Double Locks Pub in Exeter - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Good to sit out side by the river with a pint or to after taking dog for a walk

Had heard good things about this dog friendly place, so we booked a table for 2.30 for 6. It's quite a challenging place to get to by vehicle. Once we negotiated the non wheel chair friendly entrance and exit to the outside area, where despite a reservation, it was free for all for seating for us, yet other tables had reserved by names on them. There was also a private event going on with loud music and large sections unaccessable. It was explained by the staff that the kitchen was on "pause" for a short period to catch up. So we viewed the menu and after a while I went to place drinks and food order. This is when I was told that the kitchen was no longer serving any food at all. Nothing. So despite booking a table in advance, we were left with no other option but to leave at 3pm and search for a place for food with 3 pensioners , one of which was in a wheelchair and had a dog. What completely disgusting customer service, we weren't walk in's, but we had booked in advance. Abhorrent chain pub with zero care or customer service! AVOID! AVOID!AVOID!

Several items not available,limited menu.

Went for lunch today and ordered some Salt and pepper squid and a portion of truffle fries. They arrived and the fries were cold and the squid looked super anaemic but was tough as boot leather. Requested that it was re cooked . They obliged and then brought it out to us. Again the fries were only luke warm and the squid once again was very pale but didn’t touch it as there was a thick black hair on the plate under the squid. Told the staff and then asked for a refund of our food which was given. Left straight away and won’t be returning any time soon.

Lovely location, which is the only reason to go there as both the food and service are well below average unfortunately. A poor experience. To add the detail requested by the location. Ordered drinks via the app they took 15 minutes to come, even though it was very quiet with most tables empty. My daughter's j20 came with no straw or glass, which I had to ask for, we were bought a plastic pint glass (daughter is 13), with a little bit of ice swimming in water, where it had been added with zero care. Food came, ham, egg and chips were okay, eggs over cooked, greens cold and broccoli undercooked (not al dente). Fish sandwich, bread was dry, fish tiny, overcooked, and the smallest smearing of tartare sauce ever, plus vegetable crisps were stale. Ham and cheese sandwich, bread again dry, filling was generous, but the thickness of the cheese was comical, Tesco sell it in smaller lumps! Kids sausage, chips and peas were okay, sausages were overcooked and greasy, but seemed like they had once been good quality. Chips overall were fine, typical frozen chips, not the triple cooked chips they were billed as. No one checked on our meal. Finally, when ordering you are asked to tip the staff if you enjoyed ordering via the app, which is a laughable notion, I will always tip good service and food, which unfortunately this wasn't, I will never tip beforehand, and this is a perfect demonstration of why.

Perfect for a summer evening by the river

Great setting - few pubs better than this one.

Came here for “Soul at the locks” fantastic venue great atmosphere

Lovely pub on the canal , food and service was great ,

Delicious food, fabulous setting!

Lovely quirky canalside venue. It was beautifully warm so we were outside after a nice walk along the canal from Exeter quayside... Definitely a pub to recommend!

Lovely food ,staff, atmosphere everything you want on a gloriously sunny day . Would HIGHLY recommend .will be back

The corn on the cob with chimichurri sauce was exceptional! The focaccia was also great

me and my 2 friend came in and ordered 3 kids meals, 2 sausages and chips and a fish and chips and a side of garlic bread and truffle fries, the truffle fries came out as normal fries and with the fish it was meant to be mushy peas and it came with garden peas and no tartar sauce when it said specifically mushy peas and tartar sauce, my friends sausage was fully burnt on the inside but they give him a fully new portion 👍

Double locks was very busy and live music. Lovely walk along the canal lots of wildlife. Well worth a visit.

Cannot handle the demand of events. Double locks used to do really great events but now sell out of things very easily, toilets blocked, out of order and in very bad state and long queues for one drink. They are part of the Young's group but their app does not work. Very disappointed in them trying to host an event when clearly not equipped or investing enough to run it smoothly or for any success. Second time I've been in wo weeks and very very disappointed both times. Food and drink extortionately overpriced l, which may be forgiven if the service and experience was good but nope!

Lovely pub situated on the Exeter canal. We only stayed for a couple of drinks but there was nice relaxed atmosphere.

