Blacksmiths in Torridge

Just popped in for a drink - lovely place. Could have easily spent all afternoon here.

Quiz nights with Della are fun, and in Simon you have everything you could ask for in a locals pub barman. The bar decoration could do with a bit of money spent on it, it's currently one of the blandest pubs I have ever been in, and it generates little in the way of atmosphere and ambience. No food, no sports TV, couple of small screens showing music videos, but no pinball, no juke box. It has a great deal of potential, but current owners are not making the most of it.

One of the best pubs in Bideford great staff could not ask for more friendly and helpful people perfect garden with access from the Tarka trail lovely beer and fruit cider , pool table and dart board need to open more often and bring back food

Lovely pub backing right onto the Tarka Trail. Thank you very much to Simon and the Blacksmith Arms for hosting our runners in the beautiful beer garden after they finished running their ultramarathon.

Visiting Bideford for a family occasion,found this gem of a pub, service was excellent, facilities excellent, was told about quiz night following night and decided to go along. Had a great time and a laugh. Highly recommend

Smart and clean. Splendid beer. A cut above the average Bideford pub. Shame there's no local cider though.

Amazing pub, great atmosphere and music, the staff are great, thanks to you Amy and Simon.

Great place,great atmosphere,excellent ale,friendly staff..

A great pub tucked away in a quiet side street parallel to the river on the east side of the old bridge. Thank you to Amy and Simon for their warm welcome and hospitality.

Great place for a cool drink after a long walk on the Tarka Trail.

Nice place, good lager and great outdoor seating.

Rip off avoid. Popped in for a drink, ordered two half pints of lemonade and coke. Barman barely 2/3 filled the glass, had to ask for them to be filled to the top. Then charged £7.40! For two small soft drinks. Avoid this place.

Lovely pub, friendly barman, well kept Guinness.

Get the right barman get the best tasting Guinness

Great pub, good atmosphere had lovely night out. Good music as well from the Wild Strawberries ☺️.

Great pub glad to see it reopened, nice pub garden and indoor seating, pool table and good beers on tap. Gotten more expensive now though

Nice pub shame it's not open every night

Pleasant surroundings. The garden on a summers was busy but most enjoyable. A few dogs.but well behaved

Lovely to go back to the Blackies but disappointed there was no football being shown.Need to get back to the old days,carvery and football on a cold winter afternoon.

After nearly 3 years managed to revisit the blacksmith arms (closed due to covid and then staff shortages). Still a lovely pub. Glad to see quite a few customers in the pub itself and out in the Beer garden. Pub has been redecorated and looks clean and fresh. Only one issue, only one beer on but things can only get better beer wise.

Nice pub, Enjoyed a few drinks here while staying nearby, Shame it's not open 7 days a week at the moment but good all the same.

Good price for drinks! Nice just off the tarka trail for a drink! And the bar staff was very welcoming. Would recommend

Great to see the local pub back up and running after so long. Great staff & atmosphere!

Really nice pub....great prices and lovely outside decking and welcoming, unfortunately the 'locals' are undesirable with foul language in addition to their dogs that need better control. Sorry guys its a balance but your locals are letting you down!!! Looking at other reviews its the same issues... foul language and dogs needing to be left at home.

Beautiful garden in a beautiful setting! Great bar staff 👏 👍

My wife and I popped in for a drink on a Sunday evening, nice pub. However, the experience spoilt by the foul language coming from a group of men at the bar which should have been dealt with.

Unfriendly staff & felt as though we weren't wanted there

Very clickie pub...for the locals only..

Good ales kept well and good price. Nice staff. Lacking in atmosphere, and some undesirables with aggressive dogs in beer garden. Background music was dreadful. Didn't try food but I'm told that it is good.

Lovely pub with a fire, cheap ale and screens for watching sports, I like Crabbys Ale £1.75 a pint, if you want somewhere a bit more lively at the weekends, Crabby Dicks sports bar in town is owned by the same people so prices are similar and the staff often go between the two places

Lovely pub !! Great staff!! Not much parking thou!! But had a great evening!!

