retiredmartin

My 3rd trip to Falmouth this year, and I found the town as vibrant as ever, albeit slightly quieter just before the Christmas festivities kick in.  It really is a place where you discover new views, walks and bars on each new visit. There’s probably as much creative energy here, on a small scale, as anywhere.

This time my Sis and I revisited Beerwolf Books and HAND, both impressing greatly with their commitment to interesting beer in cosy settings, and with cask at competitive price (mind you, Spoons had one of those collaboration beers at a quid a pint).

Most people would consider these two, and MONO which was packed with gig-goers, as “Craft” bars, but there was no pretention or over-focus on the student market.

That said, it’s ‘Front that goes into my Top 100 for now as the one Falmouth pub anyone should visit. It again made the impression on me it must have done when the pub was a national Pub of the Year runner-up a few years back. Shamefully, I skipped it on my first trip in early Summer, as it had been dropped from the 2015 Beer Guide (still no idea why).

It’s hard to boil the atmosphere down to a few words, being lively but not exuberant (Cajun dancing night aside), despite the seafront setting and a back-to-basics style.  A lone drinker could enjoy a quiet pint over a book here in the, on traditional pub seating.

We enjoyed conversation and some superb beer, from Sharps and Tintagel (actually the same dark beer I enjoyed in Hackney last night).  As is the law here,we also scoffed cod bites and calamari from the upstairs chippy (no, not Rick’s one).  Bring-your-own food pubs are to be treasured.

In October they had a dark beer fest with some startlingly good local beer (NBSS 4.5), although I just noticed how strong it was looking at the photo.  I rate the beers I had this week between 3.5 and 4, which is pretty much as good as it gets outside the Dead Poets.

We started here on Tuesday; the only rational explanation for that is you catch the chippy before it closes at 9.  Very little can top this place.

The views round here aren’t bad either.