A Typical Old Village Pub

A Memory of Tideford.

When I moved to Tideford the Rod & Line was run by Fred Barnes. The pub was owned by Plymouth Breweries, a company that was later bought out by Courage. Most of their beer arrived in wooden casks and Fred had to hammer a tap into the end to dispense the beer. In those days pubs were for drinking, not for food. The Rod & Line offered crisps, pork scratchings and a jar full of pickled eggs sat on the counter. An egg and a packet of crips passed for a pub meal in those days. I went to the Rod & Line on the evening of my 18th birthday and Fred bought me my first ever legal drink, half a pint of Plymouth Breweries bitter. It was awful.