The Ship Inn, Exeter

Official site of The Ship Inn - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The Ship Inn - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Narrow alleyway pub by the cathedral, run by Greene King. GBG'23 listed, so in I went. The interior offers-up a soupçon of what the aged exterior imagines; wonky beamed ceiling, wood panelling/trim and in one corner some attractive naval scene fabrics behind a glass pane. However it's been unsympathetically knocked-through at some point and is shabby in places, plus the loud TVs further detract from any historical ambience. Four cask at the bar, all GK bar a local guest in Exeter Avocet (NBSS 3.5 – so worth the GBG entry, although the range has clearly deteriorated since the previous review so I wonder if it’ll make 24’s edition?) served-up by an efficient barmaid. Foody wafts, broken Wi-Fi and a raucous stag do in situ made my decision to get a half, sup-up and move on a simple one. A better operator could do much more here.

Nice old pub, spoilt outside by the scaffolded building opposite. Old beamed interior

This is a nice traditional pub, tucked away down an alleyway close to the cathedral. You enter into a large front room with dark floorboards, plenty of dark wood beams and pillars and a mix of plaster and exposed stone walls. The bar is to the rear right and it has a simple tongue and groove panel counter front and stone work bar back with all the ales listed on boards to the right. A spacious seating area can be found to the front, offering mixed tables served by numerous chairs, plus a couple of high tables and stools over to the front left, arranged around a lovely stone fireplace with a wide unused stove in the hearth and a plain mirror above. Long mid-height tables with cut-off stools appear a little further back, mostly beneath a large TV screen which was out of action on this visit, although another screen next to the bar was showing a rolling news channel. A couple of smaller seating areas can be found beyond the bar and to the rear left, albeit with nothing much going for them. A few customers seemed to be heading up to the first floor restaurant, but I didn’t get around to exploring up there myself. The place was rammed when I walked past on Saturday evening, seemingly for a karaoke night, but was totally unrecognisable when I returned on a very quiet Sunday evening, with the karaoke replaced by barely audible pop tunes playing in the background. In fact, the whole visit may have ended up as something of a total damp squib, had things not unexpectedly taken a turn for the fascinating/gross, when a group of sloshed ladies turned up, sat at the table across from me and proceeded to play a very loud game of ‘Never Have I Ever’, with a stunning lack of collective self-awareness! There was a decent selection of ales for me to draw upon whilst enjoying such impromptu entertainment, with a good row of handpulls dispensing Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale, Exeter Tomahawk and Avocet, Otter Ale and Hanlons Nice Tackle. Four real ciders were also available and a friendly barman served me a very good pint of the Tomahawk, which was arguably the best pint I had in a central Exeter pub. This seemed like a nice place to spend a bit of time and certainly appears to have one of the city’s stronger ale selections. You might need to time your visit right, to get a good balance between karaoke chaos and totally dead, but otherwise, this looks like a pretty safe bet for inclusion on a city centre crawl.

A very old pub with historic features at the front but if you go further back you find concrete beams with bits of timber attached, and could be almost anywhere. The overall effect is not unpleasant though, with various pillars and walls breaking up the space. A fair range of beers (Cask Marque listed) alongside the predictable IPA and Abbot, including Exeter, Otter and Black Sheep examples.

An historic town centre 16th Century pub spread over two floors down a narrow shopping street, currently run by GK. It is well described below. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable, while the clientele consisted of shoppers with their unruly children, one or two ale drinkers and some confused German tourists. Three ales on, all from GK, plus 5 boxed ciders. I had a pint of Back Of The Net, which was a reasonable pint. Given its location and the fact that it's a GK pub, it's not bad, and I'd b happy to come back in future.