Pint to Pint

South-West England

The Marisco Tavern

Lundy Island

Unsullied by the accoutrements of modern life, the Marisco Tavern is the sort of pub I fantasise about. Quiet, with a traditional but unique interior; no fruit machines, no music and no mobiles, tablets, laptops or gadgets of any kind, thanks to a ban that even someone as attached to their smartphone as I am will revel in.

Drinkers have spent some two hours crossing the Bristol Channel to get to Lundy, and another good half-hour climbing the steep road to the pub. By then they will have dropped back a gear or two to join the pace of island life. They do not want, nor need, to be bothered by the demands of email, texts, social media or other trivialities that detract from life's simpler pleasures - a pint of beer, chatting with your spouse, sharing time with friends or gazing at stunning views out to sea.

Remarkably for a remote island pub, there are three cask ales from which to choose. I order two pints of St Austell Black Prince (4%), a delicious creamy, chocolatey dark mild that is a rarity on the mainland. It is cool and perfectly kept. The Old Light ale (4.2%) is in similarly tip-top condition. Much later in the day, I'm tempted by a rum menu which boasts such gems as Pusser's Aged 15 Years and Mount Gay, of which the bartender unflinchingly inquires, 'Do you want it straight?'

The nautical decor includes an alarming collection of lifebelts bearing the name of ships wrecked on Lundy's shores, and the date they met their fate. The floor is made of slabs of granite from the island's quarries. Like all the best pubs there is a variety of seating: a long table for large groups or convivial eating, traditional tables and chairs and cosy benched booths with sea views. It even has a mezzanine. Not that it is so pretentious as to call it that.

Whether you've walked directly from the landing place or been for a yomp around the island you're bound to have worked up an appetite. The Tavern's menu ranges from cheesy chips (the perfect lunch when arriving during winter - the helicopter drops you off almost at the pub door) via baguettes and jacket potatoes through to seasonally changing dishes prepared from an impressive range of meat reared on the island (prices vary but mains start at £8.20). Lundy lamb is among the leanest you'll come across; Soay sheep are also resident, their meat is darker, gamier and full-flavoured thanks to a diet of turf and aromatic plants; venison is from the Sika deer population and Lundy pork sausages are available thanks to pigs imported as part of a sustainable waste-management programme.

The Marisco is a microcosm of Lundy's character. An island out of time, nobly resisting those elements of the 21st century it sees no point in; a genuine respite from the rat race.

Sophie Atherton, 17 August 2013

High Street, Lundy Island, Bristol Channel EX39 2LY (01237 431831); landmarktrust.org.uk/Lundyisland; opening times vary with the boat/helicopter timetable

The Minerva Inn

Plymouth

The sign at the door is a testament to the Minerva Inn's history: 'Home to the Press Gang' says the proud white lettering. For this tiny Plymouth pub was once the place where unfortunate souls had the king's shilling slipped into their pints, then found themselves huckled through a secret passage and 'impressed' on to a Royal Navy ship waiting on the nearby Barbican dockside.

Established somewhere around 1540, the Min claims to be the pilgrim city's oldest hostelry. It lies a short stroll from the Barbican, on a steeply graded cobbled street which was once home to Sir Francis Drake (he is said to have quaffed a gallon at the Minerva after defeating the Armada). An exquisite stained-glass depiction of a helmeted Minerva (the Roman goddess of wisdom) on the pub's one window is a relic from the time it was owned by the Octagon Brewery. The pub's hanging signage features an owl and refers to Hegel's idea that you only apprehend the historical moment you're living through as it comes to a close: 'The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.' Classy.

It can be a squeeze to get through the Min's skinny and low-ceilinged space to the bar; and you might need to breathe in just that little bit more if you're seeking refuge in the snug at the back bar - with its large open fire, sofas and artefacts relating to the pub's history. Originally the home of an Elizabethan sea captain, the Minerva was built using timber reclaimed from galleons belonging to the vanquished Armada. Part of one of the ship's spars forms the core of a spiral staircase.

