Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Poll for date of Halifax crawl. with ROBCamra
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Cary Arms, Torquay
Babbacombe
Postal town: Torquay
TQ1 3LX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Cary Arms
Wonderfully situated pub / restaurant / hotel overlooking the curving bay forming Babbacombe and Oddicombe beaches. The multi-level terraced beer garden is a splendid spot on a sunny day and forms a perfect stopping point if tackling the Torbay section of the South West Coast Path. Not cheap, of course, but my £4.80 pint of Teignworthy Beachcomber - one of three real ales, along with Otter Ale and Bays Topsail - was worth every penny.
On 3rd June 2019
- rating: 9
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ale Monster left this review about The Cary Arms
This is primarily a small hotel named after a locally prominent family of land owners and is now owned by the de Savary group but it has a dedicated public bar which is open to non-residents and operates as a free house. The hotel is located at the bottom of a very steep road which has no pavement, but there is a rather muddy and rocky footpath that meanders through the wooded area by the side of the road. The building is larger than the road side narrow frontage suggests, through the entrance is a small seating area with a stone floor, a couple of wood settles and a reception desk on the right, on one wall was a framed copy of a complimentary letter from Winston Churchill thanking the owners for their hospitality. Through a narrow archway and down a step at the back of this area is the small public bar which has a rustic stone counter with rough cut timber bar top along the front half of the right wall, a large fire place with a nice cast iron log burning stove in the back half of the right wall, bare wood floor, rough stone walls on all sides and thick timber beams across the ceiling. There is a large ships wheel on the left wall opposite the fire place, the furniture is also chunky rustic wood and there are plenty of large windows in the left wall providing beautiful views of the hotel gardens and of course Babbacombe Bay with its red cliffs and famous cliff railway which provides access to Oddicombe beach. The well kept gardens are on multiple levels with scattered garden furniture and there is a path down to the bays break water where many people fish.
Regular ales are currently Bays Gold and Otter Ale with Red Rock Devon Coast IPA on as a guest (Cask Marque). I tried halves of all three and found them to be in good condition in my opinion. There may be a second guest beer on during busier times of the year.
I’m not usually a big fan of hotel bars which quite often lack any character or atmosphere, but this place succeeds in feeling more like a nice country pub with rooms than a hotel with a bar. The route down to and back up from the place is a little daunting but it was well worth the struggle, I think it is possible to use the cliff railway and walk round the bay but I would suggest checking first if you fancy a visit. I would certainly make the effort again if in the vicinity.
On 1st February 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 199 recommendations about 199 pubs]