Hyde Park, Plymouth > Reviews (1)

Not that I am claiming to be a hardened drinker at this time, I would just like to write a review of another pub that is situated fairly close to where I live - namely, the Hyde Park pub. It is so called owing to its proximity to the Hyde Park area of Plymouth, although it could actually in fact be classed as being in the Mutley area of Plymouth. After, it is to be found at the end of Mutley Plain!

The Hyde Park is not exactly the easiest pub to get to, as it is to be found in the middle of a roundabout where three quite main and busy roads all converge. To get to it, you need to cross over two or three pedestrian crossings (no matter which way you come from) - none of which are controlled by a green man. And so therefore you have to judge the main traffic lights, and risk your life before they change again.

Not ideal if you are or if you have someone with you who is disabled, but it could do done at a push. But once you get to the pub, then a disabled person cannot even get in as there are steps up to it - and what with it being an old grade listed building, the people who own it are far too tight to pay for any alterations of this magnitude to be done. However, any disabled person could sit outside if they wanted to - and die of smoke poisoning from the traffic.

Once inside, there is the lounge area and the public bar area - the decoration looks just like it came right from the 1970’s, but that doesn’t put a lot of people off as it is still quite a busy pub despite its location. There are the usual number of fruit and quiz machines; a dart board, and a small DJ booth that is used on occasions for discos and such like.

The food does a small selection of pub grub, that includes fish and chips and pies - but there is only really a small separate dining area that is to be accessed by going up some stairs, or else you would have to eat your meal in the midst of all of the drinkers. However not very many people eat here, because of this - but the meals are all less than a fiver, but as there are many other places to eat in the area then people will just generally tend to arrive here to drink during the evening.

But it is not only open during the evening, as it is open seven days a week from mid day until midnight. It serves an average selection of beers/ lagers/ wines/ spirit’s and soft drinks, and the average price of a drink is around the £3 mark which I guess you could say is pretty cheap for these days!

If you are driving, then there is limited on street parking close by (most of it is actually resident only parking), or there is a car park about a two minute walk away that you have to pay in up until eight o’clock in the evening. There are many buses that go past the pub, and the actual pub in itself is situated right in the middle of two major bus stops (both of which are within five minutes of one another). But if you are getting a taxi, then there is plenty of room at the front of the pub (which is where all of the smokers congregate), that willows them to drop you off.

Families are allowed in (as are dogs), but they are only really allowed to come in to the pub up until just after school hours have finished. The reason for this is because of the sorts of people who would normally frequent the pub, are those who can’t really relate to anyone who is different to themselves!

The staff are all pretty helpful on the whole, and what I have found to be quite unusual (for Plymouth at least) is that there is quite a wide age range of bar staff. Not that this means anything at all! But on the whole I do think that it is good to have a decent mixture of people, as they can all bring different things to it.

The toilets are also bulk standard for what you would expect to find in this type of pub, although if the aforementioned disabled person was able to get in to the pub - then they wouldn’t really be able to make use of the toilet facilities. As although they are all on the ground level, they are not really that suited to any disabled person owing to the amount of space that is in there.

All in all, I am not really that excited by this particular pub. Although there are many pubs along Mutley Plain, this is one that stands on its own about five minutes away from the rest of them - and they don’t really seem to do anything much about trying to attract different sorts of customers, although they do seem to get quite a strong following amongst the ‘different’ class of people if you know what I mean.

Thanks for reading!