Beccles:
This was pushing itself much more as a restaurant, hence the “Graze at” but the origins are a pub, and the bar felt pubby. Clearly very old, inside’s a bit stripped out, but by no means featureless.
Really pleasant welcome from the staff, great food, and ABK Hell on draught :-). Outside but under cover seating available too.
Newtown, Staffs, just north of Bloxwich:
On a day packed with failure, this compunded it. We were hoping for a pub, and Whatpub has it as a pub.
I suppose it meets some requirements. There’s a bar, and a small seating area in front of it, but the bulk of the place is a restaurant, and it calls itself a Bar and Grill. There’s too many posing tables in the bar area, and the beer is slightly pricey and [shudder] Greene King. It’s basically aimed at people wanting a slightly-posher-than-pub-food meal, and there’s little appeal for drinkers. There is quite a nice beer garden, I suppose, but it’s a long way from my ideal. The decor is currently trendy and modern, but will age and is pretty atmosphere-free.
Thank $deity for The Ivy House just down the road.
Garth, Bangor, North Wales:
Just around the corner. This was in many ways lovely: the staff were great, the beer great, the food great: but this had just gone a bit too far towards restaurant to be great; in fact, I considered not allowing it into PubBlog, but it redeemed itself the next day with a great beer garden (and the surrounding competition, apart from the Tap & Spile being awful).
Torquay:
Was unsure about including this, as it calls itself a bar/cafe/restaurant, but stood at the bar it felt pubish, more so than some places claiming to be pubs. It’s food-centric, but there was ale, and the outside space is lovely. Staff friendly enough considering the tourist overload.
Paignton:
Odd one here: half the pub is a Tex-Mex restaurant, and another attached restaurant is just behind, but the bar is still a proper, traditional pub. We sat outside in the sun, though. There was ale, but I drank a soft drink as I was feeling dehydrated. Staff very pleasant, a selection of locals using the bar as they no doubt had for years; it was surprising how well this worked: a model you sometimes see in the Midlands with an Indian restaurant attached.