The White Hart Inn, Exeter

An old coaching inn, opposite Neverspoons. You pay your money, you take your chance. A Marstons house and the sunbeam was better than I could have hoped for.

Official site of The White Hart Inn - www.whitehartpubexeter.co.uk

Official site of The White Hart Inn - www.whitehartpubexeter.co.uk

A good sized pub/hotel on the outskirts of the town centre down towards the quay, it consists of two separate bars separated by an alleyway which was itself quite attractive and included a statue and some seating. The right hand half appeared cosy enough but looked as though it may have been more the hotel part, so we opted for the left hand side. At the back was a “secret garden” which in reality was more of a courtyard and not at all secret, but it looked pleasant enough and was covered on one side with a large awning. This is a large bar split over a couple of different levels, with flagstones on the upper part and sanded wood boards on the lower. It has quite a cosy ambience with black beams on the ceiling and a few copper pots and pans hanging up. There is quite a bit of exposed stone walling and elsewhere the paintwork is of a mustard hue and there are also lots of panelled mirrors around making the pub appear bigger than it actually is. Had I not known any different, I would have thought I was in a pub called The Ship due to the number of nautical artefacts on display such as a life buoy, fishing nets, flags, ship pictures and the obligatory knot display. Food wise, the menu looked to be a mass produced, laminated affair and offered pub grub staples such as Beef & Ale Pie, Lasagne and Chicken Tikka Masala as well as a number of burgers, salads and flame grills. Main courses were mostly priced somewhere around the £8 mark, although as we didn’t eat I can’t comment on the quality. Beers on tap were Ringwood Best, Showman’s Tipple, Old Wallop from the White Hart Brewery (whether this is their own I’m not sure) and Jenning’s Cocky Bird. Ciders were Strongbow and Thatcher’s Heritage.