Nice food . Pleasant friendly staff. Good all round service. Lovely carvery sunday lunch. Value for money.

Clean tidy pub with a great atmosphere, had a nice coffee business meeting

Best pub on the Tarka Trail. A must visit destination.

Good place top stop on the Tarka Trail!

Diabolical, I ordered a 2 bags of crisps as everything was off including the chef who was on holiday 😂😂

Another good stopping place on tbe tarka trail

Enjoyable evening for a few drinks , booked a table for the carvery on Sunday,

Yeah was nice treat to have a drink near us.

My husband & I visited this pub today with our son, daughter-in-law & 2 grandsons. We are residents of Bideford so are not holidaymakers. When my husband & son went to the bar the barmaid was playing the fruit machine & 6 men were sat on stools at the bar other than that the inside was empty but upstairs on the decking was busy. When she eventually stopped playing the fruit machine she worked her way along the 6 men with phrases such as ‘another one joe, how about you Alf would you like a top up’ with a smile on her face. Got to my husband & our son no smile & barked yes! We were all made to feel very unwelcome, the language from the men in the bar was absolutely disgusting, my husband sent the 2 grandchildren out to the deck with me & my daughter-in-law. We were with a large dog so our options of pubs in the area was very limited so we tolerated this, ordered food & same response was received at the bar. We spent £71.00 in this disgusting place, we certainly we won’t be returning. P.s the food we ordered was good & the lady who cooked & brought it to us was lovely. Shame that this rude woman behind the bar doesn’t learn customer service from her chef. They have a gate on the Tara trail & seem to want to attract business that way but if the bar service doesn’t pick up they will just turn people off!

We attended here with friends. First we had to ask for cleaning items to clean our own table. Then the draught drinks seemed flat, so guess they're saving on gas.Then the language was colourful by other customers.The atmosphere they appeared to be going for was late 80's. The door to the beer garden was open and the smokers all gathered around it so the second hand smoke drifted in more than out.All in all a trip down memory lane I wont be taking again and i suggest you don't.

Reasonably priced drinks, friendly and helpful staff and a nice atmosphere. Free pool Monday to Thursday too! Great pub to have as a local.

Massive place. Imagine it's more fun in the Summer though

Lunchtime visit we found friendly people, good food, dog friendly. Would go again.

This time round, i didn't stay long enough to enjoy the decking area outside up the stairs - i used to go up there quite a lot & it backs onto the Tarka Trail (footpath/cyclepath), which is handy.

Good pub good food and most of all good company

We had a nice sunday lunch here after a walk on the Tarka Trail. Friendly place and great for watching the rugby.

Nice country pub with open fire place and good selection of ales. The food wasnt great though and expensive. Burnt pizza and salad that looked past its best. Would go for a drink and skip the food next time.

Stopped here with the dog when walking the Tarka Trail, you can take your dog onto the Terrace area only. Water bowl provided. Good seating area. Ordered food off the lunch menu, freshly made, well presented and tasty. Access to toilets facilities without going downstairs to the bar area. Cyclists can leave their bikes on cycle rack provided on the Tarka Trail beside the steps going down to the Terrace Area.

Went on a Wednesday evening so it was very quiet but beer was good and the bar area looked to have been recently refurbished. Would recommend

Quant little pub, friendly bar staff apart from one older lady. Prices are fair, there's pool and live TV. Also music which is 50p to £1 per song.

This is the only pub on the Tarka Trail, apparently. Friendly staff and the usual pub fare for food and drink. There's a terrace if you want to keep your eye on your bikes but it's down a level from the Trail so more a physical reassurance than anything else.

Tried to drop in, but got sent out... they weren't open. Unfortunately their signs don't advertise the actual times they open. Wouldn't bother with this place...

