football with the friend.
Quite a nice pub and my Hangtime was very nice when I eventually got it. Just a shame that service was lacking.
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 Fat Pig
This is a smart two room pub down a quiet city centre backstreet, with a higher quality interior than your average craft beer bar. You enter a lively front bar with bare boards, plain painted walls and the bar down the right-hand wall. A good amount of bench and chair seating is available under the front windows, through the centre of the room and in a recess to the rear right. The bar has a modern counter and bar back but still manages to fit in nicely with the pub’s overall aesthetic. A smart fireplace stands to the right, with an unusual bottle collection on its mantle, whilst the rest of the room is full of lots of cool art and a few bits of breweriana. A set of steps past the end of the bar lead down into a cosy tile floor seating area with exposed brick walls, hard backed benches along the far left wall, and some standard tables and chairs elsewhere. Walls are decorated with plain mirrors, modern art prints and pop culture images whilst shelves hold potted plants, curio bottles and a few smaller pictures. Bi-fold doors to the front suggest the room may open out to the pavement in the summer, but there’s very limited pavement space outside, so not a great deal of room for overspill. A TV screen in the front left corner remained turned off, with a nice retro soundtrack just about audible over the general hubbub of a good Friday night turnout. A trip to the gents toilets was memorable for the unbearably cramped layout - I’m glad I was the only punter in there at the time!
There were just two cask beers available on this visit, and one of those sputtered its last when I ordered it, leaving a sole option of Powderkeg Idler, which was a pretty good drop. The expired ale was quickly replaced with Crossed Anchors Big Red Ale and there was a good keg selection and plenty of bottles and cans to choose from.
This felt like quite a cool craft beer bar, aimed perhaps a little more at students than the typical hipster crowd, and benefitting from cosy, comfortable environs and some decent beer. I’d picked this out as a potential highlight for my time in Exeter, and whilst it didn’t quite live up to those expectations, it is still well worth a look if you’re crawling around the city centre.
On 16th April 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Fat Pig
Dropped in as I enjoyed myself last time. Sadly it was a pear-shaped visit. Three of their own ales on plus one of theirs on keg, a stout. A real mixed bag - (NBSS 3, 2, 1) – with one in particular tasting more like mouthwash than ale. Somehow they’d also made a mess of their keg stout which is pretty impressive feat, it tasted revolting. A real let-down. Off-hand service at the bar as well. Cut my losses and walked out well before time. Something’s gone very wrong here.
December 2016
Fairly small brewpub down a grotty side alley and feels like a proper find when you get there. Inside is a square main bar with a small spur leading off. Wood flooring, khaki green colourings and dried hops everywhere. Plus of course the inevitable porcine ephemera. Four Fat Pig ales on and my Ham 69 was in pretty good shape. Also a cider and Sloe Gin. A fairly young middle class clientele and a nice warm ambience within. Monday quiz advertised. Overall it’s a pretty good place and I’d prioritise it over a number of others in the city centre. Rated 8
On 21st April 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Paris Hilton left this review about The Fat Pig
This back street brew pub is certainly worth a visit
On 15th November 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 78 recommendations about 62 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Fat Pig
Tucked away just off Fore Street down an uninviting alleyway covered in graffiti, this street corner pub is a combined pub, brewery and smokehouse and was a most pleasant and unexpected find.
It’s a single room bar and has a sanded wooden floor with a couple of rugs thrown down, cream wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and khaki green paintwork elsewhere. A small tiled fire-place was off to one side and there were plenty of hops draped around the ceiling and windows as well as a number of flags. A couple of welly boots on the bar had been pressed in to service and flower vases and contained a colourful display of carnations and sunflowers. There were various pig related artefacts around such as a door stop and other ornaments.
The brewery is apparently housed in the pub’s cellar and they brew beer both for here and a sister pub. Tasting notes on the table detailed many of the brews and said that there was much experimentation around different hops, brew temperatures and such like. A menu chalked up on the board featured many dishes from the smoke house such as ribs, jumbo prawns, etc., and these were mostly priced in the £10 - £15 price range.
As might be expected, all the beers were their own and on this occasion were Ham 69, John Street Ale and Mo Jo Hay. Ciders were Stowford Press and Rusty Pig. There were also dozens of whisky bottles lined up behind the bar if that’s more your thing. All in all I really liked this pub and would suggest it is well worth wandering off the beaten track to track down.
On 4th August 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2060 recommendations about 1962 pubs]