The Imperial in Exeter

This is one of two Wetherspoons in Exeter which has preserved an absolutely gorgeous building. Loads of space and tables and as ever lots of drink choices.

The building is wonderful and well preserved. Staff are attentive and quick to serve. I ordered food on the app, and it was with us in 10 mins. Very generous portions and fair prices. Good mix of young and older customers, and clean tables. It was busy when we visited but there was the right amount of staff in the pub to deal with the crowd.

They do not serve food for anyone with coeliac disease so I cannot even get a pack of crisps there but at least they serve gluten free beer.

Fantastic venue, the usual cheap drinks and food. Great place to start your evening off.

An amazing building,friendly staff

It was very busy but Lee behind the bar was a hero, made sure everyone got served speedily. Promised him I’d write this review 🙏🏻

You get what you pay for...really good value but food is below average...but really friendly staff and that always helps 😊

Got to imperial Exeter for breakfast kitchen had broken down fixed about 11am ordered breakfast then they didn’t say there was no butter for toast so paid,when they bought it out he said run out of butter so toast was too dry not enjoyable no offer of a little refund or something extra instead very poor I wouldn’t have ordered it if I knew there was no butter

What a fabulous place to go only had a beer It looks awesum Seems to have facilities I have never seen at a spoons If in Exeter pay a visit I bet it's super awesum in summer

Very busy on Friday / Saturday nights. The women's toilets had two toilets out of about 6 or so working. The others were cordoned off. Please weatherspoons... fix the toilets! Most signage in the building is unreadable, it's very small and mostly written in chalk, so hard to find the toilets. The main hall, tables aren't cleaned very well after been used. The food was so so.

Busy with a variety of happy punters. good price as usual. Near station and town and this one has great architectural features, see photo. I hadn’t been to a ‘spoons in ages and I am glad i still know what I am getting.

Good standard of traditional pub fare at competitive prices, with most meals offered with a price inclusive of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink, which makes the meal prices very good value. Quick service and polite friendly staff. Only thing that I found disappointing was the volume that some of the other customers liked to talk. They obviously were forgetting not everyone wants to hear their end of a telephone call.

An excellent spoons, such a lovely building

Arrived just after 9 pm. on a Saturday, and it was so busy we couldn't get a seat. Tables overflowing with empty glasses and difficult to get through the corridors due to large crowds.

The usual Wetherspoons vibe but within an incredible building! The atmosphere, especially during quiet times, is of a Grand Hotel from a very different era. The glass conservatory is beautiful, there are plenty of tables and seating plus more seating outside in the beautiful garden on sunny days. The menu is exactly as you expect plus the excellent value for money drinks but in these beautiful surroundings.

Lovely building but the interior needs updating.

Took my daughters in for some late dinner after moving house for them to get ID’d and us asked to leave. I’ve been in the hospitality industry for 20 years and I have never seen such poor attitude or manners from staff. Will never give this place my customer again

Wonderful building & well situated for St Davids Station.

Fantastic place the biggest Weatherspoon I've ever been in food was usuall Weatherspoon cheap n cheerfull..the orangery is a site to be seen. Fantastic..

Great place for food and drink in Exeter, especially accessible from the university. Lively food and attentive staff. Thank you

highly highly disappointed with my meal today have been coming to this weather spoons almost every week day for the past 2 years. never in my time here have i been so unsatisfied. They’ve started asking for id for energy drinks, when they never have before, which isn’t my issue. My issue is that when they bought my energy drink over and i couldn’t provide id as i didn’t bring it, i was informed of probably one of the most ridiculous rules i’ve heard by far. If you can not provide id, you will not receive a refund and they will simply keep you money. Which is definitely not great for college students who stuggle with money as is. In addition, when my food arrived my chips were undercooked and could tell they were left under the heat light for too long.

Perfect place to watch rugby and other major sporting events aside from the Superbowl, about which the Brits do not care. Boiling pot for the rich private school kids and state school kids to bury the axe and come to terms to the fact that they will forever despise one another. Ingrained is the ossified caste system that has historically defined the British nation. Also Thatchers May is perfect if they do not like alcohol and wish to join in the ethanol-fueled brouhaha.

