The Linden Tree, Bursledon

I thought I had reviewed the Linden Tree on my blog, and came here to record a second visit, but I seem to have visited the place before I started doing my blog, so my review went on BITE:

I'm new to the Southampton area, and still exploring the pubs. I'm finding that Wadworths pubs are pretty good. They tend to be well run, and with lots of character. The Wadworth's beers are to my taste, and sometimes there'll be guest ales. This is fairly typical. A very pleasant characterful place. Real fire in the corner, cats and a dog in the bar. Lots of wood. Everything clean and in good shape. No guest ales on my visit, but apparently they do sometimes put one on. However, there were four casks of Wadworths ales available, which is plenty enough. 

I like the place, and could see myself popping in here for Sunday lunch, or lunch before doing shopping in the nearby Tesco. But they no longer do food - not even rolls. The pub is apparently busy enough that they don't need the food trade, and they don't find it profitable enough. That's a real shame for me as it's too far to be my local, and without food on offer or a frequently changing guest ale or a nice location, or some other special draw, other than being pleasant, I doubt I'll be visiting again. 

This is, essentially, a pleasant locals pub. If you're close by, it's worth a visit, but if you're more than a mile away, then the Cottage Inn in Butlocks Heath is also a Wadworths, and has a lot of character, and does food. Or go to Hamble-le-Rice, which is a pleasant village with a good selection of pubs to choose from. 

SilkTork - 25 Mar 2015 03:43

Since I wrote the above, the Cottage has stopped doing food. And I have discovered the Fox and Hounds  just down the road. And I've just noticed that I haven't reviewed the Cottage, even though I've been there several times.   [Note, I have now reviewed The Cottage, and they are back doing food. Good pub. Nov 2021] 

Anyway, The Linden Tree is the same as it was on my previous visit. Four Wadworth cask beers, a cat and a dog, roaring fire, laid back atmosphere, mildly charming,  quirky nik naks, friendly locals, and no food other than snacks. The place is clean and well run, and makes for a pleasant local, but it's not really a pub you'd go out of your way to visit. Indeed, I would say if you are on the road leading to The Linden Tree, you'd be doing yourself a favour if you kept on driving a little bit until you came to the Fox and Hounds - that is a pub worth seeking out.

Date: Dec 2018    Score: 5 



11-11 Mon-Sat; 12-11 Sun

School Road
Lowford
Bursledon
SO31 8BU


* Pub Website
* WhatPub
* FaceBook
* BITE

Wadworth Pubs in Southampton

The Fleming Arms, Swaythling / Bitterne

This is a large Greene King Hungry Horse on the outskirts of Southampton, not far from the airport. We've been here a few times (though not for a while), and I was surprised I hadn't reviewed it before.

I don't think I've been back here since it was refurbished in September 2017, and I'm struggling to remember what it was like previously. It has been nicely done, but I struggle to see the original character of the pub within the overall family pub rustic English charm style that is so common these days. Once inside you could be anywhere in the UK, and in any building, 300 year old pub or 6 month old airport. My memory is of a place that felt more natural and organic, yet a bit run down, and less popular. Today it is busy, and there's a warm communal atmosphere. Popular music plays, but quiet enough that conversation buzz can be heard all around. I like it. There's plenty of seating at the rear, and an upper floor seating area. The outside courtyard beside the Monk's Brook stream has the potential to be pleasant in summer, but smokers are allowed to use it.

The bar area is split in two. All casks are from the Greene King range. Four pumps on the right, with three of this repeated on the left. The food menu - which is what people come for - is good value popular food decently cooked. I was very pleased with my meal. I had the over 60s special, so I had a tasty and satisfying two course meal and a pint of Speckled Hen for exactly £8.

It dates from the early 18th century, although parts of it are thought to date back to the 15th century. It has been a public house since about 1850 and was previously a doctor's residence. It was named after the Fleming family, who owned much of the land in the Swaythling area. The side extension dated 1903 replaces an earlier side building.

This is a decent place if you live locally. To be fair there's not a lot to encourage outside visitors because there's nothing special here, but there is a nearby river walk which might be worth exploring.