How can they get away with £6.30 for bottle of cider and £4.50 for some chips in a drinking cup.Talk about ripping people off I will never be going to double locks again.How can they think it right to sell that rubbish for that price .

I went in this place today. And was disappointed and shocked. It’s cost £9 for 2 pots of chips which where served in what can be described as dog bowls. (Small cold and overpriced really) then had 2 ciders which cost £6.35 each so overall feel I’ve been ripped off. Would not buy anything from there again. Might just take the dog for a walk past there in the future as there is plenty of them down there.

Beautiful pub. Poor food. Big portions unfortunately they're not using quality produce.

A beautiful bar where you can eat and drink. It is a little difficult to enter, but the place is worth a visit for its beauty

Nice place to eat in with your friends and it is near to the river 🏞️

Fabulous location and great pub!

A very friendly and welcoming pub which is dog friendly as well. A nice selection of sandwiches for lunch or you can order main meals of the A La Carte. Staff were very friendly and chatty too. Would recommend

Obviously a busy day Several items sold out Fantastic setting for a nice relaxed meal What was available was very nice indeed

After a lovely walk along the river , this is a great place to stop and have a break. Plenty of spaces to sit inside and out. Very nice food.

Amazing place at the end of a lovely walk, the beer garden is my favourite because you get a lovely view of the canal. The staff has been lovely every time I have been and the service is always fast.

Great food, relatively small portion size but it did taste great. Service was unfortunate from one young female working front of house, seemed to have an attitude, however everyone else seemed lovely. Fantastic location.

This is a class place for a pint next to the canal, the food looks good, I will try it one of these days! However, HOWEVER, there description of "big screen" needs to be challenged... it wasnt a big screen, just a big ish telly.. none the less this is a class place for a pint, check it out!

We have always been here and put up with at least £6 (plus plus) for a pint because we liked the garden area, there's a small meadow with willows next to canal, lovely with a dog. However the last couple of times we've been the meadow was a big mud patch. We went back again recently and it hasn't improved so we didn't stay for a drink. Pity, we'll have to find somewhere else to hang out on a summer's afternoon...

Fab lunch quick service good food x

Omg. Painfully slow at the bar serving. No sense of urgency. It is a Friday!!

Lovely atmosphere, lively in the evenings for all age groups. Surrounding one of best of country sides

Great drinks, snacks, and atmosphere.

Great location for a drink, don’t bother with the food. Expensive and misleading menu. Food was cold and quite bad. Garlic and rosemary “Focaccia” was regular old bread, dry with no flavour.

Went with friends for lunch. Outside area was dirty and littered with soiled napkins. We all had sandwiches but bread was stale & ham was fatty, most of it was fed to the dogs. One of us is poorly today. Such a disappointment at a cost of £34

What kind of pub can’t even make a lime & soda? Absolutely shocking, no food being served and menu is as bare as a desert, awful

Great food and lovely atmosphere. The service was super friendly and would definitely return!

Typical Youngs brewery but in an amazing setting.

Sadly disappointing ! Only 1 not very good cloudy real ale, reduced and very limited menu! The sharing ploughman’s was an absolute rip off @ £22 would have been expensive at half that price! Totally destroyed my happy memories of what was a superb eating and drinking establishment.

Second year in a row booking in for father's day, so disappointed in the food. Booked in at 1,30 and already run out of most of the options on the menu. When the roast did arrive there was hardly any vegetables and potatoes were cold and hard.

Sunday lunch superb plus nice pint of scrumpy

Fantastic place to meet and paddle down to. Seats by the water are the best and if you can grab one! Unfortunately due to how busy it normally is can take a while to get a pint or food.

Just popped in for a drink after a long bike ride, all seems very pleasant but limited information as didn't have food or spend time inside, we sat outdoors.

A Welcome respite during a pleasant walk.

Great menus and location , good spot for a walk

It was a really busy day and all the bar staff/servers were suuuper busy. They did a great job at seeing everyone, being attentive and kind. Sadly, the kitchen had some technical difficulties and even though we sat down at 1:45 we didn’t actually get food until past 3pm… we didn’t mind so much because the scenery was beautiful and drinks were good! But if you’re in a rush then maybe not the best spot! Also wasn’t the biggest fan of the roast potato’s but the rest of the roast was lush and good portion!

