Category: Torquay

I felt the need to walk by the Abbey Sands hotel en route back to the hotel.

Best known, to me at least, as where Channel 4’s Hotel was filmed. This image is from Google Streetview from 16 years ago. I still follow Mark Jenkins on Facebook and look back on those episodes with some fondness, he was a true entertainer. I haven’t lined the photos up very well, but Google Streetview confirmed that the location I had worked out was right.

Not much to see here now….

However, back in the day, this is where the restaurant attached to the hotel was located, down some steps.

Anyway, it was good to see where the filming took place, it’s not quite where I imagined the hotel to be for some reason. The frontage has changed a little bit, but it’ll always be the Grosvenor to me. There have been a few owners since Mark Jenkins left it, with some considerable money spent on restorations and refurbishments. The hotel market in Torquay isn’t what it was, so it took some bravery to make such a large investment. I did decide to watch a couple of episodes of the programme over the last week, to remind myself of the past glories.

This seems a sad story, it’s the Printers Elbow II pub which is now closed.

The origins of the pub name are all a bit complex, but back in 1979 Eddie and Charlie Thomas took over the lease of the Foresters Arms down the road a bit and they renamed it the Printers Elbow. To allow for the construction of the Fleet Walk shopping centre, the pub closed in 1986 and the landlord moved to the Globe pub on Union Street. This was originally constructed as a private residential property but had been turned into a pub called the Globe in 1833. Eddie Thomas moved his office down the road so to speak and the Globe was renamed the Printers Elbow II. The customers seemed quite happy with the whole arrangement until December 2022 when the building owners chucked the managers out. Karen Putt, the landlady, said to Devon Live:

“The company who owns the building, Criterion Assessment Management, who are attached to the Wellington Pub Company, own the building and have served the company I work for with a 28-day notice.”

The company is actually Criterion Asset Management and their reputation has in my opinion long been in tatters, as suggested in this Guardian newspaper article. It’s just my view, but the sooner the Wellington Pub Company are removed from the hospitality industry the better. Anyway, I digress.

Writing on Whatpub, CAMRA note:

“A proper old fashioned pub at the top end of Union Street, where locals excel in banter and fun, the interior is furnished with wooden settles, leather sofas and small stools, with drinking shelves in corners. It is one of the few pubs in the central part of town, to have a beer garden and smoking area.”

There is a sold sign on the side of the building, hopefully to a publican who wants to re-open it.

This is all quite on-trend and shiny, it’s pretty much the games centre of Torquay harbour but with a bar attached. There are options for shuffleboard, mini golf, pool, axe throwing, electronic darts and several other exciting bits and pieces to be getting on with. It is all quite new, before Viva opened last year there was an upstairs nightclub called The Quay and downstairs was Harbour Fish and Chips. And previous to that, the upstairs in this grand building was used by Warriors Boxing and before that it was Play nightclub, so it’s had numerous changes over the years.

The bar is bright and garish, but it looks modern. There were very few other customers during our visit, although it was a Thursday evening and pouring down with rain. There are some photos of other parts of the building on the architect’s web-site.

The seating area is no less shiny than the bar, it’s all on point and new. I went for a half a pint of Camden Stout which actually didn’t taste of that, but regardless, it was creamy, smooth and tasted of a decent quality. The beer choice wasn’t quite as on-trend as the design, verging a bit on the generic and the safe. The service was though friendly, timely and efficient.

The bottomless brunch offer which is £35 for some food and endless cocktails. I’m not sure it’s something that would engender much excitement for me, but I rarely rule anything out. There’s a wide range of food served here, including burgers, loaded fries, nachos, chicken wings and other light bites options.

This is a venue that I’d like to come back to as we didn’t have time to explore the multitude of activities that were located here and I quite like all this competitive socialising type of thing. The level of investment made here must have been substantial, I can imagine that it’ll be a busy location come the summer months when the tourists flood in.

Ross has returned back to sunny Norwich today, so this pub is the only one I went to in Torquay where he wasn’t there with one of his quality lagers. This is a Craft Union bar owned by Stonegate and, as is visible from the frontage, it was built in “circa 1889”. I’m not sure what to think about that as most builders don’t put “circa” on, so this date is a later addition. There are also plenty of newspaper articles about the pub from this time, usually relating to drunken people in it, but no mention of a rebuild.

