Pub just off the seafront. Excellent beer, usually busy but with a landlord that has time for anyone coming in, regardless of whether they are regulars or, like me, twice a year visitors on the way to or from the Scilly Isles.

Also worth a try, especially if arriving off the Scilly Isles ferry, is the Dolphin pub opposite the quay. A twice-a-year ritual for me and my friends that go with me to Scilly is the walk from the B&B in Alexandra Road to the Dolphin for a meal along the seafront and then to return to the Alexandra afterwards before returning to the B&B.

Can be beautiful, but can be bracing and hairy if the wind's blowing from the south and the tide's up. Watch the local kids dodging (not always successfully) the waves breaking over the seawall.

Alexandra Road, Penzance TR18 4LY. 01736365165

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Snug behind the sea defences of England's largest fishing port, this is a real locals' pub, but that doesn't mean the welcome to visitors isn't warm. Far from it. Order the catch of the day (from £6.95) for a succulent piece of cod or haddock that's moist within its crispy, beer-batter casing. It will have been landed that very morning, and just a few hundred yards away, to boot. The pub's cosy in winter, too, with a real fire and low-beamed ceilings, not to mention some classics by local artists on the walls (my personal favourite: Perry With Ling).

Tolcarne Place, Newlyn, near Penzance, Cornwall
Tel: 01736 363074

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