Popular wetherspoon pub restaurant. Big space inside and outdoors, live sports, good food, okay service when they are busy. Always packed with students. Lovely fun atmosphere. And has a giant conservatory style seating at the back leading to the garden. Only downside is parking is limited and paid.

Great pub with a good range of drinks on tap, food is excellent,arrives quickly and piping hot

Great value, excellent food - and cannot praise the staff enough- helpful, efficient, and friendly - every one of then was a credit to Weatherspoons, I was very impressed - thank you .

Lovely Wetherspoons. Clean and big with lovely staff

Loved this place. Massive inside with the orangery at the back and with a brilliant beer garden outside

Nice big pub, impressive orangery room. Plenty of outdoor tables too. Food is wetherspoons, good range, no frills and inexpensive. Would score higher except for the awkward payment system and time limit for the car park. What pub makes you pay to park!?

Ordered food along with drinks. Service was slow as there was only 1 person behind the bar. I didn't have the app to order via but I'll rectify that. The food was very good. Nice sized portions and delivered to our table soon after ordering, even though the pub was fairly busy. Good all round value. The table could have been clearer as it appeared not to have been cleaned since it's previous occupants left. Overall a good experience but not quite 5 stars.

Nice Pub located directly near the University. The overall feeling there is really good. Prople are relaxed, and the Orangerie really has style. The prices were increasing the last years and the quality did not increase the same way... So only 3 stars for food/drinks. Also you need to pay for parking, which is a no go for a pub.

Food was hot, staff very friendly

A surprisingly sophisticated Spoons. Very nice location and food.

Love Wetherspoons, great place even in the wet. Know what you are getting and don't disappoint

Why do we need so much parking fees to spend there?

A huge place - it is vast both inside and out. A good size car park as well. Usual Wetherspoons experience of inexpensive food and drink - and the service is good. I recommend using the app to order - getting heard at the bar(s) is not easy when It is busy. It does get very loud in there so if you are after a quiet meal and drinks with friends then either sit at one of the many tables outside or maybe go elsewhere? Other than the noise, it does what it does very well.

A very good wetherspoon food was very quick

Really lovely building, food is as expected for a weatherspoons. Excellent value and will be returning to the imperial

Enjoyed experience of my several trips there while on holiday in Exeter good atmosphere food was good and good service, a very nice setting with big outdoor seating areas in large pub quite close to university and Exeter st David's train station, definitely go back if in Exeter

Nice pub with a good choice of ales and International beers. Large variety of dishes

Probably the nicest spoons I've been in! Good service food was OK chips was slightly under cooked but everything else was OK. big out door drinking area.

One of the best and most spacious Wetherspoons there is. Said to be Tim Martin's favourite. It can get very busy with Exeter university students but there's lots of room inside and out. Quick service as ever today and food very good. Wetherspoons app is excellent for ordering from your table. Only down side is it's £2 for parking. Update August 2024. Now £3 for two hours parking and £1.50 for an hour and you pay when leaving. Still one of the best but shame parking isn't refunded for customers.

Arrived to see a member of staff screaming abuse at his girlfriend in front of the pub, been here for half an hour now and the same member of staff is still working, not a good look!

Great pub not good that you have to pay for parking now

Can't remember being in here. Must have been drunk

Never been disappointed EVER on any level👍Thank you 😉

One of the best weatherspoons I've been to. Amazing

It's at the better end of the scale for wetherspoons pubs.

The Wetherspoons approach works here. Remarkable re-purposeing of the Edwardian Imperial hotel. The Orangery is an amazing experience, inspired it is said by an original by I. K. Brunel. Amazing menu and huge range of ales at the usual Wetherspoon's knock-down price. Not the venue for a quiet, intimate evening, but in every other respect, hard to fault.

Realy stunning building, well worth a visit,

It is exactly what they promise. An easy place to grab a bite. I have eaten at a few different Wetherspoons, and most are about the same. A good deal on drinks and food, food is pretty tasty and comes out fast, nothing fancy, but just what you’d expect. Beer is a very good value and always cold, mixed drinks are too sweet for me. My hack is to add a salt packet to the margarita and then it’s actually pretty tasty.

