Shield and Dagger, Shirley (Closed)

The Shield and Dagger is another pub in this area of Southampton that has a history of fights and disturbance. It was sold at auction in 2013 for £136,000, Closed by the police in March 2016 for "serious criminal activity" and violence, it was reopened by the council in April, then faced closure again in May after police intervened in another violent incident. CAMRA's WhatPub website has the pub as closed, but the pub's own website, and Google show that the pub is open, though when I went there in early March at the time it should be open, it was closed, so I am unsure what the situation is.


The pub is closed.

Stratton Road, SO15 5QZ


* BITE
* WhatPub 
* Facebook 

• Pubs in Shirley

The Griffin, Shirley

 

I'd tried visiting this place a few times, but it always appeared closed. There's an off-putting air about the place from outside, and I'd imagined it was a bit of a rough pub (just looking on the internet, I see it has a violent history, and the police recently called for it to be closed), but when I did manage to visit one afternoon at the end of 2016 I was surprised at how laid back and homely it was. There were lots of old people, and there was almost a feeling of a day care centre about the place. I visited on carvery day - which I think was a Wednesday, and that seems to be excellent value, and is likely the reason there were so many older folks in. The meals are served in a large function room at the back, which is rather plain, and more canteen than pub, but food can be brought into the main bar area at the front. There was one beer available, which I recall as being Ringwood's Razorback.

Date: March 2017   Score: 4 1/2

Has been under new management since at least May 2018. Popped back while in Shirley Precinct. People outside smoking. Quite dreary and cold inside, and a little scruffy. No food, and no cask ales available. Clearly a bad day.  I didn't stop.

Date: Nov 2019     Score: 2


  

Pub is closed. It did not survive the Covid lockdowns. It has been sold (I was told for £40,000, which seems very cheap - looking it up, it was £400,000, which is more appropriate), but nobody knows what is to happen with it. 

Date: Nov 2021   Score: N/A 



 

Reopened as Griffin Bar and Grill with karaoke nights. Facebook.  Opened in Oct 2022, after a £500,000 refurbishment. The manager in the picture, Phillip Cornock, was dismissed after being arrested for sex offenses. 

Date: Feb 2023    Score: NA

I popped along to see what the place looks like after the refurbishment. No signs of it from the outside. And I couldn't see inside as it was closed. Looks like they are only open evenings. Perhaps from noon at weekends, but the sign is not clear.

Date: April 2023. Score: N/A


  

Still not open during the day. Limited opening hours in the evening. Looking at their Facebook page they mostly focus on low key DJ events. Videos of several nights show just a handful of people crooning along to the music. There's a lack of energy, style, and excitement. They offer an occasional evening BBQ event. Looks very much a locals pub. 

Date: Aug 2024   Score: N/A 


34 Anglesey Road
Shirley Precinct
SO15 5QH

Enterprise Inns


* WhatPub

* BITE

* TripAdvisor 

* Pub website

* Facebook 

***

• Pubs in Shirley

Enterprise Inns (Ei Group)

The Windsor Castle, Shirley (closed)

Prominent corner location mock Tudor pub on Shirley Precinct. I came in here in 2015 or 2016. I recall the interior was laid out in a cookie cutter family pub style reminiscent of Wetherspoons and Hungry Horses. I sat in a raised area in a corner. Though potentially a decent family pub I recall there was some tension, and some edgy customers. There has been trouble there in the past, though the pub also does fund raising. I need to revisit to check it out properly.

Date: March 2017   Score: 4


Popped back, but didn't stay. Two cask beers - DoomBar and Hobgoblin Gold, and loud music, loud, rough atmosphere - even though only 11.45 in the morning, and sport on big TV. Not my sort of place.

Date: Nov 2019  Score: 4

November 2021

Did a tour of the pubs around Shirley shopping precinct looking for a pub that did food and a pint of cask beer. The Windsor Castle is nicely decorated inside for Halloween, and is a clean and solid pub. One cask ale available - Doom Bar, but no food. Advised to go to Wetherspoons, approx 1/2 mile away. 

The pub is looking for a new landlord. it is up for rent, with the four bedroom accommodation above, for £21,000 a year. Seems like a good deal to me. 

