The Old Firehouse

i am always treated well when i visit and the atmosphere is wonderful.

One of the last bargains left in town! Really cosy atmosphere, great music/bands but you can still hear each other speaking. The beer and wines are great and very cheaply priced, which is surprising in this day and age! You also get a choice of more unusual beers rather than just the generic branded beers you normally get on tap. Pizzas are lush and large portions, so great value for money. Always recommend this place to anyone who comes to Exeter, the only downfall is that it is always full :)

This has to be one of Exeter's best pubs, but the trouble is everyone has found it and as such its 3 floors and courtyard can get maxed out. Most weekends you have to pay a £1 to get in. Pay up its worth it, enyoy the atmosphere some great bands, but the pizza (9.30pm)is to die for!!!! That and the excellent selection of fine local ales straight from the barrel make this one enjoyable pub. Cheers!!!!!

We were directed to the Old Firehouse on thursday by some jazz buskers that were performing on the Exeter high street, they told us it was the best place in the city for great atmosphere and good food at cheap prices ! They were right, we went into the Old Firehouse on thursday at around 8pm and were pleasantly surprised that a guy was playing Spanish guitar in the coutyard packed with a diverse crowd of suited business types,students and backpackers. The tables on both the ground and first floors were all taken and eventually we found a table in the 3rd floor attic which was candlelit and very atmospheric. We ordered the local beer battered fish and chips which was delicious with very fresh cod with a very light and crispy batter served with chips  ! My partner had the homemade lasagne with salad and crusty bread which was also as good as it looked, the price for both the meals was under £5 for the lasagne and £6 for the fish and chips.. The portions were probably oversize as we had no room for the sticky toffee puddings that we had planned to order. .We did however wash down the yummy meals ..... i had a pint of the guest local "Otter ale" and my partner had a bottle of house red wine as it was just £6.50 a bottle. After popping out for just a "quick bite to eat" we ended staying to enjoy the amazing atmosphere and live muic in this winebar till it closed at around 3am.. We also bought a giant homemade 14" pizza here the following evening which at £8 was the bargain of the year.

great beers, hearty meals and some good bands - but it smells of sick!! really badly!!!

The Old Firehouse rocks! Fantastic pizza and good selection of ales. Nice cider too. But it often gets terribly crowded so we often end up going elsewhere. When we time it just right tho and get a table, we have so much fun! :)

For the third time in a row our food order has been given to us incorrectly and my boyfriends burger was black. Service was very slow and when we complained and asked to speak to a manager they sent back the waiter with a refund and were to busy to talk to us. A once good restaurant with poor cooking standards coasting on their reputation. We will not be giving them another chance

The Old Firehouse is without doubt the best pub in Exeter. Lovely, candlelit atmosphere, good homemade food at good prices, enormous late night pizzas, live music at the weekend and a great selection of local ales and ciders. Although it's packed with students during term time, it seems to be popular with locals too, and is very female friendly. I can't think of a better place to relax with wine and friends!

Dark dank and smells of gone off beer… If this is your scene then you are more than welcome to it. I acctually relocated a date when i heard they wanted to meet here in favour of somewhere nicer. Anywhere nicer

Busy, candlelit, cheap, great food again very cheap! Awesome live music… everything a pub should be!

Firehouse, where to start…. this place is amazing. First off, the patio outside is lovely in the summer when its hot out, you could quite literally spent the whole time at one of the many picnic tables. Then just inside its a dark cozy warm pub, with amazing cider/ale/and mulled wine at xmas….. if theres no room at the more formal downstairs seating you can head up stairs, and voila, theres more rooms than youd ever guess, it seems never ending! Theres a bar upstairs with long tables to snuggle up with your friends, or just make chummy with the other people sharing the space. The lights are low and its perfect to start the night, or end here.Try the pizza after 9:30pm, and make sure to bring cash, they dont take card!

Just the best place for a late night drink in town and they have music regularly as well as the “Quiz-Woo!” run by Terry and Jude which is legendary… I did it once and I cried.

Entry is free most of the time and even when there is a band, on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s only £1 to get in…

It’s traditional pub grub in the day with good veggie options. The pizzas which they serve at night are large enough to feed five and the cider selection is legendary…

My top tip is to pay a few pounds more if you’re drinking wine. It’s still relatively cheap and the taste difference is huge.

