This post mentions the ones that I didn’t get to but that in my view are still worth a visit.

The Fulflood Arms

The Fulflood Arms, Winchester

A recent addition to my Winchester favourites, the Fulflood Arms is situated in Cheriton Road on the west side of the station – ie away from the town centre. I believe it’s been refurbished fairly recently and it’s now a friendly, welcoming pub in a residential street.

The Fulflood Arms is a Greene King pub, but like the Green Man on Southgate Street you wouldn’t guess that from the eclectic beer selection. I’ve seen Triple FFF, Itchen Valley, Cheriton and Bateman’s beers here as well as a couple of GK ones. The food’s good too.

There are games in the corner including a bar billiards machine, and I believe they have quizzes mid-week.

Read a more recent pub review of the Fulflood Arms here.

St James Tavern, Winchester

St James Tavern

This Wadworths pub is at the bottom of the Romsey Road – just up from the West Gate. It’s a small cosy pub with a triangular frontage. Despite its size there are two distinct areas inside.

The beers are much as you’d expect for a Wadworths pub and usually seem well-kept.

Read a more recent review of the St James Tavern here.

Bishop On The Bridge

Bishop on the Bridge, Winchester

The Bishop on the Bridge is a large pub at the eastern end of the High Street – near the King Alfred statue. It used to be an Eldridge Pope pub many years ago, but became a Fuller’s pub about 10 years ago.

I like the interior as it’s light and airy. The vibe is very relaxed although the barstaff are efficient. The beer selection is what you’d expect from a Fuller’s pub including a tasty Gale’s HSB – a personal favourite.

The food menu contains few surprises but the food itself is tasty and good value.

Out the back there is a patio area – attractive because it’s away from the traffic and next to the fast flowing river Itchen. However it was threatening rain on my last visit here so we stayed inside.

Read a more recent review of the Bishop on the Bridge here.

So that’s about it for my write up of Winchester pubs – except to refer you to the previous posts concerning the ones that I visited on my recent evening out:

• An Evening in Winchester Part 1 – Albion, King Alfred, Hyde Tavern
• An Evening in Winchester Part 2 – Old Vine, Green Man
• An Evening in Winchester Part 3 – Wykeham Arms
• An Evening in Winchester Part 4 – Black Boy

Also you can see a Google map with all my favorite Winchester pubs. And the Pizza Express is good too…

The Black Boy

The Black Boy in Winchester - taken in December 2003

As mentioned in my previous post, the Black Boy is the best pub in Winchester (in my view) and well worth finishing up at. But it is also one of the furthest pubs from Winchester station – a good 15-20 minute walk. Luckily the barstaff will happily call you a taxi to whisk you back to the station in time for your train. (Actually I still owe Geoff for the fare)

The Black Boy was hardly worth a glance when I actually lived in Winchester 20 years ago, but it has grown piece by piece into a must-visit stop on any pub crawl of the city. The pub is full of bric-a-brac and stuffed animals, and rows of books. There’s enough in here to keep you occupied for days. The pub is noted for its selection of games and the regular Wednesday night games of Go were in full swing.

Bric-a-brac inside the Black Boy, Winchester.

The many levels and areas maintain their own atmosphere even though none of them are far from the centrally located bar. There’s even a patio area outside for the sunnier days. However, we stayed inside as it was getting dark by the time we arrived.

The beer selection at the Black Boy changes, but Pots Ale from Cheriton and Hopback Summer Lightning are constants. On the night of our visit the Pots Ale was superb – tasting even fresher than that at the Hyde Tavern which seemed liked ages ago, but was just 4 hours beforehand.

We arrived just in time to get some food (kitchen shuts at 9pm) and were both impressed by the huge plates of ham egg and chips that were set down in front of us.

After the food we decided to have some games of table football, and we were soundly thrashed by a group of what turned out were championship players. We retired hurt and drowned our sorrows with one last pint before our taxi arrived.

Any time you spend at the Black Boy is never enough and I can’t wait to go back again. I recommend this pub to everyone.