This was the worst dining experience of my life. Had booked a table for a group for lunch, and were promised that the outside catering (bbq, burger van) would be operating in addition to the main kitchen. Arrived to discover that only the main kitchen was operating, and all that was being served was Sunday lunch - not really what you want on a hot day in June. Were then informed that no orders were currently being taken and we’d have to wait 30mins to order. Were eventually allowed to order, but then 15min later someone came from the kitchen to inform us half of our order was unavailable. After some chaotic back-and-forth, with staff giving mixed messages about what alternatives were available, we were eventually able to order some alternative food. This eventually started to arrive another 30mins later (1hr 15min after our booking time), but the final members of our group were not served for an hour (almost 2 hours after we arrived). The food that was served was largely inedible - in particular the potatoes which were so hard they couldn’t even be cut with a knife and fork! If you’re only going to offer a very limited menu, there’s really no excuse for it also being terrible. After much complaining, the pub agreed to refund some of the meals and provided some complimentary drinks, but this didn’t really make up for ruining our day.

We had our wedding at the Double Locks and can honestly say that the day was perfect. We were able to book the day before to invite our guests to help set up and meet each other. When we arrived the day after for the wedding reception we brought our guests down on the ferry and this just added something extra for them. The food was amazing, we had a lot of comments on how nice the burgers were for the BBQ option and the buffet platters that came out later flew off the tables as well. Everything about the day was so relaxed and easy for us as the bride and groom, the staff went above and beyond for us and our guests and everything we needed was there. Such a beautiful venue! I would highly recommend for the perfect spring/summer wedding experience.

Perfect location along the canal. Lots of seating inside and out. Food is good. Great atmosphere. Good selection of drinks. Very dog friendly.

Visited here with some friends on Sunday lunch. It was extremely busy with lots of customers coming in out of the rain. We had the Sunday roast. Decent portion size but i think we hit a crunch point at peak time i.e 1.30pm, and the food quality was variable on our table with some dishes cold and others hot, and differences in quantity/quality of meat. The app was not working so had to queue to order food. Would come again but at a different time of day when less busy.

Lovely cosy pub by the canal. All dressed up for Christmas, with real fires and great outdoors in the summer.

Over priced, run down, average food Plenty of customers but they never seem to invest in the place Your basically paying for the surroundings… and not sure what’s going on with the loos

Meat market in a beautiful location

Sweet baby Jesus the crab sandwich was awful. It was as if a seagull had regurgitated its crab catch into a stale baguette lined with a tasteless sliced tomato. They threw in a deep fried soggy soft shell crab on top, I assume that was for distraction. The venue remains amazing the food poor. TBF the burger and chips looked safe and were clearly popular.

Had my 60th birthday party there with friends and my family, in the marquee in the gardens. Had a wonderful evening.

Great location and appreciate there has been a lot of rain which made some outside area boggy. The prices that are charged are well over the top especially for what you get even though the food was nice. Went in a large group and we all thought the same and were warned by friends before we went. Drink prices are expensive as well.

Tom did a brilliant job at looking after our very large party. Everyone enjoyed the food and location. The main problem we experienced was the poor accessibility for our mum who is in a wheelchair. Staff were very helpful but that couldn’t make up for the lack of basic infrastructure.

Amazing location but spoiled by 2 things. 1: The staff seem pretty grumpy and unfriendly every time I’ve visited. Food service is slow and inconsistent even when the pub isn’t that busy. 2: Youngs offer a pretty limited selection of average beers and the food menu is limited and disappointing. This place could be incredible but it’s let down by Weatherspoons vibes in an amazing place.

Busy pub on the river was ok good atmosphere and gets very busy.

Very nice pub, good quality food but a little expensive. I don't mind that if the quality is good. Very nice setting.

Terrible service. We ordered food for our family and told food would be a 30 minute wait which was not a problem. 50 minutes later we went to the bar and was told the food would be another 45 minutes as they had just processed a large order. Despite telling them we had canoed down from Exeter and had young children with us they were unwilling to fast track our order despite the issue being their fault. The best they would offer was a refund which we had to accept and they even removed the cost of our drinks from the refund! We often visit Double Locks but never again after such terrible service which is a real shame.