This map is from the 1870s (the pub is just by the E of ‘Market Street’) and there has been a pub here since at least the 1850s. The pub is named after the nearby clock tower which was completed in 1902, but this pub name is from around the 1970s, it was previously the Old Market Inn from when it opened. For a while, the pub was part of the Norman & Pring brewery estate, although this was acquired by Whitbread in 1962 and subsumed into their empire.

The pub interior and the dog that came to say hello to me on numerous occasions. I was genuinely surprised that the pub was full, it was a wet day and there were numerous other empty venues nearby, so they’re doing something right here. There was a community feel to the arrangement and the staff member was welcoming and friendly. There are numerous TVs showing sport, although I didn’t notice any customers actually look at them at any stage.

A pint of Fuller’s London Pride was £2.85, typical of the low pricing from Craft Union. They don’t serve food here, it’s just a high turnover of affordable drinks which is keeping them going. According to CAMRA, there are rarely guest beers, it’s the London Pride or Sharp’s Doom Bar. The reviews of the pub are generally positive, but they’re burdened by a heap of negative ones from nearly a decade ago such as:

“Made a racist quip, tried to back out by blaming fifa and forgot the power of social media. If you were really against them you’d ban all the matches idiots.”

This is because the pub decided it wouldn’t show the Northern Ireland and Wales matches as the teams didn’t wear poppies. The Sun reported that the venue had received thousands of negative reviews and although most have seemingly been wiped, many more persist.

Craft Union pubs have the challenge that they offer very cheap drinks, which is not always the easiest demographic to deal with. Here though, they had a mature and sensible crowd in by the looks of it, although I’ll like offend some of their irresponsible customers by saying that. It’s a cheerful place, friendly service, a couple of real ales, affordable prices and probably rather busy during the summer months as tourists intersperse with locals.

And yet another apology for the poor quality of the imagery here…. This is the Rabbit Hole which opened last year and which was previously known as the Jolly Judge pub which were named after the nearby magistrate’s courts, although they shut in the summer of 2017. I don’t know the area, but Torbay Today (which I assume does know the area) reported last year that:

“Castle Circus, the same Castle Circus that has been dubbed a ‘hotspot’ for crime, anti-social behaviour, street drinking, drugs and violence. An area recognised by Devon crime commissioner Alison Hernandez as needing extra special investment, resource and partnership working, delivering more visible police patrols, legally-binding dispersal measures, a mobile police station and a new Street Focus Torquay initiative which will be rolled out across the force at similar problem locations if it is a success. Zoe, 43, is now the landlady of the Rabbit Hole. The pub was formerly Wig and Pen and Jolly Judge and had its licence taken away about six years ago for under-age drinking, drugs and fighting. “I managed to get the licence back which I never thought they would allow,” said Zoe. “People have been telling me I must be mad.””

It seems that the area is lucky that someone wanted to invest their money and energies into this venue, as somewhere that lost its licence is going to be a challenge.

The beer selection and it was quite hard to reach the bar to see this, there are some quite chunky bar seats located here. It’s interesting to see the Lucky Buddha and Dortmunder Vier beers and although I don’t know either of these lagers they are poorly reviewed on Untappd. But variety is good for the soul, although they do seem quite lager focused. The number of Untappd check-ins is surprisingly low (and yes I know that the world doesn’t quite yet revolve around Untappd…..), it’s just one other than me. My comment on this is because I had thought, and indeed hoped, that they would have some nod towards craft beer as it felt like an on-trend venue in terms of the design, but maybe that will come.

Not as a criticism but rather just as an observation, I must admit to being entirely confused when entering as they have an area that looks like a restaurant where the lights are slightly dimmed and had no customers in when we entered. They then had quite a cluttered main bar with the pool table and where absolutely everyone was sitting, something I noticed seems a common situation when walking by the front. It is still unclear to me whether or not that main seating area is meant just for dining customers or can be used by anyone. I was also confused by the food arrangement, as there were menus on the table but the couple of the table next to us tried to order and were told that there was no food.

