The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Exeter, Devon*

Exeter, Devon Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• Choices, good dvds for a rainy day
• Cathedral's nice, do free wine there y'know
• they'v just done up southernhay and that looks pretty nice now, and obviously the cathedral
• I hate religion but the cathedral is a major bonus. Just look at that masonry! There are too many buildings I think should be preserved to mention.
• Cathedral: Just looks crazy esp at night.
• the phoenix
• The Cathedral of course. It's about the size of Westminster abbey, so it's beauty rather then its size impresses, also it's sense of light and calm.
• cathedral
• The house that moved THe library is ok if a little small.
• The little church in the middle of the Guildhall.
• The house that moved, Frog St. reputedly the oldest Tudor building in existence
• clock tower
• The House That Moved
• the lovely cathedral
• Cathederal or Debenhams
• St. Michael's and All Saints Church, for the Peregrine falcons living on it.
• the Cavern, although strictly it is an underground cave rather than a building...also the Prison. Because without it, the street would be a lot more full of crims.
• That little red building on the right as your going down Fore street, blink and you'll miss it.
• Cathedral. Stunning, if a little old fashioned.
• The Cathedral, its great, it looks forboding in the winter, and the Cathedral green is great for relaxing in the summer.
• Cathedral is one of Britain's best, I just love how you can walk most of the street without seeing it, and then you turn the corner and *bang* it jumps in front of you. Really good views of it from Debenhams tea shop.
• Debenhams. for being so tall
• The Double Locks. Very quaint and rural and Old English (and that's quite something coming from a Scot).
• Has to be the Cathedral and the surrounding area, you could be back in time standing there, everything is so old. And the Quay area has some fabulous buildings, the old Customs House and the tudor House that moved. Also there are some roman ruins on Exebridges. and we have the narrowist street in the world Parliament street, just up from McDonalds! It is in the Guiness Book of Records!!
• The Cathedral and its architecture are simply breathtaking.

Demolish It Now Building

• Anything post WW2
• The ugly BT building near the library.
• Anywhere selling burberry to chavs.
• most of the new buildings going up in exeter are a sad sight, lets hope the new princesshay scheme can change this trend for poor quality ugly and bland architecture which the towns planning dept. seems to love so much
• debenhams is uuugly
• That stupid statue outside the Sony shop in the high street which cost a ridiculous amount of money (£65,000)that could've been spent on more pubs/clubs and entertainment venues! Ice rink!! Bigger cinemas etc
• bosten tea party
• All the 60's moderist crap theat depresses the hell out of you and your mates as you head out of the city centre.
• The vast majority of the High Street... oh hang on, the Germans did that!
• Most of the "modern" high street.
• Tower block of college
• princesshay. aka the disgusting concrete wastleand posing as a shopping centre. though there are plans to flatten the entire thing and build a proper shopping centre! yay!! also those crappy temporary buildings opposite the main post office that got put up after the war..!
• the civic centre is really ugly with too many windows, like a big grey shoebox with holes in.
• Marks and Spencers, the university complex.
• exeter college and west exe technology college (st thomas high school).
• THe paris street bbus station is ableak and dismal place in the evening. Knock it down and rebuild in the same central position , but use the space to create more "jnside areas" for passengers.
• The whole of Princesshay, most of Sidwell Street, Renslade House, Debenhams, Dingles, Maynards. All the public toilets.
• Egg Boxes Paris St. Police stn and Courts
• Debenhams - Rip it down and start again... Bigger, Higher, Wider!!!
• The Innovation Centre
• cathedrial, it's overated
• PLYMOUTH
• HotHouse/rococos/glue factory
• hmm the uni? no, possibly some of those really ugly places down fore st
• Arena club, most other clubs cos theyre shite. And please blow the fuck out of Rileys!!!
• St. Michael's and All Saints Church, if it wasn't for the Peregrine falcons living on it.
• Debenhams
• HOTHOUSE
• The underground toilets near The Cathedral (preferably with the crazy old lady inside)
• Hmm, where to start... Exeter suffered from bad concrete post war builings, although no-where near as bad as Coventry. How about the enire guildhall centre, there's nothing worth going to in it apart from the veg stall opposite Sainsburys anyway.
• Civic Centre (did they have an architect?!)
• The Bus station, its a disgrace, right in the centre of town and all that!
• topshop/topman
• I agree about debenhams having lived in its shadow, although it is a brill place to let off the carnival fireworks.
• Renslade House, nasty office block on Exebridges roundabout , home of driving theory test ampongst other banalities, recently proudly claimed to be Fully Let
• the civic centre. the council should take more pride in its city. disgraceful.
• Most of Sidwell street now looks like some advert for fifties & sixties architecture gone wrong. Pre-fabricated, post-war concrete crap, permanently urine stained from one too many revellers heading back to campus after closing time.
• The library. Without it, everyone would get a much better view of the gorgeous Rougemont Gardens.
• Not one but all of that horrible shopping arcade behind the High Street- Blue Boys? What a sight for sore eyes!
• The shops north of the cathedral, it could be a boulevard with great vistas but instead it's one big concrete slab.
• debenhams. for being so tall
• Debenhams in the High Street. It's bloody horrible and wherever you go, you can still see it.
• Most of the shops in Fore Street!! Not all but most look soooo tatty!!
• The DHSS office in Heavitree Road and the Job Centre in Queens Street both 1960's bland architechture
• The crappy shops opposite the main post office the sixties have a lot to answer for, of course the Germans started it.
• The Job Centre - I can't explain how disgustingly '70s it is.

