The Freemantle, Shirley (closed)

Old fashioned back street boozer dating back to 1994 at least. The original Cooper Brewery pub, The Freemantle Hotel, was destroyed during an air raid in 1940. The present building was built in 1956 by Watney's, who had acquired the Coopers Brewery. Two separate bars with separate entrances that are served by the same counter. It serves Doom Bar. It was friendly enough on my visit in 2016, if a bit sparse and run down. OK to sit in and have a chat, but it's really a locals' pub, and there's nothing here to attract anyone from outside the area.

Date: 2016    Score: 3 


 

Pub is not open, and there are reports that it has been up for sale - presumably for redevelopment. Not surprised, there wasn't much effort being made to make the pub attractive to new customers. It was a pub stuck in the old days of fags and sweaty, insecure men, and could not survive the Covid lockdown. 

Date: Nov 2021    Score: N/A 


27 Paynes Road 

SO15 3BX

Open Noon - 11pm 

Enterprise Inns


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• Pubs in Shirley

Enterprise Inns (Ei Group)

Brass Monkey, Shirley

The Brass Monkey looks promising from the outside, and I came here in 2014 or 2015 but was quite disappointed at how bland it is inside, and also was put off when the landlady's dog shoved his nose in my bum.  Not the sort of welcome I like. Each to their own though, and there may be some folks who would find that funny.

Date: March 2017   Score: 3


Passed by on the bus, and the place is closed. Building work going on. Looks to be more than a mere refurbishment, and given that the few times I've been here there hasn't been many customers, I would be surprised if Enterprise Inns (who are not known for spending money refurbishing their pubs) would be investing in a failure.

Date: March 2020


  

Did a tramp around the pubs near Shirley shopping precinct looking for a pub that did food and a pint of cask beer. Bypassing the Wetherspoons, I end up here, over half a mile from the shopping centre. It was refurbished two years ago, and the refurbishment looked promising with lots of colourful promotional posters outside. It really looks like the sort of place that would be doing food. But, no. No food ("We're wet led" said the barman), and no cask beer either. Shame, as this is such a perfect pub for doing food. It's better than what it was, but still not a pub I'd want to come back to.   

Pub is branded as Craft Union, but is still part of Stonegate (who took over Enterprise Inns). 

Date: Nov 2021   Score: 3  


Brass Monkey, 

358 Shirley Road 

SO15 3HY

10-11 Mon-Thu; 10-Midnight Fri & Sat; 12-10.30 Sun

Enterprise Inns / Stonegate

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• Pubs in Shirley

Stonegate / Enterprise

Rover, Shirley

I popped into the Rover when we first moved to Southampton back in 2014, and I found it a decent old fashioned pub. It had a somewhat lived in feel, but it offered two local beers, and there were menus on the wall showing good value proper meals. I had this marked down as being an OK pub in what at that time appeared to me to be a town with few decent pubs. But I never went back, until late in 2016 when I wanted a pub with some food, and went to go inside, but another customer, who could see me looking at the menu outside, said that the pub was no longer doing food, so I went up the road to the Wetherspoon.

I notice that it has been smartened up since, and I am interested to see what has happened to the place, so shall be popping in shortly. 

Date: March 2017 

I just popped back in. They're not doing food any more. One cask offered, Horse Box, but it spluttered and died as the barmaid went to pull it. Place looks a little rough and run down. I moved on.


Date: April 2017   Score: 4 

Pub is open, but just for drinks in the patio area at the front beside the road. 

Date:  April 2021   Score: N/A 


 

Did a tramp around the pubs near Shirley shopping precinct looking for a pub that did food and a pint of cask beer, and (ignoring the Wetherspoon) ended up here, nearly a mile away. They do cask beer (three pumps offering Speckled Hen, Golden Hen, and Abbot), but no food.  

 

The place had a good number of customers inside, and a funky awning outside, spoiled somewhat by the smokers standing by the door. So many people in Shirley still smoke - it is an unhealthy, somewhat scruffy and troublesome area. We wanted to live in Shirley when we were looking for a house in Southampton, but I'm so glad we ended up in Woolston. I don't want to enter the local supermarket past bouncers, drunks, vomit, smokers, and rubbish - and that's what I encountered on the day I was in Shirley.  Anyway, rant about smokers aside, I quite like the Rover, but it's unlikely to be a pub I visit that often as it's not offering anything special - other than the covered street seating, which I couldn't use because of the smokers. 

Date: Nov 2021   Score: 5


 

Now doing cooked breakfasts and Sunday roasts. Opens at 8am every day except Sunday when it opens at 10am. Unknown at what time they start serving beer. 


Date: March 2023   Score: N/A 

  

  Came in for the breakfast on the day I had to return my glasses to my optician for the second time. Had a decent, well cooked veggie breakfast of my choice, an unsatisfactory Hobgoblin Session IPA which took half the morning to pour, and a good chat with the friendly and knowledgeable barman.  I hadn't spotted that Summer Lightening was on cask or I'd have had that. Good, laid back, no frills, friendly local pub, handy for the breakfast. Kids allowed.

Date: July 2023. Score: 6

266 Shirley Road 

Shirley

SO15 3HP

Open Mon-Sat 8am to 11pm  Sun 10am to 11am 

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• Pubs in Shirley

Pig 'N' Whistle, Shirley

This is a pleasant and relaxed place. More modern coffee shop and diner than bar. No cask beer. I popped in a while back, but didn't stop for a drink because I wanted a cask beer. Passed by over the weekend on my way to the Stile Inn, and I noticed that it had a sign saying Under New Management, so I might check it out again, see if they have brought beer back, or if the "new management" refers to the Polish family who had it when I popped in during 2016.

