The Witchball, Helston

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Witchball

Having visited the westernmost real ale pub in Great Britain last month, it was a strange coincidence that I should find myself in the southernmost British pub on my latest visit to Cornwall.

I'd never visited The Lizard before and it wasn't quite what I was expected. The village itself is a rather commercialised place, similar to a kiss-me-quick English seaside resort, with chip shops, cafes, fish stalls and restaurants. I'd somehow expected some kind of final outpost overlooking a rocky outcrop.

The Witchball doesn't seem to make much of its claim to fame. In fact, it seemed to be a fairly down-to-earth pub popular with both locals and visitors alike.

There is a small beamed bar area with little decoration and a games room containing a pool table off to one corner. Most people were sat in the outdoor area to the front of which a strange feature was the gents urinals in the corner, which was basically a place to pee surrounding by corrugated iron. With no running water, at least hand sanitiser was provided.

At the bar, the cask ales are Tribute & Sea Fury. A guest beer may occasionally appear, but the third handpull was vacant for our visit. Ciders appeared to amount to Thatcher's Gold & Healey's Rattler until we spotted a sign above the bar promoting flat ciders for £4 a pint.

Behind us, there were 4 local bag-in-the-box ciders probably remaining from a cider festival the pub had held. You are given glasses to help yourselves. On offer were Bearded Moustache Mango & Storm Damage & Gweal Mellin Cornish Farmhouse & Festival Strength. The Festival Strength (8.2%) was the only new one for me. So, it seemed rude not to avail myself of a swift half. After all, it was only £2!

With quite a lively, but friendly atmosphere, this was another pub I enjoyed visiting. The cask ale selection was a bit on the boring side and the decor is nothing to write home about, but it was a fitting end (or so I thought it was the end) to a day's drinking in Cornwall, with the unexpected bonus of another real cider.

By the way, looking at Ian's review below, they may well have stopped selling food. There was certainly no sign of any menus or anything being served this time.

On 13^th August 2024 - rating: 6
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