Read about all the pubs we got to:

• An Evening in Winchester Part 1 – Albion, King Alfred, Hyde Tavern
• An Evening in Winchester Part 2 – Old Vine, Green Man
• An Evening in Winchester Part 3 – Wykeham Arms

And the ones we didn’t get to:

• Other Winchester Gems

The Albion, Winchester

I arrived in the city before him so this post covers those that I did on my own before meeting him from the station. This enabled me to visit practically all the pubs on my shortlist – see my previous post on planning the Winchester evening.

My first port of call was an unexpected extra.

The Albion

The Albion is the closest pub to Winchester station since the South Western was shut many years ago. It’s situated at the town end of Stockbridge Road by the busy junction there. I’d visited the pub once before earlier in the year and although the pub was itself a small and friendly establishment, the beer quality wasn’t the best. However as I walked past I noticed the Daleside ‘England’s Pride’ pump-clip – a beer I enjoyed greatly the week before in London. So I decided to go in.

Casks on the bar at the Albion, Winchester

The first thing I noticed was that the beer selection had increased since the time before. The Albion was now offering 6 draught real ales – 3 handpumps and 3 casks sitting on the bar.

Apart from me, I noticed one other couple drinking real ale – everyone else seemed to be on lager. The ‘England’s Pride’ was OK but not as nice as I’d had before – a very slight vinegary feel to it. It’s always good to see pubs with a great selection of beers, but does this pub sell enough real ale to justify having 6 on? I’m not sure.

So on to the next.

The King Alfred

My next was going to be the Hyde Tavern but on the way I decided to pay another visit to the King Alfred.

King Alfred, Winchester

The King Alfred (11 Saxon Road) used to be a favourite when I lived in Winchester 20 years ago. At that time it was a Marstons pub (as were most of the pubs in Winchester) and the Pedigree was always superb. Lots of games were available in the pub for the punters too.

After Marstons sold their southern pubs to Greene King in 1999 the beer selection in the King Alfred became GK IPA and Abbot – neither of which I like much. So I stopped visiting the Alred on my occasional trips back to Winchester.

The King Alfred is still a GK pub and I could see through the open door that the beer selection was still the same. There was a third pumpclip turned round and I read on Beer in the Evening that they do carry a guest beer. But in the absence of anything else I decided not to stay for a pint – maybe another time.

So back up the road to the Hyde Tavern.

Hyde Tavern , Winchester

The Hyde Tavern

The Hyde Tavern is a wonderful little two-room pub tucked away north of the city centre at 57 Hyde Street. It was my original choice for first pub on this crawl and was another old favourite that I’d written off after Greene King acquired it. When I found out that GK had sold it (about three years ago I believe) I started coming again. It’s now a free house with a good selection of beers.

The pub was almost empty, but it was still only 6pm. There were 5 beers on – Ballard’s Midhurst Mild, Cheriton Pots Ale, Ringwood Best, Hogs Back Summer Ale and Harvey’s Sussex Best. A real cider was also available but I can’t remember what. I had the Ballard’s Mild and Pots Ale and they were both delicious. The mild had an amazingly powerful flavour given its strength (3.4%).

Marstons stamped into the hand pumps at the Hyde Tavern , Winchester

Interestingly, the handpumps here still have Marstons stamped (moulded?) on the handles which becomes visible when the pints are pulled. This is a hangover from when the Hyde Tavern was also a Marstons pub. The old Marstons brewery was nearby at the southern end of the road – on the corner with North Walls. The brewery later became a Marstons distribution depot and was demolished some years ago for housing.

My last two visits to the Hyde Tavern were in wintry evening darkness so I hadn’t appreciated that there is also a garden on a lower level at the back of the pub. If the sun had been shining I might have strayed into it.

So after some good conversation with a photographer and his missus I headed back up to the station to meet my friend Geoff.

(Added later) Read about the ones we got to:

• An Evening in Winchester Part 2 – Old Vine, Green Man
• An Evening in Winchester Part 3 – Wykeham Arms
• An Evening in Winchester Part 4 – Black Boy

And the ones we didn’t get to:

• Other Winchester Gems

This Google map shows my favourite pubs in Winchester.