History

The Cherub Inn dates from around 1380. It still retains many of its original features, including some old ships’ timbers, and it’s original use is thought to have been as a Merchant’s House. It is the oldest building in Dartmouth - and possibly the oldest “town house” in the South Hams. It is a Grade 2* Listed Building - a category that is reserved for the most interesting of smaller buildings.

The Cherub Inn is situated in Higher Street which was the principal street of Dartmouth in Elizabethan times. It was almost untouched until a fire in 1864 which destroyed the southern end of the street and during the Second World War the side opposite The Cherub Inn was bombed. In 1958 the building was virtually derelict but was completely restored by Mr Cresswell Mullet who also restored No.3 Higher Street. In more recent times, The Cherub Inn managed to escape another terrible fire in May 2010 which sadly seriously damaged other historic Tudor neighbour buildings but these buildings have also now been thankfully restorted.

In the 1960’s The Cherub Inn was a private members club and it was only in the early 1970’s that it became an inn and a restaurant. The entrance door leads straight into the bar and on the two floors above are the restaurants and kitchen. Below the bar is the beer celler with probably another celler (now filled in) below that. This sub-cellar would probably have had access onto the foreshore when the river flowed where Lower Street is now.