The Star Inn, Penzance

One of a cluster of four pubs located around the small town square (or more accurately, town triangle), it looks to be an attractive and traditional stone-built pub, with a few hanging baskets along the front and a couple of bench seats outside, although there is, I believe, also a garden at the rear. Internally it consists of a couple of interconnected snugs to the right, and a larger L-shape room with the bar counter to the left. Décor wise it’s a little unusual whilst still managing to look fairly traditional with a red painted boards on the ceiling, black flooring and black painted wallpaper on the top part of the walls, with black wood panelling down below and a small brick fireplace. If that sounds all a bit dark and dismal, it wasn’t and was actually very pleasant. A multitude of flags covered much of the ceiling, whilst there were plenty of old black and white photographs on the wall, along with other bits and pieces including brewery mirrors, a life buoy, some fire fighting equipment, shields and nautical charts. The snugs to the right felt a little more contemporary perhaps but were still broadly similar in terms of style with black slate style tiling on the floor, white plasterwork on the upper part of the walls, a small fireplace off to one side in the front snug with a TV screen above, whilst the rear snug had a large stone fireplace with an unusual blue guitar in the alcove next to it. Beers on tap were all from St Austell with their Tribute, Proper Job, Cornish Best, Hicks and Mena Boo. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold and Cornish Rattler. Overall, a lovely little pub and well worth checking out.