Date: Nov 2018    Score: 6

Returned with Myles for lunch. Place is popular and busy, though we found the upstairs to be quiet and relaxing.  Good value meals. Decent cask beers. There was a deal on BrewDog's Brewgooder Clean Water Lager, so we got that. I'm quite happy coming back here. It's an OK place.

Date: April 2019    Score: 6 


  

We had a cracking family Christmas party here in December 2019. The staff made a few errors, but the manager for the day put things right, which is always a good thing. I'd be quite happy to use them again for a large party. 

Date: Dec 2019  Score: 6 


 

Myles and me chewing on our chips during a Lads Who Lunch visit.  

Service was friendly, but very slow and a bit remote during a Lads Who Lunch visit in Feb 2022. It was a Mystery Shop, so we were, as always, very limited in our choice of food and drink. The Greene King menu is unadventurous in range and  rather plain in its cooking - frozen chips and instant mash with meat "loaded" with cheese is the order of the day, but an observant diner can pick out some healthier and less environmentally damaging options than loaded burger and chips (such as the Mexican spiced pulled jackfruit with Ancho chilli sauce. Served with Mexican rice and salad garnish) - sadly, the Mystery Shopper criteria specifically forbids veggie or healthy options. Despite some shortcomings, we felt reasonably satisfied with the visit. 

Date: Feb 2022   Score: 5 

High Road
Swaythling
SO18 2QN

Open 11-11
Food 11-10 (Sun&Sat 10-10)

Child friendly 


* Pub website
* Trip Advisor

* WhatPub 

***

Pubs in Bitterne

Greene King pubs in Southampton

Dancing Goose, Netley (closed)

Closed Sept 2020. Will be converted into housing and a smaller pub 

(possibly called Woodies Wine Bar). 

The Netley Grange has reopened as The Dancing Goose after being bought by Questmap Ltd, a Southampton based property developer. It is being run by Mike Andrews and his family.  The pub appears to have been purpose built around 1995 as The Mill House by Spirit Pub Company (owned by Punch Taverns), before being rebranded as Fayre & Square and renamed The Grange. Greene King acquired it in 2015, then closed it down in January before selling it to Questmap.

More restaurant than pub but decent quality and excellent value family food.
We enjoyed it, and were pleasantly surprised at the quality (and quantity) of the food, and of the friendliness and willingness to please of the staff. However, we were not a best fit as we insisted on selecting our own table, and fetching our own beer, which is not the way they wanted to do things! They did oblige us good naturedly, though it did feel as through we were swimming upstream at times.

It's the same place as it was as The Grange, though clearly aiming to be more upmarket. I'm not sure if the kids indoor play area is still open round the back - that used to be a big attraction for people. It all feels a little more sedate these days, and certainly less busy - though that may depend on visiting times.  Some seating has been removed to allow a carvery area to be put in.

The surroundings are peaceful. There is an ample sized car park and a free outdoor play area for the kids. Inside it has the look and feel of a converted barn, with an attractive upstairs seating area with a view over the interior of the pub.

It's an OK place, though we doubt if we'll be back as we like our pubs to be pubs, and to have the freedom to sit where we want without having to ask. That is just a personal thing, and - funny enough - we're OK with being sat when visiting a restaurant - perhaps because that's a different experience. If you come here expecting it to be a carvery style restaurant then you will be prepared. And they are friendly and flexible. And the food really is good value! 


My review on Trip Advisor from June 2016 when the place was The Grange, and had just been taken over by Greene King:

       Family pub with good points and bad points

The Netley Grange is a sprawling modern barn type building in a fairly isolated spot on a fast road about half a mile from Netley Abbey. Acquired by Greene King when they purchased the Spirit Group, the brand owner of Fayre & Square, the pub serves Greene King IPA as its only cask beer. The target clientèle is working class families, and it succeeds in attracting them, both the good and the bad. It is a roomy and attractive building, with a pleasant seating area around the bar, and a smaller seating area in the attic of the steeply pitched roof. There is also seating outside, some in a landscaped garden, and some by the road and car park, and by a useful, though limited, play area. There is an additional room just off the main bar, which is cramped but popular. In addition there is a function room which can be hired, and a soft play area, Wacky Warehouse, at the back, which is free during the week if you spend £10 or more in the pub. As the soft play area is accessed separately from the pub it's not clear how this works unless people eat first, and then the children go play in the Warehouse.
There is a down to earth atmosphere, with relaxed and friendly staff, though it's not clear to those unfamiliar with the pub how everything operates. Those sitting outside do not have menus, so you have to find those yourself, and on asking the staff, this is done by taking one from an unoccupied inside table. Tables inside have knives and forks and condiments, tables outside do not, so, again, these have to be taken from an unoccupied table otherwise your food is brought to you and left in front of you with no means by which to eat it. It's not clear what happens on busy days when all inside tables are occupied.
The seating area near the playground is very popular, and families will turn up with their own picnics to occupy these tables. They are also popular with smokers. Some families do not supervise their children closely, so you have boys kicking footballs against the car park fence, with balls sometimes missing and landing on or near the tables. You have children hurting themselves and left to cry for long periods. Sitting near the playground is not advised, especially as the seating area appears to be rarely tidied or cleaned.
As with some other Greene King family pubs we have encountered, the staff can struggle and make mistakes. One family during our visit waited over an hour for their meal to be served, and were told at the last minute that some items would be missing. The family at this point were clearly at the end of their tether as they had a toddler who was very tired and hungry and making quite a racket.
We can see that on the right day, and sitting in the right place this can be quite an acceptable family pub, but we can also see that sitting in the wrong place or going at the wrong time the experience could be quite unpleasant.
We had the 2 for £10 deal, which was excellent value. We had the all day veggie breakfast, and it was very acceptable, with quorn sausages. Our daughter had a kids meal which she loved, especially the make your own (unhealthy!) pancake (lots of sweets!).

Date: Oct 2018    Score: 5

Grange Road
Netley
SO31 5FF

Open from 11am to 11pm
Food from Noon to 9pm. 

Family and dog friendly




dancinggoose.co.uk
WhatPub
Trip Advisor (Dancing Goose)
Trip Advisor (Netley Grange)

Steam Town Brewery, Eastleigh

Steam Town is newly opened in a former brewery. It's a little outside of Eastleigh, but close enough to the Itchen Way to make it a viable stopping place in Bishopstoke as an alternative to the Toby Garvery. I popped in at lunchtime during the week - not a busy time, and the restaurant side was empty. There were a few blokes of assorted ages having a drink. The lunch menu appears to be limited, especially for vegetarians, but there are halloumi sticks, which are always welcome.

The bar brews its own beer in a brewery visible through glass doors off the restaurant area. There are four active pumps, all offering Steam Town's own beers. In addition there are around ten kegs behind the bar. Difficult to see, but there is a blackboard to the left of the bar which lists all the beers on it. The kegs are from a selection of breweries - none of them are Steam Town. The bar does third pints, but only on the keg beers.

The place has been stripped back to bare brick to give a modern vibe, and there are occasional train themes to add more character - a station clock, train carriage seats in the restaurant, plus brewing/beer themes, such as using cut away kegs in the toilet.

Dogs are welcomed and "well behaved" children are tolerated it seems, though not exactly encouraged.  I kinda liked the place, though it felt not quite finished, and a little soulless during my visit - it's probably warmer and friendlier in the evenings. They occasionally have live bands. It's certainly a place worth making a detour to check out as it does have character, and it does brew its own beers. If you're a dog owning, burger eating, beer drinker, you'll like it even more!

1 Bishopstoke Road
Eastleigh
SO50 6AD

Opening Times

11-11

Meal Times

12-3, 6-9 Mon-Fri; 12-9 Sat; 12-6 Sun

* Website
* Facebook
* TripAdvisor
* WhatPub

Oasis Bar, Lower Southampton

1950s pub/bar offering one cask. On my visit the cask was Old Speckled Hen. On a Sunday all draught pints are £3. It's a small to medium size corner location bar, with a patio area out front. No food, just drinks. Quite plain, but not unpleasant. Has the look and feel of a Continental bar, except for the very loud drunk taking advantage of the cheap Sunday drinks. Barman laid back, other customers mostly middle aged men on their own, with one married couple at the bar chatting to the barman. The place could be acceptable if it wasn't for the drunk. Four large supporting pillars rather impose themselves.

