Beerwolf Books, Falmouth

Situated up a passage off Market Street is this bookshop and bar, accessed up stairs to a room in the attic. To quote WhatPub, “think Waterstone's but with beer instead of coffee!“. Decorated in red and wood, to the rear are three pinball machines. Six cask on in this GBG pub, majoring on Penzance Brewery alongside some ciders. Suspect the cask is under blanket pressure...my Penzance Mild died on its arse fairly quickly after coming out (NBSS 2). Some proper soppy plonkers in attendance (it is a bit Grauniad-upon-Sea round here) but there's no doubting it's a pleasant and unusual venue that a first-time visitor should take in.

Conceptually, this GBG2024 place should be my dream location. A bookshop, with a bar, with many local ales. The beer - mainly from Penzance Brewery - was indeed fine. Just didnt seem to click for me as a drinking place. Lots of people looked like they were settled in for the day - nursing a single drink for the duration and probably reading material selected form the shelves before putting it back at the end of the day. The charity feel of the place extended by the policy of allowing people to bring in their own food. I bet if you looked hard enough, you'd be able to steal the leccy to charge your devices. Would drive me mad if I was the owner! Certainly unique.

Beerwolf is just your regular bookshop with bar and pinball machines, plus an indie soundtrack, some of which will be in French. As this isn't Books Galore, I'll pass no comment on the reading material and stick to the beers, which comprised 6 cask from independent breweries and a similar number of craft keg. It's not exactly brightly lit around the bar, so you may struggle to identify your preferred pint but, having done so, you're in for a relaxing time, perhaps "working" with the help of the free wi-fi.

Beerwolf Books is not the easiest place to find. We initially walked up a steep set of steps from the main Market Street shopping area and found ourselves behind and above the building. However, look for a narrow alleyway called Bells Court to the side of Santander to find it. The alleyway opens out to reveal the pub with the bar and bookshop both being on the first floor. The bookshop area is off to the rear left with seating and 4 pinball machines to the front left. The bar itself is front right, with further seating at the rear of the right-hand side where a few pictures of the building's former use as the Falmouth Working Men's Club can be found. For me, this pub vies with the Seven Stars as the second best pub in Falmouth. Being more of a traditionalist, I favoured the Seven Stars. However, Beerwolf seems to be popular with the town's younger customers. Many appeared to be students based in the town (this place would be difficult to find if you didn't know of its whereabouts). Although I suspect we weren't the only beer/cider/pub ticker tourist amidst the customer base. Service was very friendly and whilst they only had 3 real ales on (Penzance Potion No. 9 & Trink & Thirst Class Elephant Hawk IPA), I did spot a couple of boxed ciders. One was Weston's Old Rosie. The other simply said "Stagger". The barmaid told me that a friend of the pub produces a few boxes of the stuff for the pub. It was certainly dry, but set me up nicely for the continued stagger back towards the station. Craft beers were Holy Gist Conjurer, Wander Beyond Oxford & Loran, Verdant Headband, Black Flag Owl & Pussycat, Jubel Beer Cut With Peach & South West Orchards Craft Cider.