OK, I've got back here, and there are three pumps, two with beer on: Tribute and Doom Bar. Does food, so I have some scrambled eggs on toast with Prava beer. Music is cool - just the right level. Appears I'm the only non-Polish person in the pub. I'm not sure how much the place has changed since my last visit, but it feels quite pub-like, albeit a modern upmarket sort if pub.


Date: March 2017   Score: 6


Currently open for drinks and food in the back beer garden. Hours and menu uncertain. No non-smoking area in the garden ("you can smoke in the garden everywhere") so won't be visiting until the inside is open. 

Date: April 2021 


Independent

Pig 'N' Whistle, (formerly Sidford Inn)
108 Shirley Road
SO15 3FD

Open: Mon-Tue 4pm to 11pm; Wed-Thurs 2pm to 11pm Fri-Sun: Noon to 11pm/Midnight

Food: Fri-Sun: Noon to 7/8pm 

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• Pubs in Shirley

The Stile Inn, Shirley

Nov 2021

I've been meaning to try out this pub for a while. It's one of the very few left in Southampton that I haven't drunk in, and is known as a biker's pub. I had the opportunity over the weekend on the way back from a Half Marathon in the New Forest. The door was closed, but the light was on, so I pushed my way in to what turned out to be an empty single room bar with a pool table and limited seating - it had the look and feel of one of those biker's bars you see in American comedy movies, where the characters walk in and everyone turns to stare at them, some gripping their pool cues aggressively! The barmaid is friendly and quite happy to chat about the bikers. She told me that she sometimes has Hells Angels and Swamp Rats and other bike gangs in all at the same time, and nobody has died yet.

Collection of bikes above the bar

There are two pumps, one was turned around, the other had Tribute. The place is just for drinking so there's no food on offer. There are wonderful biking nik naks which lend the place some charm, particularly the model bikes hanging above the bar, which apparently have come from around the world. One is made from an old can of Pepsi.

My favourite

This is an OK bar with a distinctive character. There are not many places like this.

Date: March 2017   Score: 5 


 

Nov 2021

Did a tramp around the pubs near Shirley shopping precinct looking for a pub that did food and a pint of cask beer. The Stile still offers Tribute, but no food. The suggestion was first of all the Wetherspoon pub, then the Pig & Whistle (which doesn't open until later), and then the Wellington, which I tried, as I love that pub, and didn't know it had started to do food, but which no longer does food during the week, only Friday to Sunday. The barmaid and the other two customers were cool and friendly. I like this pub. 

Date: Nov 2021   Score: 5 


  

Pub closed in February 2023 after the owners decided to sell up and retire.  New owners are due to reopen in April after a refurbishment. I suspect the old owners have taken the bike decorations with them. 

 

Interior stripped back

Yep. The bikes have gone! 

Date: March 2023    Score: N/A 


 Three casks. One pool table. Karaoke machine. TV screen. Loud music. A range of locals - of an age to enjoy 80s music. White painted walls.  

Date: April 2023.  Score:  4


224 Shirley Road

SO15 3HR 

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• Pubs in Shirley

The Osborne, Shirley (closed)

The Osborne is a "Meet & Eat" Greene King pub. It's been cleanly refurbished, though in the process removing some of the original character. It's a pleasant enough pub offering two Greene King cask beers and decent value food. It seems quite relaxed, but there is a an odd tension about the place, and there has been at least one violent incident in the recent past. The pub is nothing special, but quite acceptable.

Date: March 2017    Score:  4


  

Closed down with weeds taking over. No idea what'll happen to it, but I somehow doubt it'll reopen as a pub. 

Date: Aug 2022  Score: N/A


  

It did open in August 2023, with uncertain opening hours, and it doesn't appear to have been a success. I jumped off the bus in late August 2024 to go visit, but it wasn't open. Handwritten signs in the window saying £2 a pint and £2 a bottle, suggest that whoever reopened it was having a closing down sale.  According to CAMRA the place closed in mid to late Aug, so I obviously just missed out on the cheap beer. 


Date: Aug 2024   Score: N/A 


Greene King

54 Shirley Road
SO15 3EX

Monday to Saturday: 11am to 11pm  Food: Noon to 8pm
Sunday: Noon to 11pm   Food:  Noon to 6pm

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Greene King pubs 
in Southampton

• Pubs in Shirley

The Bold Forester, Swanwick

Large pub set back from the A27. This looks quite appealing from outside, so I have been curious to stop for a while. We popped in today, and the interior is pleasant, with wood all around. The bulk of the interior is dining area, though there is a pub corner to the right as you enter. Stained glass partitions and comfy leather armchairs give a cosy ambiance. Four casks on offer - main national brands, though a Ringwood and Gales HSB are among those, so there is some local feel.

The beer selection

The ambiance

The fake bookshelf - though right at the end,
and slightly hidden, are two real books!

We quite liked it, though felt it lacked authenticity and character. A wall consisting of book shelf wallpaper rather than real books gives the flavour of the place.


Date: March 2017   Score: 6 


Bridge Road
Sarisbury Green
SO31 7EL

Open: 11 - 11

Serves food

Child friendly 


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