The Swan, Plymouth

The Swan is a very small pub with a bar counter that faces the entrance. This supports a limited standard and premium keg range as well as three handpumps. One of these was unused which left Greene King’s Yardbird and Dartmoor Brewery’s Jail Ale as the cask options. To the left are a pool table and a dartboard and I counted four tables for sitting at. There are also a couple of televisions for showing BT Sport. These were muted and some background music played off the jukebox. Karaoke is advertised for every Friday and Saturday night. There’s not much to this pub and the service from the barmaid was just plain rude, so I’ll not be visiting here again.

The Swan is in the 2013 Good Beer Guide and we found a friendly chap running the bar. We enjoyed Summerskills Devon Dew here along with a variety of nibbles put out for customers of cheese and crackers and various pickles. It re-opened in 2011 after a major refurbishment. We were there during the Sunday afternoon, but they did have customers playing pool.

This small, single room street corner pub used to thrive years ago as Bigwigs. It is now The Swan. I went in this quiet Tuesday afternoon and was the only customer. Choice of Adnams Gunhill, a decent pint of which cost me only £2.70, or Westgate's Alepril fool. There were some pies and pasties behind the bar and a jar of pickled eggs. The pub interior has a modern feel with light cream decor, walls adorned with display cases containing a wide range of bottled beers (or at least, beer bottles). There is a pool table on one side and one of the tables the other side has a tabletop poker set on it. There are speakers either side of the door and some disco lights pointing at the pool table end. It really didn't inspire me - I hope for their sake they have some life in the evenings.

The Pen And Parchment is now called Bar Bigwigs