The Clifton Inn is your next stop, further along Clifton Street on the right. The Clifton Inn was expanded in the 1920's to incorporate a house and two cottages, the beer garden which hadn't been used since the 1920's was re-instated in 1990. At the turn of the century, The Axminster Inn occupied a site opposite the Clifton Inn roughly where the back of the DSS building now stands, with the Elephant & Castle occupying a plot at the end of Codrington Street.

Newtown was rural two centuries ago, the first building on the banks of the Chute was the City's workhouse, this stood where the triangle car park now stands. In 1699-1707 a larger workhouse was built further up Heavitree Road (then named London Road). The old workhouse was repaired and extended and became a hospital known as City Hospital. Some of the Summerlands fields belonged to the hospital. Tennants of the fields included the Codrington family. In 1775, Bartholomew Parr Jr was appointed to Southernhay Hospital built in the 1740's and he married Maria Codrington, their son's surname was "Codrington Parr". Cholera

The Cholera epidemic of the 1820's and 1830's led to open streams such as the Chute being culverted and healthier homes built. The houses in Clifton Road were built in the 1830's however there were already some homes in the lower parts of Clifton Street, John Street East and Sandford Street. By 1850, these streets were completely built up with homes being built in Chute Street in 1851. During the blitz of WW2, many of the homes in Newtown were gutted and renovated after the war.

Horse drawn trams ran down Paris Street and over New Road from 1882 until the electric tram system came into being in 1905. A tram depot was built opposite Eaton Place for the tram system in 1905 and after the last tram ran in 1931, this became a bus depot.

The swimming baths were built next door to the bus depot in 1937. In 1975, all buses were run out of Bampfylde street with the introduction of the smaller busses we see on the streets of Exeter today.

The first three houses of Eaton Place were demolished in the 1960's for the construction of Clarendon House (the DSS). In 1980, the Devon Community Housing Association bought the site of the old bus depot and demolished it, building Eaton House which opened in 1984.

The nearby concrete monstrosity housing the council (the civic centre) was built between 1965 and 1972. It took seven years to produce possibly the worst building in the City. It was designed by Exeter architect Vinton Hall, 5 phases using the modular principle. The Mount and Manor Office block and multi-storey built between 1988 and 1990 is far better.

The building adjacent to the DSS office replaced a former Focus / MFI warehouse and was finished in 2005 as part of Exeter's City Centre re-development by Land Securities. The building incorporates car parks, warehousing and flats as part of the council's affordable housing policy. A cinema opened in this building on December 22 2006.

Over the road are the Gothic buildings of St Lukes College, now part of Exeter University's School Of Education. The foundation stone was laid in 1853 and construction finished in October 1854. The playing fields which you'll pass later were enlarged in 1898 and the Chapel in 1912. Again severely bomb damaged, the college was re-opened in 1945 with further rebuilding taking several years. In 1978, St Luke's College became part of Exeter University. Turn down College Road just before the college on your right and head to the end of the road. At the traffic lights on the right you'll find the Mount Radford. Two bars are housed here, a quieter lounge bar on the the Magdalen Road side and a darker more lively bar with an entrance in College Road. Take your pick. Again it would be well worth having a few here because the next Pubs are in Fore Street Heavitree, another 10-15 minute walk. You are now in an area of the City known as St Leonards. This area of the City became important firstly because it borders the river and incorporated St Leonards Quay. Lady Isabella de Fortibus killed the Quay's trade when she built a weir at Countess Weir, thus ensuring all trade went through Topsham docks which her family owned. This mean't that St Leonards became a major traffic route between Topsham and Exeter until St Leonards Quay was returned to working order by the completion of the Exeter Canal in 1566.

Do you remember Nick Leeson? Right, he was the man who was blamed for bringing down Barings Bank.
John Baring came to Exeter in 1717 aged 20 to study the trade of Serge making (Serge; A strong twilled woollen cloth). In 1723 he became a British national and in 1729 married Elizabeth Vowler, the daughter of a wealthy Exeter merchant. His wife's dowry was sufficient to establish him in the wool & cloth trade for which Exeter had become very important. His native German language served him well in continental dealing and his business prospered. In 1737 he aquired Larkbeare House with 37 acres of land which were augmented as the business grew. He died in 1748 and was succeeded by his son John who was also pretty shit-hot. He hooked up with his brother Francis in developing the family business through their London connections and went into commercial banking, hence Baring Brothers Commercial Bank. John left the running of this business to his brother to return to Devon where he established the Plymouth Bank and later the Devonshire Bank (1770-1820). While the Barings were prospering, their neighbour at the Mount Radford was in deep shit. John Colsworthy was declared bankrupt in 1755 after the loss of several of his ships at sea. His estate was bought by John Baring II for 2000 guineas.

The Mount Radford was let to tennants and later sold and used as a college until 1902, when it was demolished. Barnardo Road and Cedars Road stand on the site. The grounds are now Central School's playing fields.
Sorry but after all that, this pub is not it, but it is red brick and does look slightly Georgian in a red-brick suburban pub kind of way. The beers good though! Barings name was the oldest in City investment banking and was bought after it's collapse by ING of Holland for £1.00, however ING had to clear £660m losses.

The advert above appeared in a City Council guide from the early 1960's. To complicate the issue, a map of 1904 shows there to have been a pub on this site. The arches suggest the building was built as a cellar or warehouse of some sort and was in place by 1873 (from a map). The premises were enlarged in 1890.