It’s not all that new these days; the abbot in question took possession of the place at the beginning of the 13th century. Since then, local farmers have sold livestock and produce in the town’s markets, followed – as in markets of all kinds – by a drink. Prettily priced pints The long Victorian buildings that house the Maltings Taphouse once produced enough malt to make 15 million pints per year.

This business stopped in 2018, but before it did, the taphouse opened to make good use of a building that will, let’s face it, end up as a block of flats eventually. The beer is good enough that it’s a magnet for beer nerds, but also for normal people (normal for Newton, anyway), because unlike many craft ale places, it’s not overpriced. Come all ye faithful In a town with a worn-out high street and many struggling pubs, the taphouse is jolly and convivial, a space made good by the people who have decided to turn up to it.

Some nights a group local folk singers arrives. There is no thatched roof or rustic bit of horse brass that evokes anything like the sudden, powerful feeling of history that appears when the people at the next table clink their glasses and raise their voices to join in an old, beloved song. The Maltings Taphouse, Teign Road, Newton Abbot, Devon [Further reading: The secret diary of a Foreign Office civil servant]