A little pricey at over £5/pint, but a great afternoon out none the less

Came here halfway through a dog 🐕 walk for a drink and some chips 🍟 definitely come here on a weekday as lovely and quiet. Can get very, very busy over the weekends and in the summer ! Great place to sit outside with a cider and watch the world go by. Only negative would be paying £4.50 for a side of chips 😅 (see photo below). I know money is tight for everyone at the moment, but there could have been a few more ! And a plate and not in a cup which looks like one of those you keep your toothbrish in 😅None the less, they were crispy and hot and came out very quickly 😄

We only stopped off for a quick bite and a drink but this place is amazing! First of all it's totally dog friendly, which is a must for me - considering it's location I ordered my usual ploughman's (a "light bite")and what I got was the best ploughman's I can remember by a long way. First thought was "that's a lot" but when I tasted the quality of the food I was blown away! I don't right reviews much, but this was so good I felt I had to share my experience. I am only left wondering how they can make a profit from this. I would include a photo, but I ate it before I picked up the phone 😉

Always good. Amazing location by the canal, lots of space and seats. A covered gazebo if it's raining. Food has improved a lot recently. Great place to meet up.

Food was nice enough but a little on the expensive side. A little let down though by the complete lack of a children's menu/options.

I want to call out Lucus for helping me get vegan/vegetarian option and going above and beyond to making it possible.

Great experience overall ! Very kinda service , very happy

Great pub in a lovely location alongside the canal. Only had a short visit for drinks but will be back for food soon

One of my favourite pubs beautiful location, well worth the visit.

Best pub ever! We used to have Thursday morning physics lectures here. A pint and full English breakfast for £5. You should go!

Back after a long gap (since they took cheesy chips off the menu 😭). Enjoyed a wonderful birthday meal, the only criticism would be that the already reduced menu had lots unavailable, especially the children's menu, luckily everyone liked fish & chips & the quality of the food was great.

Great food.Children friendly with lots of games.It's a good place to eat on a dog walk.

Sandwiches were 11 pounds each and there is barely any meat and bread was stale not a great service, very bad experience.

Food was better when it was loads of thin slices of meat. Kinda hard cutting a steak sized bit of beef or pork with a butter knife.. other than that, I still think its a great place to go. Just won't be going back again anytime soon sadly

Nx to canal locks. Nice for peaceful walks nearby. Typical pub fare.

Tasty meal, we came on a Sunday and it was packed. We sat outside, and some benches were sticky and unclean. But overall atmosphere was good. There was a long 15-minute queue to order food, as the app wasn't working. The roasts were good, but a bit short on extras e.g. veg, compared to other roasts that we've had in nearby locations.

Beautiful pub by the canal, very scenic, had a lovely pint and some delicious food! Will definitely be visiting again

Better than a hungry horse.. Well situated and easy to access this canal side pub get very busy at peak times, so do book if you can. We drove there then use the pub as a launch pad for a nice walk as well as a hot meal to end on. No table service so orders at the bar lend to the relaxed and dog friendly atmosphere. Usual beers and a lacking wine selection did let the side down. I had the hoggit ragu which I enjoyed, however, the truffled mac n cheese was terrible, clearly stale truffle oil. Over all a good experience and I would go back.

Warm & cosy. Good selection of beers.

Had a roast it was ok, not much on the plate, was still starving after. The sticky toffee pudding was like rubber not good at all. Not impressed tbh.

Lovely Mother’s Day meal with a table of 8 plus a dog. staff were superb and looked after us very well food was top class and all 8 of us would recommend the double locks

Nice pub/restaurant in a great location. They're very popular when we were there most of the menu had already sold through so only the Sunday Roasts were left available. This wasn't a hardship as the roasts were very nice but for my wife who was hoping for a smaller meal it was a bit of a disappointment.

Very disappointed 😞 A friend and I came down for lunch and I had the ploughman's. I wish I had taken a photo, thin, dried bread, pickled onion was soft and uninviting and the cheese looked as if it had come pre sliced. Not what I have previously experienced at the DL. Interestingly the couple on the next table returned their lunch and got an apology so something was obviously not right in the kitchens. Will give it another go to see if it was just an off day.

Don't eat there. Terrible food, burnt fish and soggy chips. Rubbish. Way too expensive.

Crackling wood fire, great service, good prices and lovely food. We were celebrating a leaving do. I would definitely recommend it and go again.

