An Evening in Winchester (Part 4)

Published: Aug 12th, 2009 | Author: The Beeralist

This post carries on from a previous one describing a recent real ale pub crawl round Winchester.

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

Filed in: Hampshire, Pubs, Winchester | Tags: Black Boy, Cheriton, Food, Hop Back, Pub Crawl | 1 Comment