One of the beers wasn't great, the other two were lovely. A 10min walk from St Davids station. What a venue! Wow

Lovely limited edition Korean Chicken thing. Beautiful building.

You get what you expect from a Wetherspoons, however, portion sizes are definitely shrinking & prices rising..... but that's the government's fault.

My whole Spoons experience today was marred by the crazy new parking regime there. Totally confused and I'm not the only one!

Love this place. Am amazing building. Great service and prices and vast outdoor space

Good place for a cheap meal and pint

Love day with paul rob bev benji jasper at the imperial

It's cheap and it's good. Defo top 5 spoons. Brunel made the glass house to see how his workers were getting on.

wonderful Wetherspoon pub with a large beer garden and lots of rooms (it can be a bit louder in the Orangery...); usual offers at reasonable prices, very nice service and also a (paid) parking space (e.g.: 1h - 1.2 GBP)

Always enjoy going to the Imperial but food wasn't up to normal standard this time. Lasagne was burnt on the bottom and the pizza we had was very crispy and overdone round the edges so hard to cut through and eat. Car parking on site but 2 hours is not enough if you are meeting up with friends and eating and drinking. It's too much of a rush.

A very nice place with character. Nice gardens too.

What a stunning building and location, never eaten here before and never had anything other than a breakfast in Wetherspoons for many years. Worth a visit, friendly helpful staff, great value food and drink and perfectly acceptable and tasty pub food with decent portions. Very nicely situated and stunning outside area. Recommend Highly. Million times better than ‘Perkin’ in Taunton.

I love this pub. Food really nice as well

Friendly security guy on the door, the quality of the food needs to improve and provide it on hot plates as the food was cold when it got to me.

Best Weatherspoons in southwest of UK . Good value & quick, pleasant service.

A lovely place to meet and eat.

What a beautiful pub and it has an amazing beer garden. Pint is good as always and 2.77 for a carlsberg is an absolute bargain. Can’t fault it.

Great location and a typical wetherspoon's, affordable beer and food. Great place to sit outside, shame about the pesky gulls!!! Service could certainly have been swifter.

Lovely place brilliant atmosphere will be visiting again

Best wetherspoons I have ever been! This place is a secret gem. Definitely worth a visit.

Amazing building full of excellent entertaining spaces..

The best Wetherspoons in Exeter so much better than the awful chev

Lovely quiet afternoon now the students have gone back. Lovely building ,lovely food and lovely company

One of the best 'spoons I've been to. Lovely building, staff were great and food and drink too

Have visited weatherspoons Exmouth Yeovil Ilfracombe over the last couple of months we were very impressed super friendly efficient staff food good value & tasty spotlessly clean toilets

Great value for money and my favourite Wetherspoons! Staff are always friendly and helpful and the food is good for the price

Nice venue lovely orangery prices very good

So popped in on way home for a little bite to eat, wife had Gourmet Steak and I had All Day Brunch, this is the first time that we have never had to complain about something, all the food was hot, and had clean plates at the end of the meal, the only down side was...nobody asked if everything was alright, just a small customer service etiquette.

Well worth a visit to see the architecture, nice staff also

The most beautiful weatherspoons I’ve ever been to!

A nice pub with a massive beer garden. Perfect for sunny days in the summer. I had the best steak I’ve had so far in any pub here. Will definitely be back.

Lovely location, I don't think this venue would exist if it wasn't for Wetherspoons.

This is an impressive 'spoons. Only popped in for a quick pint but the inside was immense. The building has been renovated to a high standard. The garden is very large with segregated smoking and non smoking. Just watch out for seagulls. Would highly recommend this one.

Enjoyable afternoon celebrating a graduation with family/ friends.

Great venue. Lots of space and history. Excellent service. Vegan options

You can tell this is the flagship Wetherspoon, well maintained with great service and the value you expect. Highly recommend

Really disappointed went to the bar ordered strips of chicken which came with chips I asked if I could have salad instead I was told no, so I ordered a side salad. Friends ordered another meal both meals came with drinks we had a beer and a wine. When the food came to the table my meal came and a bowl of salad a beer and wine no strips of chicken, went back to the bar to investigate only to be told the strips had ran out.Got the Manager out not a helpful person , got a copy of the receipt in fairness I was only charged for my meal but paid for the salad and charged for the wine because there was no meal, why was I not told the chicken had ran out when I ordered why give me salad and wine with no meal. Our friends ordered sauvignon blanc which was told it was premium drink not included in the meal deal again the barman did not inform us and was charged for. We did not get any response from the manager had a train to catch and will never go back there again.

