The Wine Vaults, Southsea

Can get VERY crowded at weekends. Popular with crawls owing to large size (it's actually 4 old shops knocked into one building). Bare floors, well kept beer. Less smoky than the 5th hants across the road, and best of all I found �20 on the floor last time I was in there. fantastic! High student population in term time. No pool table, no juke box. Started as a microbrewery in one old shop before expanding both sides.

2 Dec 2006 10:16

The Fifth Hants Volunteer Arms, Southsea

And don't forget the "reglars"; Old Dave who is secretly a big intellectual, Josh the Judge, Jo, who seems to alternate between different sides of the bar, Steve Rednose, Bob the PC man, Hugh the Professor. Brutus and Cassius (the dogs - boxers - geggit). And the landlord is a classic - I walked in one night late (pre 24 hr licensing) and had mostly Euros in my pocket, and Adie the barman shouted out "HEY JOHN BLOKE HERE WANTS TO KNOW IF WE TAKE EUROS?" to which John replied, amid loud cheering, "Take Euros? Do we F**K!". Worn out carpet, old toilets, tatty decoration, no need to bring your own tobacco as there's enough in the atmosphere already. This is a real traditional pub serving what you expect - well kept beer. It also has a darts team and a cricket team, unusual for a city centre pub. I've been going there for over 30 years and it's on it's second landlord in all that time - and that only because the old girl died.

2 Dec 2006 10:09