BBB (BUCCANEER ON BABBACOMBE BAY)

It had been 27 years since I last set foot in Torquay. Back in 1995 I bought the Lemonheads album on cassette (honest, it was a thing in 1995), and watched a basement league 3-3 draw with Chesterfield while Mrs RM bought shelving, a theme for our marriage.

The Hole in the Wall was the lone Beer Guide tick for what seemed like 3 centuries, so it was a relief to see The Buccaneer takeover and give me chance to re-evaluate the home of Fawlty Towers.

Except the Buccaneer is 2 miles away in Babbacombe Bay (top), which turns out to be quite beautiful in the sun that followed me around throughout July.

It’s incredibly appealing, unless you consider seaside holiday the spawn of the devil, as do I.

At the end of row of small (“boutique”) hotels for 50 something couples from Bristol,

the Buccaneer is a rare St Austell house in the Guide.

Perhaps it’s the Bass mirror from Wrexham that swings it ?

At the bar an amiable chap we’ll call Steve from Stapleton is ordering 2 pints of Fosters and a coffee. It takes ages. As I say “Just a half of Proper Job, please” he turns to profusely apologise. “Sorry, mate, should have let you go first”. THIS give me great heart for the future.

I’m also heartened that the Proper Job is surviving the heat, a cool and chewy* 3.5. A well-deserved GBG entry.

This was the week that “Running Up The Hill” made Number 1 after 37 years, but it took Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” to get the bloke in a Banks’s T-shirt to hum along. Perhaps all IS lost, after all.

*Whatever

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

7 thoughts on “BBB (BUCCANEER ON BABBACOMBE BAY)”

  1. Thank heavens for Proper Job eh! I was put off St Austell beers for decades following a brief holiday in Penzance, everywhere seemed to have little wooden barrels of HSD on the bar. I say HSD, what I mean is warm vinegar, and the handpumped stuff wasn’t much better. I’ll cross roads for Proper Job now.

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    1. Exactly.

      I recall a few really good pints of Tribute in places called Cornochium Banichiun or similar, but Proper Job has raised the bar. Wonder if the brewery puts extra effort into cooling, because I’ve had some wondrously cool beer from them.

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  3. It’s not every day that I find myself completely in agreement with your blog, but I have to say your “Whatever” was absolutely spot on. Had you been saving that one?

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  4. Any logical reasons for the lack of St Austell pubs in the Guide? Or is it just that micro-pubs, in some bloke’s shed, with limited opening hours, and selling questionable murk that get preference these days.

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    1. I guess that St Austell supply a lot of free trade rather than running their own pubs (clearly a few of them around their own town) and the free houses which have a mix of beers tend to make the Guide. Cornwall itself is oddly micro free, perhaps because most villages of any size have a decent pub.

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      1. …but on the other hand, there are plenty of villages in these isles that don’t have any pub at all, and I do ask myself why so few micros seem to set up in them.

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