My partner and I spend £19 each today for a Sunday roast and it was absolutely horrible. The worst iv ever had. The gravy was like water. The one slice of beef was so hard it was almost impossible to cut. I ended up giving most of it to the dog. You were given a pathetic selection of veg - two carrots, some cabbage and two roast potatoes. The Yorkshire pudding was like a bullet. Absolutely poor poor quality and a place that we will be avoiding. Beef should not be cut 1cm thick. It’s supposed to be carved. We feel it was like daylight robbery and to be honest has spoilt our day. Money is hard these days and when spending it you except food that is at least edible. Please please please avoid this play for roast. Two very angry customers

Lovely pub. We stopped for a light lunch / snack. The quality of the food was great but the price for food served was very high. Beetroot hummus, whipped vegan fetta, two chopped carrots and 4 small pieces of bread with a few watercress leaves on top for £14. When the 'sharing plate' arrived it just seemed very small. The carrot was nice, watercress leaves tasty, bread fine but for a couple of spoons of hummus and fetta it didn't seem good value. We needed chips too.

A welcoming retro atmosphere. Friendly & helpful staff. Delicious food from a good menu. Thank you Double Locks, we will be back 👌

What's not to like about this place. Wonderful location and atmosphere, lovely staff and great good

Really lovely location and friendly staff, the food was great and as a vegan they had plenty of great options. Need to go back in the summer!

Lovely, cosy pub with great pub grub and super friendly staff. Big outside area for the kids and doggos to get a run around too. Very Gluten Free friendly (usually have a separate GF fryer) with lots of good choices. The GF beef shin cottage pie was soo tasty!

Called in for a tasty Snack lunch with my daughter. Excellent food, and the tastiest sticky toffee pudding I've ever had! And as a bonus, it was served with amazing vegan ice cream

If you're fancying a treat and want to save on cooking and get yourselves a roast then don't come here. The roast we opted for was the "ultimate roast" for £22 and it was awful. The beef was overcooked, extremely dry and unbelievably tough to eat. The gravy; which was a coloured water didn't aid with this either. The yorkshire was so dry, of course because there was zero "gravy" poured onto it so we ended up leaving it. The garlic and thyme roast potatoes didn't look nor taste of garlic and thyme as those herbs were non existent and the potatoes were oily and were barely roasted. The fact there was only 3 small potatoes on my £22 ultimate roast was shocking too. I also ordered a side of cauliflower cheese and that wasn't particularly cheesy for the price of it. That being said, the meal wasn't inedible. We still ate it but that's because we were starving and didn't want to waste money or food. The pork was okay and the "pig in blanket" (which was a tiny bit of sausage meat with a strand of bacon) was a lovely bite and the veg was just veg. Overall we were really disappointed with the roast. We didn't deem it necessary to bring it up in the restaurant as taking a look around and hearing what others were saying they also had similar feelings to us and we aren't ones to complain in ear shot of others to hinder anyone else's experience. In fact, I emailed the restaurant over a week ago in hopes this could've been resolved privately to not have a response at all so I decided to write a review on here. We were really excited to visit and come out as a rare treat but left feeling extremely disappointed. We could have made an even better tasting roast for a fraction of the price at home and in the future that is what I'll be doing to prevent experiences like this!

Lovely time at the Double Locks, we love the relaxed atmosphere and food all came out hot and delicious and there were 20 of us so no easy feet thanks for making us so welcome! Xx

I had my 50th Birthday here. I have never been before so had no idea what to expect. The communication beforehand was excellent from both Tyler the chef and Tom. I had a mixed bunch of people with different needs including one person with allergies (dairy/nut/soya) and we felt confident with the communication beforehand we were in safe hands. The food was enjoyable and the staff were very accommodating in every way. Can’t fault the place. A big thank you to everyone working there.

Beautiful outdoor seating next to the canal

Just a lovely old fashioned pub which we know so well. Return here often - especially for special occasions. Food is faultless and if you can cosy down near the fire with a game of scrabble afterwards then you count yourself very lucky. In the summer the place can be rammed but again this means that large groups and families don’t need to worry. Very dog friendly - they even have their own station of treats.

Situated beside the canal this extremely dog friendly pub is very popular