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



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