I'd tried several times previously to review the Mountbatten, but each time I'm in the area and come here it's closed. But success today. It's a modern pub built as part of the local shopping area on the edge of a residential part of West Southampton, and owned and run by Star Pubs (Heineken). Place is a little tatty, though not dirty. No food available on my visit, a Saturday. No cask, but four or five kegs (the barmaid says the keg pumps are new and messed up so some of what is showing is not available). Barmaid is friendly and lively, and the guys at the bar are chatty. The place may be mostly empty but the people inside create a warm and welcoming working class vibe. Music is a tad loud, but it all feels appropriate. This is very much a locals pub, and it feels like a place on its last legs, but pubs like this are the corner stone of local communities. It's not a place I'm likely to recommend or even return to now I've at last reviewed it, but I recognise its value, and it will be missed when it eventually drags down to its inevitable close. It needs someone with good business sense, enthusiasm and deep pockets to sort out. I hope it gets someone, but somehow I doubt it as the general condition of the pub, as indicated on a Star Pubs report, is poor.
It was built in the 1980s at the same time as the shopping area. In 2016 when it was owned by Punch Taverns, it closed suddenly. But, obviously, later reopened.
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| Ambiance |
Date: June 2019 Score: 4
Lordshill District Centre
SO16 8HY
Open: Noon to 11pm
Meals: Sunday Noon to 4pm (perhaps?)
* Star Pubs (Heineken)
* WhatPub
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