How this guide works

Two questions: is it sunny out front, and what's on the bar? Both answers are worked out from public data, and both can be wrong. Here is how.

The beers and prices

Every beer comes from the pub's or bar's own website, PDF menu or drinks page, or a chain's own page for its Plymouth pub. On 22 and 23 October 2026 we read 238 Plymouth pubs', bars' and taprooms' sites by hand, noting the beers and ciders they list, their prices where they give them, whether they pour cask ale, whether they have a beer garden, the deals they advertise, and which have closed. Where a pub's own site links its order-at-table menu, we read the beers and prices on it as it opens, without ordering. Where a pub has no list of its own, we use the cask ales CAMRA's page for it lists as served regularly, if the local branch has updated the page in the last six months; CAMRA's pages also tell us which pubs pour real ale. Our automatic menu reader adds the beers on bar and restaurant menus it has read, checking every price word for word against the page. Where both found a venue's beers, the fuller priced list is used. Lists were last brought together on 23 October 2026.

Most Plymouth pubs don't put their beers online, and fewer still their prices. Pubs that do publish prices aren't a fair sample, so the typical pint is the typical published pint. More on the figures.

We list beer names, sizes, ABV and prices, and leave the pub's tasting notes on their site. The styles ("bitter", "golden ale") are ours, from a fixed list, so one beer has one style on every page. Offers are shown separately and never applied to a price. Guest ales rotate and lists go out of date: treat everything here as a guide and check at the bar.

Our reading respects each site's robots.txt, waits between pages, and says who we are. We don't read social media, apps or review sites. Some pubs ask not to be read by robots; they're listed without beers.

The sun

For each pub we picked the open pavement or terrace within 15 metres of its front. From each spot we traced the skyline in every direction, using the Environment Agency's laser survey of the city's buildings, trees and hills at one-metre detail. Then we followed the sun across the sky every ten minutes for a whole year and noted when it clears that skyline.

That tells you when sun can reach that spot on a clear day. It can't tell you about clouds, awnings or parasols, buildings put up since the survey are missing, and a beer garden behind a pub isn't the spot we modelled. "About so many hours a year" adjusts for Plymouth's usual cloud, using the Met Office's 1991 to 2020 averages for Mount Batten.

The ratings use the outdoor season, April to September between noon and 9pm. A sun trap is in the sun for at least three quarters of that time; shaded is under 15%. The finder on the front page uses each pub's year hour by hour, averaged over each month, and counts a pub as in the sun when sun reaches that spot for more than half of the hour.

What we don't use

No paid listings, no reviews and no star ratings from other websites. Pub positions come from the Food Standards Agency, OpenStreetMap or the postcode. The guide covers the City of Plymouth, and across the water Cawsand and Kingsand, a summer ferry ride from the Barbican.

Privacy and cookies

If you say yes when the site asks, we use Google Analytics to count visits. It sets first-party cookies only if you agree, and nothing is used for advertising. You can change your mind at any time with .

The pub crawl planner can start from where you are. If you ask it to, your browser shares your location with the page, which uses it to find pubs near you; it isn't sent to us or kept.

Corrections and removal

Run a pub and want a beer or price fixed, your list added, or your pub taken off the guide? Email contact@plymouthresearch.uk with the pub's name. We'll take it off at the next update and stop reading your site.

Sources and licences

Sun model: Environment Agency LIDAR Composite (© Environment Agency 2022) and Ordnance Survey OS Open Map Local (© Crown copyright and database right), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Food hygiene ratings and some pub positions: Food Standards Agency, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Real ale and some pubs' regular cask beers: CAMRA's pub pages (camra.org.uk), kept by its local branches.
Postcode positions and wards: ONS Postcode Directory via postcodes.io, Open Government Licence.

Drink responsibly

Every pub page lists its alcohol-free beers alongside the rest. For facts about alcohol and support, visit Drinkaware. Looking for cocktails instead? Our sister guide, Cocktail Compass Plymouth, covers them.