Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The White Hart Inn, Exeter
Exeter
EX1 1EE
Pub Type
Traditional Food (Marstons)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The White Hart Inn
Very traditional coaching inn and now a Marston's pub / restaurant / hotel. The slightly split-level bar, accessed by non-residents via the courtyard, has been refurbished but in a reasonably sympathetic way. Disappointingly, though, just Pedigree (£6.20 with a packet of salted peanuts) available from the four handpumps.
On 21st January 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The White Hart Inn
This is a very large, rambling old pub and hotel with a vast, confusing interior that probably required multiple visits to properly take in. Entering via a narrow cobbled courtyard which separates the pub and hotel parts of the building, I found myself reaching the main bar area from the lower courtyard entrance. This is a bare boarded room with the servery down the left wall, directly opposite the front door. The bar has an unusual counter front with lots of drawers built into it, and a nice exposed stonework bar back. Some chairs and tub chairs stand opposite the bar and in a small space to the right of the counter, but this isn’t really much of a seating area, so most punters will move elsewhere. Steps up to the front take you into a cosy, olde worlde feeling dining room with pre-set tables, lots of dark wood and decent views of the street outside. Moving towards the rear from the bar area, you drop down some steps onto a landing with a few more tables and chairs in a fairly unremarkable plain painted area. There are lots of mirrors here, which make the space feel quite deceptive and a little ‘hall of mirrors’-esque on your first visit. A door here leads out to a so-called ‘Secret Garden’, which looked a bit uninspiring compared to the pleasant courtyard with its palm trees and views of the old building. Moving on a little further, through a mirrored passage, you emerge into a large rear room with rows of tables and chairs in a bare brick walled space which had a bit of a cellar bar feel to it. In addition to all this, there appear to be several more rooms in the hotel side of the building, to the right of the courtyard, but they all appeared empty, so I didn’t wander through. Modern pop music was playing in the background throughout my visit and there was a modest crowd, mainly older folk popping in for some lunch, when I arrived on a Monday afternoon.
A friendly old-school barmaid greeted me on arrival and I was faced with a choice of Marston beers on the row on handpulls, with options extending to Ringwood Razorback, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Dirty Tackle and Banks’s Sunbeam, with the latter coming in at £1.85 for a well conditioned half.
This place definitely has a lot of character, thanks to its multiple room interior, pleasant courtyard and period appropriate decor, making it worth a visit for a bit of exploration. The beer, whilst in good nick, is nothing you won’t have encountered many times before, so ultimately, enjoyment of this pub will likely come down to your enjoyment of such brews or perhaps whether you intend to come here for some food as well. A good wildcard option for any city centre crawl.
On 3rd July 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The White Hart Inn
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.
On 22nd November 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The White Hart Inn
No change from the review below, expect that the right hand room across the courtyard has had a makeover. Four ales on our visit; Ringwood Porter (very good nick), Razorback, Revisionist Cherry and Old Wallop (from White Hart brewery so presumably a Marstons rebadge). Also 5 Sandford ciders. A pub that I don’t think quite gets the recognition it deserves. I would priortiize this one over a number of others nearby.
September 2014
A desperation stop because of the tumultuous rain and sometimes things just work out nicely. This one is an old coaching inn located in two different buildings, separated by what was presumably the passageway to the stables. The main bar room is to the left, which has a lovely wood-centric interior over two (or was it three?) different levels, decked out with lots of fishing ephemera. Busy and quite a good level of hubbub, with many people eating; in fact there was only one spare table, not bad going for a miserable Sunday evening. Four Marstons stable ales, my Snecklifter was quite drinkable. Being thorough, I reluctantly decamped across the courtyard (via the classical style statue) to the second building, which was more open-plan and had a gentleman’s club feel, with an old book library and some brewerania. I did note a sign in the cobbled passageway advertising bar billiards but I failed to locate the table. Likewise the ‘secret garden’, though given the inclement weather I wasn’t really motivated to look that hard. WiFi available. All-in-all, a worthwhile visit. Rated 8
On 1st December 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The White Hart Inn
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.
On 5th August 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about White Hart Hotel
The White Hart is a roomy old coaching inn in the heart of Exeter. Badging itself externally as a 14th century "Old Ale and Port House", it's much larger than it looks with a number of different drinking and dining areas either side of a central cobbled passageway, through which the horse drawn coaches presumably used to pass all those years ago. It is believed to have been originally a resting place for monks.
A sign in the passageway directs us to the "Tap Bar and Secret Garden" on the left which is a cosy and comfortable split level interior which, despite evident signs of alteration, still retains a characterful, if slightly chainy, ambience. Pots and pans hang from the beams and there's a flagstoned floor. The "Secret Garden" is a smallish walled garden, most notable for a pub in the heart of the city. The other side of the passageway contains the hotel accommodation, but the restaurant there is still comfortable and traditionally furnished.
There's 55 rooms available for overnight accommodation, of which 14 are in the original part of the building and the remainder in an extension. Room rates appear on the face of it to be reasonable, although the tariff sheet rather intriguingly says - "NB, bedrooms have not yet been refurbished".
The White Hart Hotel is part of the Marstons Inns portfolio and, on my recent visit, was serving Ringwood Best, Hobgoblin, plus Old Wallop ( the provenance of which escapes me ). The Ringwood Best, perhaps cheaper than might be expected at £ 2.70p, was in reasonable form.
There's the rather impersonal, slightly chainy feel that is inevitable in a place like this, but you could do much worse than call in when you're in town.
On 5th October 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]