Good value for money. Breakfast was nice. Eggs cooked perfectly. Food served quickly and tasted fresh.

Beautiful building. Excellent real ales on tap and love the outdoor area with waiter service.

Called in mainly to see if the pictures we had seen were justified, boy were they ! Beautiful architecture inside and out, the orangery is stunning. Looked like some maintenance & repairs needed but on the whole FABULOUS

Surely one of the best Weatherspoons in all of the country. The orangery room is just spectacular. This spoons has many different seating areas including outdoor. I'd highly recommend the orangery room, such a fabulous atmosphere and Insta worthy! Standard Weatherspoons food, with the staff smiling and helpful when we visited for lunch in June 2024.

Overall this is a beautiful space. It is a grand old house with beautiful charm and a large beer garden. The toilets were a bit messy but nothing awful just toilet paper on the floor one loose toilet seat and soap on the counters but for a pub this size that probably happens quite quickly. I visited the pub in the afternoon as part of a large group celebrating with a lunch. It is very much still what you expect a large menu with staple pub fare and cheaper than average drinks. I was surprised at the lack of gluten free options or labelling. This is because 13 years ago when I was first diagnosed as coeliac they were one of the first chains to label gluten free options on the menu and they had a surprising amount of choice at the time. Accordingly, I consulted the online allergy menu that was a little clunky but allows you to filter the menu by allergens, which was a nice touch. As a vegetarian I was surprised at how small the choice was now but they still had the good old staple of jacket potato. What I was surprised at was the staffs lack of knowledge about allergens. When I asked about gluten free two members of staff (one a supervisor) seemed surprised and said they didn't know. I showed them the allergy menu and they said it's up to you if you trust it. Now as a coeliac I accept the risk in most places is mine. Normally though staff can tell me whether the ingredients are at least gluten free even if the kitchen handles other allergens. When the meal came out the staff had the salad dressing in a separate pot and said they were unsure if it was gluten free. I was greatful they had separated it and they were really polite throughout but it was a bit concerning the kitchen has no idea about a quite common dietary allergy question. In general the consensus in the group was the food was okay but nothing special (I was the only allergens I think and my potato was fine but then it is just a potato and unadorned green salad so hard to get wrong). Also not the fault of the venue but the area is plagued with gulls so don't eat outside. Would I go back? For a drink maybe for food no.

Typical pub setting but a bit more "ambiance.". Orders required from the bar. delivery to the table. then wait staff never returned to check on us. They were out of curry so I Ordered a vegetarian burger. it was prepared THEIR way with an abundance of ketchup on top. Here's a hint: I never put much if any ketchup on my burger's. Obviously prepared their way... not mine. And the two sides of French fries and onion rings were quite helpful .... in putting my cardiologist's kids through College. Otherwise, a very ordinary gastronomical experience, bordering on subpar.

This is not your average Wetherspoons pub by any means! Typical menu, usual friendly efficiency, but the surroundings…..! And, wonder of wonders, the toilets are on the ground floor and not in the attic as is normal!

I arrived early for breakfast to find a small 'army' of staff cleaning everywhere. The premises was spotlessly clean inside and out. I used the Wetherspoons app to order my food and drink which arrived minutes later to my table. My eggs Benedict was cooked to perfection. If you are looking for that special breakfast then this is the place to go. (3 minute walk from Exeter St Davids railway station)

The food was great possibly the best Wetherspoons I have been to. However toilets were cramped and unclean, you have to pay for parking and can only stay up to 2 hours and the food took a while to come but well worth the visit.

Very nice atmosphere, plenty of space and the food arrived very quickly. Very friendly staff.

Decent place for a drink. Didn't eat here so can't comment.

Very nice breakfast, unbeatable hot drinks with free refills. Great app and bar service Paid parking - cash or card.

Great place!! Highly recommended:)