The Best Things

• the skatepark good, the park opposites cool and the pub opposite the flowerpot skatepark is brill.
• Street drinking on the Cathedral "village" Green. Like your garden, but illegal/full of strangers doing same as you. Also Scott Bailey and Jim Harwood! Buh-less.
• in the summer u can visit pretty much any beach in north devon and cornwall easily and guaranteed u will c ALL ur m8s there. also exeter kinda has the best of both worlds cuz its a city in the country, and it isnt 2 rough as far a cities go...
• Definately NOT Al-FARIDS Exeter. Expensive and overated. Tapas is good, meat content very poor. Unfortunately this restuarant has gone like many of the other themed restuarants, in the way of lurring customers in the early days, with good food at reasonable prices. Now gone drastically downhill unfortunately.
• The best thimg is the chilled out lifestyloe people are wicked and its easy to find cool people to skate and ride with. I spent the summer there 2004 and it was quality loadsa cider flaggens, plenty of buddha and the skate chicks are stunnin and over flowin.
• Variety. You can be chilling out near a major medieval building, five minutes later you can be chilling out near the river. There are quite a few parks. Folk are generally laid back and friendly. So close to the countryside
• The Cannal and River. Has quite alot of greenary. The Farmers Market on a Thursday-great organic food that tastes sublime.
• the friendly people and nice atmosphere everywhere u go, and the fact that u hardly ever have to worry about nething cuz its really safe. there r more sk8ter boys than kevs which is a good thing and the alternative scene is pretty good considering exeters a pretty tiny city.
• The countryside.
• great town to grow up in, the ease of dringking from a early age (obviously as soon as we turned 18). and the closeness of Newquay (just 1 hour).
• The compact central area.The one an only WESt front of the Cathedral, the church and the setting inthe cathedral green
• The new Fired Earth shop at Topsham.
• Cavern, Gandy Street, Fore Street.
• 'Exeactly', the inaccurate, satricical, topical and mericfully brief review of Uni life in the city, as found in pubs, loos and buses!
• Ivor Dewdney's the pasties in what used to be Lethbridges Butchers in Cowick St. Exeter's proximity to The Nobody Inn at Doddiscombesleigh, how difficult it is to find and how this keeps all the idiots away. Their sausage and mash.
• The river Exe. The people.
• Not being Plymouth
• The cathedral/cavern/mayor
• friendly, good shops, its home
• I love Exeter because its a lovely green city with a fantasic surrounding view. The sense of history gives it a wonderful character. I also like the mixture of megastores and the quaint little shops on Fore Street and Gandy Street. For a city it has a calm feel and for Devon, some cultural diversity, which is cool cos I could feel slightly more at home here than I have been in all my 3 years in this God Forsaken part of the world, though I'll be glad to leave Devon, I'll miss Exeter and my mates.
• Grass, and not too noisy.
• heavitree car wash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Has become much more cosmopolitain over the last ten years without losing that Devon pace of life feel to it.
• it has a pretty good music scene sometimes. there are a few nice blokes. it is easy to find a like-minded friend after dark in Rougemont gardens. Just sit on a bench, or in another shadowy place and say RIZLAS or TOKE very loudly and wait for someone to come over. also, there is a regular train service making it easy to leave.