Date: Nov 2021   Score: 4

  

   

Pub is (as of Aug 2024) closed while the owners, Admiral Taverns, look for a new landlord. Given the location and size, this would make a useful family pub serving food.  


Date: Aug 2024   Score: N/A 

95 Shirley High Street

Shirley

SO16 4EX

Open: 10-10 Mon-Thu; 10-Midnight Fri & Sat; 10.30-10 Sun

No food. 

Admiral Taverns


* WhatPub
* BITE
* Facebook

• Pubs in Shirley

Shirley Hotel, Shirley

I came here back in 2014 or 2015. It was a large single bar with no cask beer, and few other drinkers. There was a food outlet on the left which could be accessed from the pub and from the street. It was quiet, pleasant, spacious, and I recall it as being quite clean and tidy. I suspect I had some kind of  keg lager. I'll revisit this year to see what has changed.

OK. So came back on a Saturday afternoon, and it was right busy. There's a stall just by the front entrance, and some wooden tables on the pavement, which are used by the smokers. Customers were mostly male middle aged to older, though there were some women. There's a pool table in a side room to the right  as you enter.  No cask, though there is the option for keg IPA or John Smiths. I opted for a lager. There are signs saying that children and pushchairs are not allowed in, even for just five minutes.  The food outlet that I remember, doesn't seem to be operational any more. Or at least, not a busy Saturday.

We sat outside on the pavement by the cars going past, and in the drifting cigarette smoke of the men smoking nearby. It wasn't a pleasant experience.


Date: March 2017   Score: 3


 

Did a tramp around the pubs near Shirley shopping precinct looking for a pub that did food and a pint of cask beer. Shirley Hotel has never been a pub to impress me - it has a prominent position, but appears to struggle to make a decent profit. It's looking even tattier than it did on my last visit in 2017. No hanging baskets. I was going to go inside, but in order to do so I would have needed to squeeze past several smokers in the doorway. I didn't think it was worth breathing in their cigarette smoke in order to find out that the pub still doesn't serve cask beer or food. I'm not sure how long this pub is going to remain open.

Date: Nov 2021   Score: 2 


   

Another wander around Shirley precinct. Quite depressing how many pubs were closed. The Shirley Hotel says it is temporarily closed due to plumbing issues. How it manages to keep going I don't know. 


Date: Aug 2014    Score: N/A 



88 Shirley High Street

Shirley

SO16 4FB

Open: 9am-11 Mon-Sat; 12-10.30 Sun

No food. 

Enterprise Inns


* WhatPub
* Facebook

***

• Pubs in Shirley

Enterprise Inns (Ei Group)

The Regents Park, Shirley

Popular family friendly local in a  mock Tudor (or Brewers Tudor) style popular during the 1930s "Improved Pubs" movement; it offers low cost pub food. I was in here around Halloween in 2016, and the place was nicely decorated. It was busy though, and nobody was able to serve me for ten minutes. As it was a standard non-exciting national beer (can't remember what it was), and there are very decent pubs not far away, I left and went to the Waterloo instead.

I need to come back and try the place again.

Date: Oct 2016      Score: 4

I came back to have another go, but it's in the middle of a major refurbishment. So I'll need to wait a little longer...

Date: May 2019     Score: NA

Cask selection

Ambiance

Hoorah! Open. It's cleaner and more open, though has lost some of it's down to earth charm. There are coloured tiles on the floor around the bar, and some plain white ones near the top of the bar which look attractive, but on the whole there's a modern pub template feel with grey being the predominant colour as is common in modern pubs.

The menu is standard bangers and mash pub grub. Meals are around £8.50 on average. Few veggie options. Though I did get a very tasty cheese and beans jacket spud with side salad for just under £5.

Three handpumps, but only two with clips. The first one turned out to be finished so I was served the second, but that wasn't fresh.

It feels quite echoey and empty on a Wednesday lunchtime, though there are three other customers. Staff interact well with the customers which suggests that the Regent is continuing as a local and everyone knows each other. It's a friendly place.

Date: June 2019.  Score: 5


Lockdown update: As of April 2021 the beer garden is open for drinks, though no mention of food. 