Date: October 2019  Score: 4 

The above review appeared recently on TripAdvisor. Trevor, the owner, responded: 

 trevorw864, Owner at Oasis Bar, responded to this review

So, you visited in October 2019, 11 months ago, and now write a patronising inaccurate review that unless people note the date gives the impression that we are flaunting the COVID rules? Unacceptable.
For the record, the building is from the 1950's, the bar isn't.
We stopped the Sunday £3 pint offer when we reopened after the initial lockdown in early August.
During lock down, we refreshed all the decor - our palm tree motif covers two walls, with that and the other decor using no less than 7 colours. We also sanded, stained and re-varnished the bar fronts, DJ booth, back bar shelves and patio benches to give the woodwork a variety of colours and textures. Every bit of gloss paint was redone too. We also replaced all the tables with contemporary wood and metal ones.
One loud drunk? Your opinion, which you'll gather we don't give much credance to ... and how does that negate the 'continental bar' look, do they not have loud people on the continent?
The four large pillars are holding the rest of the building up, FFS.

The gist of that, is the place has been redecorated, and the beers on Sunday are now more expensive. The four large pillars are still there supporting the building above and are still imposing themselves on the space.  I'd like to thank Trevor for the feedback about how the place has been updated since my review, but TripAdvisor doesn't let you do that.  I'd also like to ask Trevor why my review so annoyed him, as I don't think I set out to mislead anyone about the place, just give an honest appraisal of my personal experience. It's true the review was put in TripAdvisor recently, though the experience was a while back, but TripAdvisor allow that, and put in the date so people can see when the visit took place. Not sure in what way the review was inaccurate, as I reported my experience in as accurate and honest a way as I could. Out of date, perhaps, but so is this review: "The staff were very friendly, it was clean and tidy and there was a good atmosphere. Lots of people came in later than us. We had a good end to our evening but I'm not sure what it may be like on a busy Friday or Saturday night. Date of visit: January 2020" To which Trevor responded on the same day as he responded to my review: "Hi - sorry this has taken so long, thank you." If Trevor is concerned that my review is placed chronologically out of sequence, then that's a matter to take up with TripAdvisor rather than rant about my review being "patronising" and "inaccurate". But there we are. I have some empathy with Trevor's position, but I'm not comfortable with his manner of expressing it, and feel that he probably gives a more negative impression of Oasis than my review. But others may feel he is right, and such people would be attracted to Oasis as a result. I am now more put off revisiting Oasis than I was before. So be it. 

 

  

  

Phocea is at a birthday party, so I'm revisiting a few pubs while I wait to pick her up. I'm back here to see how the place has improved since my last visit. There are around 10 customers inside and another four in the patio area outside smoking. The place is snug with subdued lighting and music at a modest level. Indie music. Gentle relaxed conversation is going on. 

  

Some Christmas decorations set up attractively in the window spaces. There is a cask pump handle tucked away behind a pillar, but I don't ask for it, I take a Red Stripe keg lager. On the whole this is a laid back place, more bar than pub, a mix of customers, both young and old. The decor feels old, faded and dated, and is not to my taste, but it's not offensive. It's not a place I'm warming to - it has the feel of a WWII German bunker, but each to their own.

Date: Dec 2021.  Score: 4

137 High Street
Southampton
SO14 2BS


Opens 12.00 every day



* Website
* WhatPub
* TripAdvisor 

The Bricklayers Arms, Millbrook

Local pub. Lease is up for sale by Star Pubs, which makes the pub appear to be closed, but it is still open. A little run down but friendly enough. Does cask, but none available on my visit - apparently it had been a busy weekend! No food. Signs in the toilet seems to suggest that drugs are sold on the premises, and that the pub is trying to discourage this. A corner location, with two separate bars - the main bar, accessed from the front, and a games bar, access from the side, which was closed during my afternoon visit. If you live in the area, this is an OK place in an area not blessed with many pubs - though the Ship Inn, Redbridge and the Park Inn, Shirley, are not too far away, and both are very decent pubs. On the whole there is little here to attract outside visitors.