Back to the positives, the staff member was friendly and helpful with the service being prompt and timely, with everything being clean and tidy. There’s a lot of work that’s taken place here and they seem to have completed most of what they need to do, although they’ve got the toilets to work on yet. But, Torquay wasn’t built in a day…..

The only real ale was the Jail Ale from Dartmoor Brewery and this was well-kept, keenly priced and it had a punchy, malty, fruity and smooth taste, one of the better bitters that I’ve had. I’ll mention this a few more times I think, but I’ve had a few beers this week from Dartmoor Brewery and the standard of all of them has been high.

I’m still a little unclear whether this is a restaurant with a bar or not, the design didn’t quite make sense to me, but they’re keen on more live music and so I imagine it’s more bar focused. Either way, the reviews of the bar are positive and it’s evident from the local reporting that this is a venue that needed to be changed to improve its reputation. Although I was puzzled by the design, it’s evident that the new owners have made a great effort to change the venue and that seems to be rather positive to me and I’m sure it’ll do well as it did seem to have a unique charm. It’s certainly given me a love for the Jail Ale real ale, that surprised and delighted me.

Look at the state of these photos, I’m very pleased that my new phone is here so that the quality can improve at least a little…. Any expedition around the pubs of Torquay inevitably meant a visit to JD Wetherspoon and it transpired that their Green Ginger pub in the town had more real ales than any other pub in the area. The chain did have a second outlet here, but that’s now Yates and as we went there the day after, I’ll come back to that. This venue opened as a Wetherspoons in November 2009 after a £780,000 refurbishment and was previously called Bar Med.

This information sign about the pub reads:

“These licensed premises partly occupy the site of Abbey Place – a Victorian parade of bespoke businesses and hotels. Slade & Sons, one of Torquay’s leading grocers had premises here and was, in early Victorian times, the sole agent for Green Ginger wine – ‘superior to any mixture yet introduced’”

I have to say, this is the most tenuous naming of a Wetherspoon pub that I’ve seen and I rather suspect they could have selected something with a bit more local relevance, but there we go and I suppose it’s unique. It’s a large pub which I can imagine gets very busy in the summer, as it was surprisingly full on a rainy February evening. There are two separate bars and the usual variety of different seating types to suit just about every customer’s needs.

Does food get any more decadent than this? £7.49 for a selection of three different ways of frying chicken, what a time to be alive…. It all tasted as expected, was hot and the chicken was tender. The beer is the Sea Fury from Sharp’s Brewery and it’s better than I remember it, it was smooth with a malty and fruit edge.

As it was just over £1 for a half pint, I also went for a Legend from Dartmoor Brewery and, frankly, there’s more toffee here than in a Werther’s Original, smooth but rich in taste. As it’s a JD Wetherspoon outlet, I felt the need to read through the reviews and it’s rated on Google towards the lower end for the chain which means plenty of negative reviews to browse through.

“Worse steak I’ve had at a wheatherspoons, steak was very chewy alots of grissle. Air con was blowing out cold air, had to put my coat on.”

I actually thought that the pub was at just the right temperature, so she’s likely right as I like things on the colder side. I don’t think she liked the steak either.

“In there tonight after football. Meat madras v good, decent pint of ale. Trouble was pub became half full of 18 year old acting as 12 year old. A table of girls screaming and shrieking for no apparent reason. We had to move tables, a mixed group quiet at first then playing a drinking game that involved bang bottles loudly. Then a bout of screeching across several groups of youngsters – seems to be a thing because when one started they all joined in. The security guys checked id outside but never came in or did a walk through. This was my worst Spoons experience ever in thousands of visits”

I’m with the customer here, that’s highly sub-optimal.

“Advised that we couldn’t have a table due to staff shortages. The place was empty on a Sunday teatime. Maybe offer a limited menu just to keep the revenue flowing.”

I don’t know the background here, but I’ve read that several pubs have struggled to get staff in Torquay, so I’km not entirely surprised that even JD Wetherspoon are struggling.

“Turning into a coffee shop with people taking advantage of free refills. One way of keeping warm and off the streets for £1-49 I suppose. Problem is that proper customers can’t find a seat so leaving when busy.”

I have limited sympathy here. If it was a small venue that makes sense, but it’s a huge pub and there must be over 100 tables here. I am surprised that they shut their second venue, or at least haven’t opened another, as there appears to be the demand for it.

