General - the Lopes Arms Pub is a lovely place to visit for a good meal and a nice drink. It is situated on the outskirts of Plymouth and on the edge of Dartmoor, in the Roborough area of the city. They have a large beer garden, next to the car park, with plenty of tables and umbrellas for hot sunny days, and they cater very well for children and the disabled. It is a lovely place to stop off for a quick drink before heading off up to Dartmoor and it is in an ideal place for cyclists on their way up to the Moor. Those that serve you are happy, friendly and polite and when we have visited, we have enjoyed every mouthful of our meals, every drink and all the time that we have spent there. They have a public and family bar with nice big toilets, and plenty of tables indoors to sit at. They also have a Pool table in the public bar, bands playing on some evening, and other events throughout the year.
Food and Drink - we have eaten at the Lopes Arms a few times now and each time the food has been absolutely lovely! All food is cooked to order so may take a bit longer than usual, but once you dig in to your meal, you won’t mind the wait at all. I have to say that the chips that they serve are the best tasting chips that I have ever had, they are that nice! The pub offers a huge menu with daily specials, including a small children’s menu, and a decent Dessert menu. They also serve Sunday Roast in different sized portions and that is really nice also! Price of the food is very good and well worth it, and they serve throughout the day. They have food offers throughout the week including Silly Steak, and there are usually plenty of people eating on most days of the week as local workers visit to enjoy a lunchtime meal. There is a large drinks selection, all at good prices, and they also serve children’s drinks such as Fruit Shoots which my boys love.
Disabled - the pub is well equipped for disabled visitors and my disabled family member enjoyed a lovely meal there and said that he felt very comfortable with the place. When I rang up and booked a table for lunch on a Saturday, I mentioned if we could have a table with good access, and they were great and put us in probably the most ideal place that they could have put us. My family member needs walking sticks to get around and the table was just inside the door so he didn’t have very far to go at all, with no major steps to get over either, so he was very happy. He was also very happy with the toilet facilities even though there is no specific disabled toilet. You can easily get a wheelchair into the main toilets and probably into the cubicles, although help would be needed when getting through the doors into the toilets. It also shows that the pub is well equipped for disabled visitors that when we arrived to eat there were several others in their in wheelchairs and using walking sticks. I would very much recommend the Lopes Arms for those with disabilities.
Toilets - the toilets in the Lopes Arms are fine with there being plenty of room to get in and get out. The actual toilet cubicles are in a good state and are clean although you will find a fair amount of graffiti dotted around which is a bit of a shame. There are also broken tiles in certain places but all in all, the toilets are clean and I don’t really have any problems with them.
Children - all ages of children are welcome in the pub during the day although there may be a time in the evenings when the pub starts to get a bit rowdier although I must admit, we haven’t been there in the evenings for several years. There is a family bar and a public bar so I would suggest taking children into the family bar area or sit outside on a fine day and they can play in the beer garden. For eating, the Lopes Arms does provide a high chair for the little ones and a children’s menu which is very good with one portion being able to feed two young children easily. The high chair can also be taken outside (when eating outside) which we found to be very handy when we visited last Summer to have a pub lunch. My children love sitting outside and enjoy the freedom to run around and play. Children will obviously need to be accompanied to the toilets but there wasn’t a problem when I took my young Son as he was able to use the toilets with me with no problem.
Car Parks - there is a fairly large car park behind and to the side of the pub but this can get quite full during meal times, especially on Sundays. However, you can park along the road that runs directly outside the pub. The car park is all on one level so is good for accessibility purposes and it is in a good state of repair. You can reach the front door of the pub very easily and also the beer garden and a short path to the back entrance of the pub.
Review Date - 2013-03-06