The Ship & Shovell

Technically speaking, the name should be The Ship & The Shovell. Facing one another across a narrow alleyway, these two scarlet-painted pothouses are separate entities conjoined by a common cellar. Real ales come courtesy of Hall & Woodhouse in Dorset: Badger Best IPA, Tanglefoot & Stinger were on when we last dropped in, along with an armada of continentals including Peroni & Bavarian Hofbrau. As you might deduce from a hostelry with the word ‘ship’ in its name, there’s a strong nautical theme here: the vessel in question sank off the Cornish coast, along with eminent 17th-century seafarer Sir Cloudesley Shovell (described as ‘a very fat man’). If you wish to expand your own girth, find a pew in the ‘crow’s nest’ & fill up on shipshape sarnies, pies, salads & bakes.