Was recommended to stop here whilst cycling Tarka Trail with family. Lovely sun trap of a terrace accessible by steps from the trail, with bike racks to keep cycles secure. Had a nice lunch and we were served quickly - can’t ask for more.

Nice pub friendly allows dogs Not sure about accommodation.

Awesome place... after 5 1/2 miles cycling it was a welcome shandy

Out of the four pubs we visited this was by far the worst. The beer (Tribute) was poorly served by a miserable “barmaid” who was totally disinterested and shouldn’t really be at work. Would strongly recommend the Brewery going in and investigating what they have done to their beer because this was disgraceful. Tribute is one of our favourites and this did not do it justice. Obviously acceptable to the other customers who were at home using the most foul and abusive language in front of their little children - and that was just the mothers ! Not a place we would recommend.

Lovely pub, friendly landlady, lovely food, great location near tarka trail

Stopped here after the Bideford Bike Show - sat out side upstairs on the terrace. Downstairs was ok but around the pool table smelt strongly of disinfectant so a bit off putting. Menu fairly varied. We chose scampi and mushrooms in creamy garlic - scamp was perfectly cooked and the mushrooms lovely. Good pint of Old Rosie. Toilets clean. Staff very friendly.

Keep calm events arranged a 50th birthday party for my sister here. The landlady,Nikki couldn't have been more helpful & accomodating,letting us take over with decorating etc.carvery rolls were yummy!!thanks also to rob braddick for the delivery of prosecco,you're a star!Fab night was had by all 😀

What a place to go a party which was organised in advance for 30-50 people so they knew we were coming but we waited over 30 mind for drinks one barmaid didn't know what she was doing and the other which apparently is the landlady well she couldn't give a dame about serving us surly in this day and age when so many pubs are closing because of lack of customers ! then this pub is the last one I would go to and the last one that 99%of us would never enter again they don't deserve our hard earned money 😠😠

Good all round pub, nice food too

A good place to see a group and to have a drink

Very good carvery here, lots of choices for potatoes and also veg. Meat is usually pork/beef/chicken but you get quite a bit and it is always good quality and easy to cut etc. Drink prices are about average for the area and the only reason I have given only 4 stars is the older lady behind the bar tends to have a face like a slapped buttcheek and doesn't smile much. Service is usually good from her but almost perfunctory rather than meant.

A brilliant place, good company, and very nice people.

Just finished a gorgeous lunch here. Value for money. Dog friendly. Food arrived quick and was delicious. Bar lady was very polite and welcoming. We can fully recommend!

What a welcome stop this was! Situated on the Tarka Trail Cycle Route at Bideford, the staff were friendly and the food was excellent. Not over priced either.

Bit dreary, no atmosphere, only serve food until 3pm

This place was described as the best pub on the tarka trail. Disappointed! The carvery had pretty much ran out of meat and the veg was cold and had to be heated. Completely understaffed, one young girl was behind the bar rushed off her feet, serving drinks, carvery and cleaning tables whilst another older member couldn't be bothered doing anything and was very rude and miserable leaving everything for the younger girl to do, she had only cleared one table out of many in the 90minutes we were there! The poor chef was on her own cooking and running the food and apologised for our wait! The curry of the day was gorgeous and was piping hot compliments to the chef and the younger bar worker you are a credit to the pub!

Nice pub sat outside with dogs good food aswell

The food looking rather nice, but it was burnt on edges, the roll was very crispy and hard to bite. Jacket potatoe burnt on outside and not really cooked on inside and was served warm. The female staff are as thick as two short planks.

Paramos aquí para una merienda mientras ciclismo el sendero A Tarka. La primera cosa que notamos fue la entrada trasera directamente fuera de la ruta con el estacionamiento de bicicletas que apreciamos. Bajamos en el pub y ordenados nuestros tés.

Good location on the tarka trail and the beer was good... BUT... 4 of our party of 6 got rather nasty food poisoning from a cheese baguette with a bit of side salad!