Until recently, the ceiling was covered in the signatures of celebrities, servicemen and your ordinary punter, but local health and safety officials proclaimed the paint a fire hazard and ordered that it all be covered in something more flame retardant. But the tradition has started all over again.

On a Saturday afternoon there's a crowd of ex-Royal Navy guys who are a wee bit boisterous, but we can still chat quietly and try some of the ales: regulars Doom Bar and Tribute Cornish Pale Ale and guests including Camerons IPA, Dartmoor IPA and Hoppy Days from Devon's Bays - a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin short-time brew using green hops. Old Rosie, a honeyed, cloudy, unfiltered scrumpyish cider is a joy.

An enthusiastic local at the bar shows me a chink in the wall that is said to be part of the smuggling tunnel, and a peephole they say was used by the Press Gang to spot their prey coming. He sips a little more of his pint then whispers as he tells me of the time he nodded a hello to a man passing his back. 'I never believed in ghosts, but I saw the man pass. The bartender didn't,' he explains. 'Obviously it hasn't stopped me coming back.'

Audrey Gillan, 28 December 2013

31 Looe St, Plymouth PL4 0EA (01752 223047); www.minervainn.co.uk

The Hyde Park Microbrewery

Plymouth

In the midst of swirling traffic, in a not entirely auspicious part of the city, is one of Plymouth's oldest pubs. It doesn't have an award-winning heritage interior or a Michelin-starred chef but it does have something more important: charisma. Crossing the threshold, I feel a little like the Doctor stepping out of the Tardis.

It seems I've been transported to the pleasant, cosy dinginess of a traditional Eighties pub, before the marketing men rebranded them and brought in silly names. The walls and shelves are full of 'breweriana' celebrating the good, the bad and the ugly of the industry's history. You can even get a pint of Double Diamond or Watney's Red Barrel (but, now as then, why would you, especially since there is a microbrewery on site and a decent selection of other local cask ales at the bar?).

I order a pint of the pub's own Made in Mutley (4.8%), keenly priced at £2.50. It's a light floral bitter with a pleasant biscuity aftertaste. Other cask ales are £3.50 a pint and include the seemingly ubiquitous Sharp's Doom Bar, as well as several beers from Dartmoor Brewery, including its rather underrated, but very good, IPA.

The time-warp theme continues on screens, dotted around the bar, showing adverts from the Seventies and Eighties. A youthful, long-haired Terry Wogan advertises Currys; people are putting tigers in their tanks and a woman in a hazy field of poppies takes a break from her watercolour painting for a flaky bar of chocolate.

It all adds to the pleasing sense of nostalgia inside the Hyde Park and makes me glad the pub was saved from being turned into an estate agent's office. It was listed as an Asset of Community Value after hundreds of locals signed a petition, and has been reinvigorated as a thriving boozer.

Thankfully, its retro theme doesn't extend to the food. Instead there's an extensive menu that owes more to American diners than it does to that Eighties staple chicken in a basket. There is everything from nachos and flatbreads, through burgers and pub classics such as bangers and mash, lasagne or pie and chips, with dozens of other options in between. Prices range from £3.95 for nachos to £12.95 for a mixed grill with sausages, gammon and steak from a local butchers. I opt for a tuna mayo sandwich and, too late, wish I had added a half pint of potatoes - a glorious stack of chips served in a beer mug (£1.50 for a half, £2.75 a pint).

The coming of craft beer seems to have brought with it a trend for hard seats that even the plumpest buttocks find miserable. The Hyde Park's seating offers a welcome return to tradition - plush and comfy, an ideal place to park your backside while you chat over a pint.

Sophie Atherton, 13 June 2015

88 Mutley Plain, Plymouth PL4 6JG (01752 601446); boutiquecoffeebrands.co.uk/thehydepark

The Cott Inn

Dartington, Devon

The Cott Inn slumps on a gentle slope, in a spruced-up hamlet just across the river from Dartington Hall, site of the Telegraph Ways With Words festival. It is elongated, cyclopean and slightly wonky, like a sleeping dinosaur. It has been open for trade since the 14th century, but the obligatory markers of antiquity - two inglenooks, copper...