“Shocking service. Almost 2 hours after ordering our pizzas still hadnt arrived. After asking after them the waitress eventually wandered back and casually said they had been burnt so they were putting fresh ones in she then left while i was still speaking. Obviously experiencing staffing issues but the remaining staff could do with learning some customer service skills.”

I think I’d mention if my pizza hadn’t arrived after two hours.

“Went to join a group of friends on 14/10. Waited at the bar just before 11.30. Not a member of staff in sight. Eventually a barman arrives. Young lad, tall blonde complete with love bites. Unfortunately, missing any customer service skills or personality. By the time he got round to serving me (how can it take nearly 5 mins to ring 1 cup of tea through & I’d ordered my black coffee, I asked if I was too late for breakfast as it was 11.33. Oh yep, no offer to try & help or anything. After the last time when I had a cheeseburger which was stone cold I didn’t want to risk the lunch menu. The female bar staff who came on later were great. Knew exactly who was next, & great customer service skills.”

The old divide and conquer strategy of how good the later staff member was. That first barman seems to me to have been quite perceptive, as the reviewer later writing such nasty comments is entirely unnecessary.

“Disgusting staff! We have used this pub for years and always enjoyed being in there but were shown up twice today for questioning the wait when using the app, people going up the bar were being served twice as quickly. We were refused service because we asked the staff member to lower her voice as everyone was looking at us and we were embarrassed. So upsetting we are in our early 60s and not used to being shouted at.”

Definitely two sides to this story….

Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. We didn’t experience any service issues and the team members seemed to be doing their best, with the food and drink arriving relatively quickly. As for the beer choice, there are around six real ales available and a whole host of decent craft beers to choose from. And there’s also free wi-fi and a fair number of power points, always a bonus.

This is the Manor Inn, not listed on Untappd or Whatpub and so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Since the visit I’ve found that it’s listed on Whatpub under its previous incarnation when it was Old Skools Cafe Bar, although I’m not sure CAMRA thought much of it then as they haven’t burdened themselves writing anything about it. It reopened in its current name in late 2024, so the situation where some of the signage has already fallen off is perhaps a little sub-optimal. The current name is actually the traditional name for the venue, it was known as the Manor Inn until it closed in 2009.

In terms of the venue’s history, the Manor Inn was trading before the Second World War, but I can’t find when it first opened as a pub. An article in the Torbay Express in July 1985 noted that the pub had opened a new beer garden “into an oasis away from the hub-bub just a few feet away”, mentioning that it was a Courage pub that had been managed by Steve Menzies for several years.

The staff member was friendly and tried to engage Ross in conversation at the bar (she wasn’t to know that Ross doesn’t like that type of engagement as he gets scared) about all the events that were taking place at the pub and commented we had really come on the wrong night as they didn’t have anything happening on a Monday. She also came to the table we were sitting at to tell us about the jukebox, although I’m not sure if we were meant to choose the music or something. I decided against that, as although we’re not far from Wurzels territory, I can say with some confidence that it would have sounded out of place.

As for the drink, the Guinness tasted as expected and was at the appropriate temperature, so all was well there. Ross had some complaint about his lager, but then again, I often have some complaint about his lager but as mentioned in my last post, I don’t judge….

The food menu and I’ve seen from their Facebook page that they serve Sunday roasts for £10 every week that look decent value. The prices for the food and drinks are moderate and the surroundings were in a reasonable state of repair. It’s got more of a cafe feel to it, but that does fit in with their concept.

I think that the staff member was perhaps just a little over-enthusiastic in telling us about the pub, but that’s hardly a fault, it’s marvellous how someone is proud of what they’re building. This pub isn’t trying to be a craft beer bar, but it’s trying to be a pub for the community and it’s inevitably operating in a difficult environment making that work financially. Above is the pub’s Facebook post about what’s happening this month and there’s some considerable effort gone into arranging this. The atmosphere looks quite vibrant, but it’s positive to have the old pub name back and that there’s someone making a real effort to restore its fortunes. I got the impression a couple of customers were intrigued as to who we were, but solely because they hadn’t seen us before rather than out of any unfriendliness. For anyone moving into the area and looking for a place to go for live music, this I suspect would be a place where they would feel welcome.