• Martian Records, Cavern, Boston's, the Picture House, nice pubs, lots of nice boys everywhere...
• Karaoke Bob's live Elvis Tribute Shows aroung the city.
• Claustrophobics in the underground passages.
• The gardens next to the station, Boston's, the Cavern, lots of lovely scruffy boys, The Real McCoy and Kitsch U Like, Martian records, the Quay, the Cathedral, the nice man in Urban Surfer (don't know if he's still there) who sometimes gives discounts.
• All the little gem old buildings tucked in amongst the concrete. A compact city centre that has pretty much all you need. The beach is just a short train ride away, as is wonderful Dartmoor (if you like that kind of thing).
• The river, especially in summer. The pubs!!! surrounding countryside, nearby beach. Fresh air.
• The night life, its an outstanding pub crawl, if you can put up with all the students!
• Easy to walk from one end of town to the other, Timepiece bar and club, Boston's , Queen St,
• Got to be a tie between the Quay or Cathedral Green on a sunny afternoon, Timepiece and of course DOUBLE LOCKS!!
• The Prince's Trust Volunteers at Haven Road (01392 849319) best for a change of life if your bored 16 to 25 and want to meet new friends, try new activities and get a life........12 weeks of something quite different.
• Proximity to Dartmoor.
• In town, Gandy Street had all my fave shops (like those tiny ones in the arcade that can only hold about 3 shoppers at once). The Quayside is really beautiful. Shame the Maritime Museum is gone. It's a really lovely walk down the river to Topsham, a really pretty village that has lots of Dutch-style houses from ye olde days. And there are tons of cute villages and market towns easy to get to by bus or train, especially Budleigh Salterton, Totnes, and Dartmouth.
• All the teeange girls that hang out in Rougemont park!
• General comfort of living. The freaky people who make me laugh
• Absolutely disagree with the contributor who included Fore Street in the Demolish-it-now category. Fore Street is an antidote to the aseptic 60s style of Exeter centre. All the distinctive and eccentric shops are here: biking gear, martial arts, music and sound gear, second-hand books, junk/antiques, Chinese herbalism, New Age stuff, minerals and crystals, etc. This is *the* place in Exeter to find anything strange and interesting.
• The best things about Exeter are the following: Although a city, you are minutes away from the countryside and the beaches. There's a homely atmosphere, people are friendly and it's full of local people who have lived here all their lives. Everything is nearby! The weather is quite good, compared to the rest of England we get some of the better weather! The pubs/clubs are great, friendly and cheap! The area is pleasant and relatively safe. There is not as much violence as bigger cities. Once you've moved away after living there all your life you realise you miss everything, the TV programmes, the weather, the shops, the people, the pubs and clubs, the nearby beaches and countryside, the food and just the general 'Exeter' way of things!
• The clothes shopping is fantastis although it is beaten by the sheer beauty of the surrounding area. Although, Exeter is a city it is compact enough for you to always be aware that you're in beautiful Devon.

