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A Bitterne pub crawl of nine pubs (purple route) in just over 5 miles, with two possible extensions (orange extension to The Hinkler; green extension to West End Brewery). |
Bitterne is a Southampton suburb on the east bank of the river Itchen, bordered by Woolston to the south, the M27 and Hedge End to the east, and Midanbury and Swaythling to the north. The area was mainly estate land until the late Victorian period, when the building of Cobden Bridge, the laying out of the road to Botley, and the road to Burlsden (which used to meet at the Red Lion), and the opening of the railway station near the Celtic/Roman settlement of Clausentum at the bottom of Bitterne Road, encouraged the development of housing. The heart of Bitterne, the shopping area known as Bitterne Village, was bypassed and pedestrianised in the 1980s with the creation of a busy dual carriageway named after the politician Horace King.
White Swan
1. The Station - 95 Bullar Road SO18 1GT - John Barras - Child friendly - Meals
12-11 Mon-Sun WhatPub Bite ( 02380 334062 ) Rating: 5 (average)
1a. Bar Marina - Unit 7A, Kemps Quay, Quayside Road, SO18 1AD - No meals -
Opens from 3.00pm Mon to Fri, from 12.00 at weekends
2. The Red Lion - 448 Bitterne Road SO18 5EF - Ind - Children in food area at rear - Meals
11-4, 7-11 Mon- Sat; 12-4, 7-10.30 Sun WhatPub Bite ( 02380 449136 )
(Now a Wetherspoon pub)
3. Fox & Hounds - 106 Pound Street SO18 6BP - Enterprise Inns - No children - No meals
11-11 Mon-Sat; 12-10.30 Sun WhatPub Bite ( 02380 435917 )
4. Humble Plum - Commercial Street SO18 6LY - Wadworths - Child accepted - Meals
12-2.30, 5-11 Mon-Thu; 12-11 Fri-Sun WhatPub Bite ( 02380 437577 ) Website
5. The Bittern (Closed) - 26 Thornhill Park Road SO18 5TQ -
6. The Hinkler - Hinkler Road SO19 6DF - Marstons - Child accepted - Meals
11-11 Mon-Sat; 12-10.30 Sun WhatPub
7. Hare & Hounds (Closed) - Cheriton Avenue SO18 5JE -
8. West End Brewery - 59 High Street SO30 3DQ - Greene King - Child friendly - Meals
11-11 Mon-Sun WhatPub Bite
9. The Master Builder - Wadworth
9a. The Two Brothers - Townhill Way SO18 3RA - Sizzling Pubs (Mitchells & Butlers) - Child friendly - Meals - 9am-Midnight Mon-Sat; 9am-11 Sun (Meals 9am-10) - BITE WhatPub
9. Big Cheese (Closed) -
CLOSED WhatPub Bite Website
10. Butcher's Hook - 7 Manor Farm Road SO18 1NN - Ind - Child tolerated - No meals
6-11 Wed & Thu; 4-11 Fri; 1-11 Sat; 2-10 Sun WhatPub Bite Trip
11. Bitterne Park - 2 Cobden Avenue SO18 1FX - Enterprise Inns - Child accepted - No meals
11-11 Mon-Fri; 12-11 Sat-Sun WhatPub
*Closing times may vary from above at weekends. Pubs will usually close at 10.30 on Sundays, and may stay open longer on Fridays and Saturdays. See WhatPub for exact times.
The pubs in Bitterne are mainly decent enough. Nothing particularly remarkable about most of them, either good or bad. A crawl of around five miles, starting and finishing at Bitterne Station, will take in nine pubs ranging from the run down estate pub with no food or cask beer, the Hare & Hounds, to the trendy micro-pub, the Butcher's Hook, serving craft beer. There's a decent Wadworth's pub, the Humble Plum, which I like, a Hungry Horse family food pub, the Big Cheese, an old fashioned locals pub with character but no food and no children, the Fox & Hounds, and the rather distressed but interesting The Bittern pub, which is struggling to survive, and which may any moment be demolished (or fall down!). The two most interesting pubs are The Bittern and Butcher's Hook; though The Bittern is not the most inviting or pleasant of places to drink in, it does have sufficient character and interest to make it a quirky and worthwhile visit. A shorter crawl can be had which includes all the pubs in the heart of Bitterne, missing out those on the edge which like the Hare & Hounds are run down and not worth visiting, but also misses out on The Bittern, which may be run down, but is quirky. Two extensions are available on the regular crawl, one to a run down estate pub, The Hinkler, which is not worth visiting unless you want to visit every pub in Southampton, and one to the West End Brewery which is an average Greene King family pub. It's charmless but popular. OK to visit if you're in the area, but not really worth making a detour for, unless you want to visit every pub in Southampton.
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| The main Bitterne pubs - a shorter crawl |
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