Wednesday 14 June 2023 was a glorious sunny summer's day, just right for Cornwall CAMRA's Summer of Pub event in the extreme west of the Branch area. No, not the Isles of Scilly but the West Penwith peninsula.

Jan Curtis, our Social Secretary West, had organised a pub crawl by bus - the Tin Coaster - from Penzance to the St Just tin mining area. Members gathered in anticipation at Penzance bus station and boarded the Tin Coaster which unfortunately was not the open-top variety.

We passed through the lush Penwith countryside through Newbridge which would be visited on the way back. Leaving St Just bus station, we had to make a detour via a devious route due to a road closure at Truthwall south of Botallack because of a mine shaft opening up.

Only slightly late, we arrived at the mining village of Trewellard, near Geevor Mine Museum and Levant Mine Museum.

Our first pub was the Trewellard Arms, a granite free house that was formerly the home of the owner of nearby Geevor mine. Offering a large single bar with open beams, it also has a pleasant restaurant and a snug.

Licensees Martin and Gill Hutchings had a range of real ales on handpump: Exeter Ferryman, St Austell Anthem, Tintagel Pendragon and Treen's Classic. The Trewellard was also our lunch stop. The crab was very nice!

The large patio in the sunshine, or under an umbrella, was ideal for enjoying our beer in this traditional Cornish tin mining village. Cheers!

Back on the bus to St Just, again via the detour. the most westerly town in Cornwall and England, through narrow, old streets where two buses cannot pass and pedestrians walk in single file!

Walking from the bus station through the busy town centre, we arrived at our second goal, the historic Star Inn, the oldest pub in this tin mining town.

A classic locals' traditional pub, comfortable and full of character and characters! The Star interior is of outstanding national historic interest on CAMRA's register of heritage pubs.

In addition to the regular St Austell beers on the bar under the Celtic flags there was a Small Batch Brewery beer - Grisette. This is a saison (farmhouse ale) that is very tasty for 3.6% ABV and quite different to malty or citrus hoppy beers. The main flavours are spices of various sorts.

We took over the suntrap patio out the back surround by the solid granite walls for another lazy pint. Happy days (or happy daze).

The time came to drag ourselves away from the Star and head for the bus again. Through the Penwith mining district in the direction of Penzance, this time stopping in Newbridge, which is a small hamlet where the St Just to Penzance road crosses a stream.

Here we found the Fountain Inn; a granite roadside cottage pub which has had a chequered history over the last 20 years or so. Closed as unviable by the owning brewery, CAMRA fought to save it as a pub. A respected real ale licensee from Stafford took it over and traded for a while but then turned it into a B&B with the bar open only to residents. He retired and we are pleased to welcome new licensees Tracey and Ian, I believe, who are providing good ale, food, accommodation and community events such as traditional acoustic music sessions and bingo.

We were delighted to sample Penzance Potion No9 and Mild.

Yet again we made good use of the patio for al fresco drinking in the afternoon sunshine or inside for those who wanted to cool off a bit.

All good things come to an end, at least for the day, as buses and trains beckoned, although I believe that a few hardy souls visited a few pubs in Penzance.

Photos and words by Steve Barber