On a cold weekend, with a freezing wind, the sea crashing on the sea wall and the seagulls struggling to fly, we walked the kids down the seafront to Queens drive Exmouth, (https://www.queensdrivespace.co.uk the local dinosaur-themed play park), our family from London were down (as it was Squash’s Birthday), we had booked bowling at Ocean bowel for 4.20 and then realised that we had 3 hours to kill!.
We (the adults) sat for an hour at Queens drive play park watching the 6 under 11’s run around, they were causing havoc on the slide, taking over the swings, spinning the merry go around like a tornado, and then at the point when you cant feel you’re toes anymore and you join being a kid just to warm up, we decided we needed a warming up plan.
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At the other end of the esplanade, there is a pub, a youngs pub, it’s called The Grove, it was a 20-minute walk with the kids, we know of it as we used to drink there when we were young and child-free, but recently we do not go out to pubs due to the cost & size of our family, but in total, today our party size was 13! so would we fit in?
When approaching the Grove we could see that the outside has had a facelift, a new outside bar has been fitted ready for summer and the grass area (which was always muddy) had been replaced with astroturf, on entering a warm buzzing pub with a beautiful fire burning, we ushered the kids into a corner just to get them out the way.
At the Bar, a shocked member of the team (Shocked due to our party’s size, not my dashing good looks) asked how many of us, suddenly a warming smiling face approached us and said “would we like to go upstairs to the restaurant? to give you more room? and its also table service”, we were lead up to a wonderfully decorated restaurant with views of the sea and showcasing the glass balcony, WoW were our words.
We were then served by a very nice, calm and funny chap who dealt spectacularly with all the kids and just reminded us to relax, and he would get the drinks sorted for us.
The 4 boys sat in the window, boat spotting and the girls played in the corner whilst us adults enjoyed a great pint of winter warmer and Thatcher’s Gold.
The Pub was warm, the drinks good and the smell of the food coming out the kitchen was wonderful, my cockles were certainly getting warmer and we got another round in.
I forgo the table service this time (the kind chap, did come up again to check just before my decision), as I wanted to see the score in the rugby (A rugby pub, always a winner!) and whilst at the bar I asked the lady with the warming smile (I forgot to ask her name and I also believe she was the Manger) about the changes.
Back in September, (I had waffled to her) I had met my old college Mate (Adam, been 20 years!) here in The Grove, I wasn’t like this then, the reply was, that the refurb had been undertaken in November for 2 weeks and the results were fantastic.
From downstairs to the upstairs, restaurant and the outside, (front and back) to the toilets, the whole pub looked classic, warming, but very very welcoming.
For such a large group the team at the Grove welcomed us, looked after us and made us feel special.
If you are out and about in Exmouth check out the Grove https://www.groveexmouth.co.uk/
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