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The place was opened in the early 1980's. It was once the storeroom for C&A, although they didn't know this space existed until one of their employees discovered it one day in the late seventies about 7 years after they had opened.

He fell through the wall into a black void and had to change his underpants before he returned to work. Anyway they already had enough storage space so this was sold on to form this pub.

Once you're ready head off down Gandy Street. Exit Chaucers and turn left and left again down the alley to your left.

Ahead of you is Gandy Street. Including the Vaults on the corner this short street has 5 bars.Take your pick.  Theres Coolings just before halfway down, then The Cavern (via the alley) and John Gandy's past the alley on your right. The Vaults was known as the Queen's Vaults in the 1980's and inhabits the basement of the old Victorian Queens Hotel with its entrance on Queen Street. Incidently, the bar from the Queens Hotel (now Cafe Rouge) was salvaged by the students and staff of the Exeter Art School (see below), and re- located to their Art College Student bar in Earl Richards Road.

Coolings is generally fairly busy whilst the others only really get busy at the weekends. Coolings (wine Bar) was born in the mid 1970's. In 1970, the building was a Wine Merchants, Snow and Company, the cellars downstairs.

John Gandy was Vines until mid 2001, but again the place only became a pub in the early 1980's. In the post war period, the building was inhabited by Rowland Brothers (Warehousemen) Limited, textile merchants.

The Pig and Truffle used to inhabit the cellars beneath the alley from around 1982 until 1991, now this is occupied by The Cavern, and this is a club rather than a pub. Prior to 1991 it was a pretty good pub and also had live bands.

Gandy Street was once a dismal thoroughfare but has now been transformed. In 1265 it was called Currestrete which mean't Dog Street or the place where the Leather Workers carried on their trade. Other variations on this theme were Currestrete (1190), Carry Lane (1587), Corry Lane (1677), Carry Lane(1765) and Gandy's Lane.

In the C17th its name was changed to Gandy Lane after a former mayor of Exeter (Henry Gandy was Mayor 1661 to 1672). The Gandy family owned large swathes of land throughout the City and kept a large house in GandY street. The buildings in the street are mostly 19th century but the street dates way back. The block paving is a modern adornment.

Once you've visited some of pubs go through the covered alley into Queen Street which was cut from 1832 to 1835 to give access to the newly erected Higher Market. Little Queen Street was the original short cut to the market before Queen Street was built. The walkway was also once a hive of activity for postal workers. The old post office was once in this alley fronting onto Queen Street (1850-1864). The post office moved to 74 Queen Street (next to Northernhay Gardens) between 1865 and 1885 and then to Eastgate Arcade in 1885. The place was bombed and the post office moved into Bedford Street in 1957. They will move to the former Tesco's building in Sidwell Street when the City Centre is redeveloped in 2003-2007. The original post office in Queen Street still housed postal workers in the 1950's though, possibly for sorting only.

The Royal Albert Museum is on your right as you walk down. This is some building, unfortunately because of the low light in Queen Street I've been unable to get a picture that does it justice. The outer walls are purple Pocombe lava and the inner Heavitree Breccia. The limestone dressings around the windows and edges are limestone from Chudliegh. The window shafts are red sandstone from Taunton. The pillars are Aberdeen granite and the interior marbles are from Ipplepen and Plymouth. Take a look but be careful you don't get arrested.

Over the road on the site that has now become the Harlequin Centre, completed in the mid 1980's was the Western National Omnibus Company bus station after 1924. The site was cleared of houses in 1921-24 when it was known as Maddock's Row. The Row comprised a group of C18th houses facing Queen Street with extensive rear gardens running parallel to the Wall.

The bus company's re-locatoin enabled them to give their passengers good access to the market. Buses lined up against the city wall which can still be seen behind the Harlequin Centre. There was an information bureau on the corner and this building had replaced the Museum Hotel. The omnibus company built the office block at the end of Queen Street in the late 1950's (now occupied by the job centre), previously they had used some of the old hotel buildings. They moved their whole operation to Paris Street bus station when it opened in 1964.

Further down on your right is the Thistle Hotel built in 1875 by the Devon & Exeter Hotel Company at a cost of 30,000 GBP It was built to cater for the expected passenger traffic from the new London and South Western Railway which reached Exeter in 1860 and was originally named The Railway Hotel later becoming The Rougemont Hotel. It was built on the site of the old Felons Prison which opened when the South Gate Prison Closed in 1819. The County Goal was opened before the Hotel was built in New North Road to house the prisoners from here and also the debtors from St Thomas in 1853.

You may wish to drop into Drake's Bar at the side of the Hotel for a quick pint. Alongside this bar runs Northernhay Street. Towards the bottom of this road are some superb of C18th housing most of which have been renovated.

An original London and South Western Railway station was constructed below Northernhay, but the Southern Railway decided that passengers would be best served by a newer station. Central Station was built in 1933 and took up the whole of the semi-circular enclosure you'll see further down Queen Street on your right. Most of the offices and premises were let or sold to business in the 1960's when the line was down graded. Exeter's main line station was confirmed as Exeter St Davids. Queen Street is straight and flat having bridged the Longbrook Valley, the platforms are below street level.

Just opposite the station is The Angel, you may want to nip in here for a pint. This place was originally Norton's Confectioners becoming Norton's Hotel and then the Victoria Hotel, Victoria Inn, Garbo's (1985), The Pink Pelican (1989) and most recently Envi until 2001. More information is available in the Bygone section.

Just a little further on and down a flight of steps is a new addition to Exeter's bar Scene. This is the Veuve Bar, formerly Bar Bomba (until 2004). More of a wine bar / cocktail bar but worth a visit. If you had carried on down the steps, you will have arrived at Jubilee Court. This affordable homes development involved the demolition and coversion of two warehouses (costing 2.5mGBP) in August 2002. The development created new retail outlets and 41 homes and won awards from the Empty Homes Agency.

The building itself has quite a history. It was originally the City Hotel, becoming Deller' Cafe after WW2. The Dellers Cafe in the High Street was blitzed and new premises were required. By 1970, the building(s) 44 and 45 Queen Street were offices, becoming Bar Bomba in 2002. See the Bygone section for more detailed information

Carry on down Queen Street and eventually you'll reach the Clock Tower constructed as a memorial to William Miles, well known philanthropist and lover of animals in Victorian times. Nip into the The Tower Inn on the corner for some much needed refreshment. This pub was once the Osborne Hotel. It has also been known as O'Neils in the mid nineties and Fermats Number (until 2003) and the Yes Bar. Prior to developing into a pub, it was the Exeter headquarters and social club of the National Farmers Union. The Yes Bar was Exeter's only lap dancing bar until it became The Tower Inn (July 2004).

Incidentally this area of town has developed a reputation for being the City's red light area, though you'd never know it. We have the classiest hookers in the land. Only £50.00 all in, so I've been told!

Of interest close by is Exeter Prison just along New North Road on the other side of the Clock Tower. You can be kerb crawling one minute and in jail the next.

Bystock and Queens Terraces were built in the 1840's, the Queens Court Hotel used to be known as the Bystocks Hotel until 1999 and used to have a pretty good bar, Stocks' Tavern, during the 1980's. Competition from O'Neils (now The Tower Inn) and The Imperial possibly prompted this closure. Bystocks Hotel was established in 1925.