The Worst Things

• No casino
• Fat people waddling along the pavement and completely blocking it when trying to cycle past in the opposite direction to one-way traffic, then getting berated by said fat person.
• Boy racers, charity elastic bands, groups of asylum seeking pervs.
• People who actually bother to be prejudiced about people who wear collared shirts, or who are lucky enough to drive nicer cars. It's stupid, and those with collars aren't as prejudiced as those who judge them.
• the nightlife is shit and all the kids who would be chavs are goths due to the caverns music scene- could be seen as a good or bad thing bt personally i'd rather c a chav wearing white than a goth wearing black as its less depressing
• The townie clubs. It just ruins the whole scene, but there are really funny and the townie girlies are easy!!!
• Pollution!!!! Too many cars!!!!Smell of burning plastic or printed circuit boards, whatever!!! So close to the countryside yet its so damn difficult to avoid more cars and traffic jams.
• The townies. Not enough rehersal rooms.
• The townies who think they own the place. Exeter will always be hippy (and dread) city! cock off to tiverton..
• La Rossetta, Take Away Street, Newton Poppleford.Devon. Service without a smile, rude, hostile and unfriendly Food presented unhygienic and inedable
• the lack of decent graffiti (its getting betta tho) and the boredom. when you've been somewhere once, you've been there a thousand times...
• It's not that bad, it could be a great place to live. But speaking as a student, unless your daddy is very rich or you are able to mentally block out the majority of the student body its a nightmare. There are plenty of nice people, but the atmosphere is suffocating, the uni's performance is dissapointing, it's very costly and there is nothing to do here at all.
• the smallness, everyone knows eveyone else and if you get into bother with people it can be hard to evoid them.
• Rip off devon, to visitors.
• I'm an Exeter Uni student, and I confess, I have to agree with Exeter Uni students being the worst thing. At the start of every term, they arrive in a flotilla of Range Rovers and proceed to stagger around the town permanently pissed whilsy wearing a knitted tank-top. These guys are so rich they don't need to go to uni, and besides, they probably can't see over the top of their own upturned rugby shirt collar. Morons.
• Car parking!
• Tramps, beggars, goths.
• Students. Ninety five percent of Exeter Uni students really are tossers. I should know, I go there! Whatever you do, DONT go to Exeter university if, like me, you're a northerner and are not prepared to jump on the green welly bandwaggon and slag off your home town. I'm sure the local people (who are absolutely fine) feel exactly the same way. Other than that, Exeter is a great, chilled out city surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside I've seen.
• Some of the road surfaces esp. going up pennsylvania way
• People who slate the place on this site who clearly don't have a clue about Exeter.
• The council...
• townies
• mayor/athena
• going to uni there!
• The many young people who look lost in their clothes, whose ruddy faces and Mid Witch Cuckoo eyes tells me that they littel about the world, though they'll arrogantly tell you otherwise. The haters, who hate Londoners but try to be like them, just be yourself and celebrate what you've got without being big headed and ignorant about it.
• townie scum
• Still some idiots who think fighting is the way to end an evening. Cut their goolies off!
• the scores of young slipknot fans that hang around in a) Martian b)the alley outside the Cavern because they can't even get in there c) the Gardens, but don't worry, they have a curfew of about seven o'clock.
• The underground passages (I get Claustrophobic)
• all the boy racers (they hide sometimes but if you look close enough, they're there), Hothouse, the station cafe...
• All those naff concrete builidngs. And Exeter uni students are nearly all sloanes, watch out for the pink rugby shirts with turned up collars and brand new cars. Oh. and the hills, outside the city centre its all cliff faces.
• Marines. Rain. Lack of clublife.
• The council are crap. Thyre idea of Exeter is totally different to eveyone elses! Leave the city as it is and just renovate, dont knock the old bits down. And get into the 21st century with your licence laws for Clubs!!
• the abomination that passes for a presinct right beside the catherdral close.
• Excess of upper middle-class students who inhwerited dress code of their parents along with the money
• go to the suburbs and the city is dirty. The city council only clean the parts where the tourists hang out. tough shit to the residents of the suburbs.
• Sidwell street (apart from the bit from Duke of York to the Odeon, on the KFC side), Princesshay (should've been demolished years ago if you ask me!) & the Drunks and Drug Addicts that spoil Cathdral green with their dogs, their noise and their persistent begging.
• Being so far away from the rest of Britain!
• EXETER UNI STUDENTS are awful people. plymouth uni students aren't.
• Small Town Syndrome. Don't come expecting the high life.
• It can rain a lot! The clubs are only open till 2am at the latest. The bus drivers are miserable!!
• Too many Big Issue Sellers and other crusty-hippy types
• I have to leave and I want to be here forever!

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

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Credits

Last updated: 2008-05-15