Excellent carvery. Good home cooked food

Traditional Bideford boozer, quite friendly and looker after.

Lovely pub with good local atmosphere . Didn't eat here but had a drink and found it a friendly place with a warm welcome.

Great Friday club. Been twice. That's on Friday. Friendly staff to. Good pint of beer.

Stopped off on our cycle trip. Ordered 2 Margherita pizzas & a Vegetarian curry. Took an hour for the food to arrive & there were only three other tables occupied, each with only four guests dining. The Vegetarian curry was chicken curry! They were very apologetic & replaced it quickly. The replacement can best be described as chip shop curry sauce containing a few vegetables, mostly sweet corn. The pizzas were stodgy, bottom of the range supermarket style bases, with added slabs of barely melted bland cheese and thick slices of tomato. They served a nice pint of Tribute & the staff were nice enough, but I wouldn't recommend eating here. Disappointing as its a great location on the Tarka Trail & looks like a nice terrace at the back, but they need to sort out their catering.

Hope it's going to be my new local. Love the upstairs terrace and it's dog friendly.

Cayó en el ciclismo. En la primera impresión me pareció que el herreros un poco ruidoso y sucio. Sin embargo, familias comiendo en la zona del bar, así que pedimos.

Used to come here a lot when I was younger. Not so much now...

The day we visited the outside space had not been cleaned for ages. As the decking had a lot of rubbish over it. The coffee was ok. Toilet was ok. We didn't eat here.

Great beer garden with easy access to the Tarka trail

Great pub, really friendly staff!

Nos detuvimos para comer mientras que el ciclismo y sábado en el sol en la terraza en la parte trasera. En pedir bebidas nos dijeron que la comida que pedimos que tomar un tiempo y el personal eran subrayó claramente (pero agradable). No sólo parecía...

Yet again a lovely carvery! Can sometimes get very busy here so always try and come as soon as they start serving at 1200. Food is always fresh and hot with at least 6 veg choices (plus 3 different types of potatoes). Lass behind the knife is always smiling and pleasant which is always a good sign especially when carrying said knife! Drinks prices are about average for the area and they are owned by the Braddicks family who own quite a few restaurants, bars, hotels, etc around the North Devon area so quality is standard across the board. Highly recommend especially for bicyclists on the Tarka Trail.

Blacksmiths is a great family pub, situated on the tarka trail, food is great served daily and the Sunday carvery is delicious, sitting on the decking in the summer is one of the best places to enjoy a beer or one of the great ciders they serve recommended.😆

As with all the local establishments owned and run by Braddicks, Blacksmiths is clean, tidy and well run. The staff seem happy and pleased to serve you. It has an entrance directly off the Tarka cycling/walking trail with outside seating area. Perfect for a lunch break or at the end of the day. My only criticism was that the real ale was served too cold for my liking. But that does seem to be the trend nowadays.

I visited Blacksmiths in April 2015 following a game of football nearby.The service received was fine, no problems at all. The prices of the drinks were very reasonable (2 pints of lager and 1 pint of cider for £8).For food we were given sweet and sour pork with chips. I was impressed with the amount of pork meat in the dish and the portion size was spot on.Definitely a pleasant visit.

Nice beergarden on the roof just beside the cycle path. Good service and tremendous ice cream portions.

We visited this pub whilst on holiday and decided to try the carvery lunch. Food was good at around £6.50 per head and you can pile on your own veg and roasties ! Atmosphere was a bit local though and got some funny looks when our kids made any noise as we took a table near the tv which had the football on, otherwise just your usual local pub.

The place looks like it's had a load of work done recently and the beergarden and location by the cyclepath is ideal. No need to chase through town looking for someplace to leave the bike and eat. What does let it down is the beer selection. The only real ale offered is tribute. It looks like it's selling well and everything and I feel it would be complimented by another beer from devon.