A work trip to Exeter afforded the opportunity to go down the previous day and have a few scoops on arrival, rather than have a very stressful drive down on the morning of the appointment itself. A very swift but pleasurable half dozen was completed, with a few more thrown in. The hotel was the rather plush Magdalen Chapter in a former eye hospital. It is a rather trendy establishment, but they do have some quite interesting things on bottle, though not a lot on draught, though I have to admit that I did not study closely.

On leaving the confines of the hospital, first pub on a small loop was the Hour Glass, probably the best of the evening. It was very small but beautifully formed, with an excellent array of interesting beers for a pub of its size: Exeter Avocet, Otter Ale, Moor Sohop, Bath Gem, Exeter Ferryman. It's quite trendy, with cosy wooden fixtures and fittings, but in a pleasingly quirky rather than gastropub sort of way, and is exactly the sort of place that one might want to spend some time in on a Sunday evening consuming nice beer in pleasant surroundings without getting shitfaced. For those who are interested, there are also plenty of spirits and liqueurs to choose from. Alas I could only stay for a pint, but a very good pint it was.

In contrast is the Bishop Blaize, much more of a boozer and a shade chavvy on my visit although it was a quiet Sunday evening. Still, it was pleasant enough, with a beer on in the shape of Dartmoor Legend, but most of the options available were dispensable in fizzy form from taps that glow in the dark. The beer though was in good condition and I could have been persuaded to stay. Pressing on though and a viist to the rather strange Beer Cellar which is situated in a shop unit in the middle of Exeter. Despite the anaemic surroundings, the place itself is not bad at all and has some nice bar stools and tables although it could hardly be described as cosy. What they did have was an impressive array of beer. Most of it was foreign and in bottles, but on draft we did have some pleasing offerings: Yeovil Stout Hearted, Otter Bramble, Hanlon Copper Glow and Penpont Cornish Gold.

Making my way back to the hotel allowed a stop in an archetypal coaching inn establishment, the White Hart, which had a very chilled out Sunday evening mood. I am sure that slightly tired roast meals would have been plated up and served for those that wanted them. Lots of nooks and crannies and very stereotypical, with dense waitresses wearing black shirts serving. Beer was OK, Wychwood Dirty Tackle, Pedigree, Old Wallop and one other which I fail to remember. Probably Abbot or Doom Bar I would expect.

Last one of the evening was at the enormous George's Meeting House, a pub from the Wetherspoons stable, converted from some sort of place of worship. A very grand building with two underused balconies on either side, with the bar underneath one. Actually, being a Sunday evening, most of the pub was underused. The beer selection wasn't quite as extensive as I have seen in other Wetherspoons, but was still varied in the shape of Black Dragon, Quantock IPA, Mitchell Stone 8.5%, Ruddles Best, Teignworthy Reel Ale and Ohanlons Dry Stout. There was no escaping how empty it was though on a February Sunday evening, so I drank up and left.

After the meeting the following day, it was time to head home. We both had a swift one in the Beer Cellar and then got in the car in good time to avoid the traffic. As is usual on trips such as this, we decided to stop for one on the way. Having negotiated some back roads, we found ourselves at the Black Horse in Clapton-in-Gordano. For some reason, absolutely heaving on a Monday night which should have made it very pleasant, but some of the locals seemed a bit insular (inbred?) and carried on like they owned the pub. Still, we did talk to one nice lady who showed us the old jail part of the pub, which had a very pleasing interior, and also some worthwhile ales to boot: Otter Ale, Brains SA, Bath Gem, Courage Best.