Covering 3 floors it is actually possible to lose your friends if you so desire…

Great place: lively sometimes, relaxing sometimes, lots of ambience.. nice food too. Great place to go for any occasion except when it gets so packed you can't move.. in which case if it's the summer you can go and sit outside. Yep! Gets my vote

Legendary spot in Exeter!! Honestly.. great, freshly baked and huge pizza. House wine for only 6 pounds. Often times there's live music on the ground floor. You can sit outside or inside on three floors. Long tables, very rustic and therefore great atmosphere!!! A good place to hang out, talk, meet people... LOVE IT!

P. S. German fellows might like to get wheat bear there! :D

Superb place to eat a cheeky meal and have some of the finest ales around ... students get a little annoying but hey they dont stay longer than 3 hours with there half of cider between 3 ppl so eventualy you will get a seat ... pizza is great for the price as is the colslaw and all things on the daytime menu are pretty good for the price , staff are freindly and knoledgeable one of the best places in a very lackluster place in the west country.

Very recently discovered QYPE and on it's pub listings for Exeter we discovered the Old Firehouse last saturday night. We were with several friends and walked into the Old Firehouse at around 11.30pm, it was very vibrant and welcoming atmosphere with the beer garden and bar areas illuminated by candlelight. We eventually got a table in the 3rd floor loft bar and ordered 6 pizzas (approx £7 each) for the six of us !! big mistake... the pizzas are huge and we probably only needed a maximum of three pizzas between six of us, they were absolutely gorgeous though, and we ended up sharing our pizzas with a couple other people that we got talking to on the huge refectory table that we were all sitting around. The house french rose wine was just £6 a bottle and too easy to drink..... The crowd a good mix of locals,students and international people were all very friendly and chilled out, we ended up staying in the pub until time was called at a late 3am, having had a wonderful evening and listened to some brilliant live entertainment with jazz musicians playing some cool music.... We will be back to the Old Firehouse for another nightout, but will arrive earlier next time so that we get a table !!! Brilliant !

Came here as a stop off on way back to London, in need of a hearty lunch, based on Qype recommendations. It's an oaky, traditional, two-floored pub, with a big range of food and drink and generous servings at a great price. Upbeat tunes played from Last.fm world music and quick, friendly service. So far so good.

But there does seem to be a disconnect between the front of house staff and the kitchen chefs.

I ordered cauliflower and broccoli gratin, looking forward to some greens after a weekend of excess. The waitress delivered my dish but seemed unclear about what it was and after I ate half of it, I found it was actually just cauliflower cheese - no broccoli. On enquiring with the very amiable chef, he told me they no longer made the broccoli dish, offering a smaller cauliflower cheese instead. He had asked the staff to inform customers about the change and change the menu but they had done neither. He was genuinely annoyed with them and said he would speak to them about it.

Hopefully he has sorted it by the time you read this, as this is a great little pub and I hate to give it 3 stars when it really deserves 4. My friends all enjoyed their food, the music and the whole place and overall I would recommend it. Just don't order the cauliflower and broccoli gratin as you won't get it.

Really friendly atmosphere, and a really nice crowd too actually. I'm a veggie and found myself with plenty to choose from. Huge selection of the usual, and the prices for wine are fab and the rest aren't out of this world, but definitely not a rip off!

Best pub in Exeter?
Hmmm, can it beat the double locks or the Turf in?
Well they are different types of pubs for different ocassions.

If I wanted to go into to town for a drink with friends, friends and or family I would go to the fire house.
Staff always lovely and helpful, the House wine is £6 and not too bad.
I love my ale - Can't beat an otter (they are protected round these parts) and they have a good rotation of other ales and beers.
Do you have a beard I hear you say? No! i am not a typical really ale lover, just tent to think ale is better that generic larger, and the point being is that it is not just an ale pub.
Probably a bit studenty, but by no means all students, I guess its a pub not for townies - they go the king william just up the road. I'm not a student any more, but you can see them there.

Food Yes! Cheap and chearful - and the quality is good to. I think they cook and prepare (yes prepare - please not weatherspoons) all they food on site so its good honest food. You can get not a bad sized portion of food for about £5. you can get a panini or side dishes for less, or pasta bake type things. 4 or 5 things for a vegie to choose.

And when it gets late they do a pizza too - as you can see below recomended by other Qypers - I have not tried one yet.

So good pub, not a dirty boozer.
Oh yes, don't be put off by this, they don't allow anyone in in Football shirts and rugby tops.
And you can smoke out side but these spots are popular, but there is plent of seating inside - the current owners have openned up the top floor with its own bar up there too.

Best all round pub in the city centre.

Hell yes, the pizza here is pretty delicious!