Ambiance

Date: March 2018   Score: 3 


165 Wimpson Lane
Southampton
SO16 4QD

Open Noon to 10pm every day (until 11pm weekends)

No food. 


* Facebook
* WhatPub
* Star Pubs

• Pubs in Shirley

Beers & Bottles, Portswood (Closed)

Beers & Bottles is a high street off-licence in Portswood that focuses on beer. There is a good selection of beers from the UK and Europe, plus some from America, and other parts of the world. I visited here shortly after moving to Southampton, and quite liked the place as there is a decent selection, good prices, and it is convenient. My review for RateBeer:

Beer and wine shop in the student area of Southampton: Portswood. Has the usual Belgians, and the usual UK bottles, plus some American stuff, including beers from Hawaii, along with a decent selection of local beers. Not a range that will excite most RateBeer users, but handy if you’re in the area, and way better than most High Street beer shops and supermarkets. If you want a larger selection, including beers from some of the real cutting edge breweries in the UK and on the continent, then Bitter Virtue is going to be your choice. But when doing the weekly shopping in the nearby Sainsbury’s I can see myself popping in here somewhat more frequently than Bitter Virtue purely because it’s convenient, and will have some beers I'm likely to buy.

I just visited in Feb, 2018, and found a lot of empty shelves, which looked worrying. But the man behind the counter said the owner was out picking up some new bottles, and the shelves would be full again soon. I hope so.

Beers in the window

Came here (March 2020) to buy some beers, and the place is closed and gone. It's now a noodle shop. Shame. 


* Beers & Bottles
* RateBeer 
* ThomasHallet 
* Facebook

Portswood

Prince Consort, Netley

We've come here several times over the years, and each time we come we like it more and more. 

Date: Sept 2020    Score: 9

Ambience

Generally offers two cask beers

Clean and tidy. Lacks atmosphere and charm but serves beer and food. Job done. We had a very tasty nut roast with fresh veg. Veg was crisp to the point of being underdone, but Chrissie was happy. I have a preference for cooked (soft) veg. Place is popular on a Sunday, and tables were soon all reserved around us, and the bar area was rapidly filling up. This is a decent local which offers decent food and a selection of cask beers. One of the beers on our visit wasn't as fresh as it could have been, but was just shy of refusing.  An ok place I'd be ok with returning to. And we liked it more than the nearby Dancing Goose.

Date: Nov 2019    Score: 6

This place tries hard to do well, but it doesn't work for me. Nothing wrong with it, just that it's not my style. The original Victorian pub has been modernised with cool greys and pale wood furniture into an IKEA cafe. There are four casks, but they are national standards like Doom Bar. And four is too many, as I rejected two as undrinkable before settling on a wa werm and out of condition but drinkable Atlantic. It was an awkward and embarrassing moment. Fair play the barmaid didn't quibble, but also didn't quite understand as she "doesn't drink beer".
My baguette was tasty, though came with chips and salad as standard. All of which was very tasty - but were the chips really necessary? I'd prefer that to be an optional extra rather than be put on my plate.

I was also put off by being told to sit at the table and the barmaid would come to take my order. I said I would be quick so no need, and then was asked if she could take my drink order while I was deciding! Good intentions, no doubt, but I was now feeling somewhat out of sorts with the pub as we were clearly operating on different time scales and perceptions of considerate and discrete service. Then, when I did order she said she'd start a tab, and I was now fed up with fighting her decisions. But really I prefer to pay upfront in a cafe or pub because I don't see the value in going to the bar twice. When I'm finished I just want to leave, not wait at the bar to be served!

Date: Jan 2018   Score: 5

71 Victoria Road
Netley
SO31 5DQ

Monday-Saturday 11am-11pm; Sunday 12-10.30pm 

Food 12-2.30 then 6-9.00  All day Sat and Sunday (until 6pm)

Children welcomed 

* WhatPub 

* TripAdvisor 

* BITE 
* Daily Echo