Date: April 2021. 


 

Lads Who Lunch visited in October 2022. The barmaid was friendly, two cask ales were available - Spitfire and HSB. And we had an acceptable pub lunch of  fish finger bun with chips. Only one other customer. We sat in the bar area, which was a bit draughty - though after eating I had a walk around and found there are some cosy, and draught free, nooks and crannies. 

It's an OK place for a drink and bite if you're in the area, but its not a destination venue. 


Date: Oct 2023   Score: 5 


35 Regents Park Road
Southampton
SO15 8PF

Open 11am to 11pm 
Food 11am to 8.30pm 


* Facebook 
* WhatPub 

* TripAdvisor  
* Facebook (old Facebook account - inactive after Nov 2016) 
* RegentsPark 

• Pubs in Shirley

The Englishman, Shirley

Small, corner location local pub. During the early 20th century these Victorian pubs were on almost every street corner. Few survive today.

This one is tucked away somewhere in the residential streets between Shirley Precinct to the north, Millbrook to the southwest and Freemantle to the southeast.  Because it is so tucked away, I've not yet visited. Not even seen the building.

Date: March 2017 

  

  

At last I have visited The Englishman. A two room pub, though the back room is only open in the evening; as I visited in the afternoon I only saw the front bar, which is long and narrow, with no tables. There are stools by the bar and alongside a breakfast shelf opposite the bar. Half the space in the room is taken up with a pool table.  


 

Draught selection is all keg

The pub doesn't offer food beyond packets of crisps, and all draught beers are keg. I had a San Miguel, which had a tang of sourness from uncleaned pipes. In future in such pubs I will order bottled or canned beers. I chatted cheerfully with the landlady, who was pleasant, but clearly more interested in continuing her conversation with one of her regulars. 


 

One of the regulars, watching the tv
on the wall beyond the pool table

There were two regulars during my visit, one had his back to me, and the other was hidden by the fruit machine. They ignored me for a while, but I inserted myself into their conversation about aliens, and we did then have a friendly and enjoyable chat. I often find in these traditional locals that you have to make a little bit of effort with the regulars, but the effort is usually rewarded. I found the atmosphere relaxed, laid back, and once I got chatting with the regulars, friendly and welcoming. 


 

Breakfast shelf, and the other regular
hidden by the fruit machine

This is clearly a locals pub with minimal offering: it is plain and ordinary with little comfort and no food, but it does have a TV, a pool table, some beers and crisps, and is unpretentious. I doubt I'll visit again, and I doubt it will continue for long - it reminded me of such pubs as the Hare & Hounds, Bitterne, The Waggoners Arms, Portswood,  Grove Tavern, Woolston, and The Freemantle, Shirley - all of which have closed.  But it does have its appeal, and it does serve the local community. It's not a destination pub, but then it doesn't aim to be. 


Date: Sept 2022   Score: 4 

Englishman

18 English Road 

Shirley

SO15 8QF

No cask

Open 11am - Midnight
No food

* WhatPub
* BITE
* Daily Echo
* Facebook

• Pubs in Shirley

Freemantle Arms, Shirley

I've not been inside this pub yet. I went one day in 2016, I could hear people inside, I tried the doors and they wouldn't budge, so I assumed they must be staff, and came away. It's tucked away in residential streets in the Freemantle area of Shirley, so it's not somewhere I pass. It's a place you have to want to go to and seek out. I'll try again this year.

Date: 2016  Score: N/A 


Well, I've got here at last! Traditional back street boozer, with the original rooms knocked into one, though the names of the bars still etched on the windows. Five pumps, one cider, the others are beer. Relaxed, low key atmosphere. Very people orientated. This is a local pub in a very hard to find dead end street, but it has sufficient charm to be worth seeking out. It complements similar traditional cask ale focused pubs in the area. Indeed, Shirley is a decent cask ale location and well worthy of a dedicated crawl.

Date: March 2017   Score: 5 

Independent

31 Albany Road 

SO15 3EF

Open 3pm to 8pm; and 1pm to 10pm weekends 

* Pub website
* WhatPub
* Daily Echo
* TripAdvisor
* Facebook
* BITE

• Pubs in Shirley