How this guide works

Two questions: what wine do they pour, and at what price? And is it sunny out front? All three answers come from public data, and all can be wrong. Here is how.

The sun

For each venue we picked the open pavement or terrace within 15 metres of its front. From each spot we traced the skyline in every direction, using the Environment Agency's laser survey of the city's buildings, trees and hills at one-metre detail. Then we followed the sun across the sky every ten minutes for a whole year and noted when it clears that skyline.

That tells you when sun can reach that spot on a clear day, whether or not there's seating there. It can't tell you about clouds, awnings or parasols, and buildings put up since the survey are missing. "About so many hours a year" adjusts for Plymouth's usual cloud, using the Met Office's 1991 to 2020 averages for Mount Batten.

The ratings use the outdoor season, April to September between noon and 9pm. A sun trap is in the sun for at least three quarters of that time; shaded is under 15%.

The finder on the front page uses each venue's year hour by hour, averaged over each month: the sun climbs higher and stays out longer in summer, and the buildings around each spot block it at different times as the seasons turn. Any day in a month gets that month's figures. A venue counts as in the sun when sun reaches that spot for more than half of the hour.

The wines and prices

Every wine comes from the venue's own website, or its group's: its wine list, drinks page or PDF menu, read two ways. Our automatic menu reader lists every drink with its price and checks each one word for word against the page; anything it can't match is left out. A second, careful read by hand covered 251 venues' websites for their wine lists, including the ones that publish none, the wine offers and corkage they advertise, and the ones that have closed. Where both found a venue's wines, the fuller list is used. Lists were last checked 25 October 2026; a list older than six months, or dated more than a year before we read it, is left out.

We list wine names, vintages, sizes and prices, and leave the venue's tasting notes on their site. The grape, style and country beside a wine are ours, read from the list's own words, and never looked up: "El Mazo Tempranillo, Spain" is a Tempranillo from Spain; a wine whose name says neither has neither. A region that means one grape counts for that grape too (Sancerre is Sauvignon Blanc). The lines about each grape on its page are ours.

The figures count a 175ml glass of still wine from £3 to £25 (125ml for sparkling wine) and a 75cl bottle from £10 to £500, at list price. "From" prices, offers and alcohol-free wines are listed but not counted, and offers are never applied to a price. More on the figures.

Lists change, and the price on a website isn't always the price at the bar. Treat everything here as a guide and check with the venue.

Our reading respects each site's robots.txt, waits at least five seconds between pages, says who we are, and stops when a site asks us to. Some venues ask not to be read by robots; they're listed without wines.

The places are the ones our sister guide Cocktail Compass Plymouth lists, from the Food Standards Agency, OpenStreetMap, its own cocktail read and Pint Compass Plymouth's pubs, with every restaurant whose wine list we found: the City of Plymouth only, plus Cawsand and Kingsand across the water. A place outside the named parts of town is labelled by its nearest suburb on OpenStreetMap. Which places let you bring your own food comes from Bring a Bite.

The crawls

The wine crawls walk the streets, paths and steps on OpenStreetMap between places that pour wine, worked out once for every pair within 3 km. Each stop's glass is the house wine where the list names one, else the cheapest glass of the colour or grape you chose. Your location, if you plan from where you are, stays in your browser.

What we don't use

No paid listings, no reviews and no star ratings from other websites. Venue positions come from the Food Standards Agency, OpenStreetMap or the postcode.

Privacy

The site sets no cookies and counts no visits. It loads nothing from anywhere else except the map tiles, from CARTO, when you open a map.

There are no accounts, and we hold no personal details. If you ask the finder or the map to use your location, it stays in your browser.

Corrections and removal

Run a venue and want a price fixed, a wine added or your venue taken off the guide? Email contact@plymouthresearch.uk with the venue's name. We'll take it off at the next update and stop reading your site.

Sources and licences

Sun model: Environment Agency LIDAR Composite (© Environment Agency 2022) and Ordnance Survey OS Open Map Local (© Crown copyright and database right), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Food hygiene ratings and some venue positions: Food Standards Agency, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Gaming machine licences: Plymouth City Council's public gambling register (Gambling Act 2005): premises and licences only, no names.
Postcode positions and council areas: ONS Postcode Directory via postcodes.io, Open Government Licence.
Bringing your own food: Bring a Bite, our sister guide.

Drink responsibly

A 175ml glass of 13% wine is about 2.3 units, and a 75cl bottle about 10; the UK's low-risk guideline is no more than 14 units a week. Venue pages list any alcohol-free wines. For facts about alcohol and support, visit Drinkaware.