I have listed the Fridays in June and July excluding the Jubilee Bank Holiday Friday.
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I have listed the Fridays in June and July excluding the Jubilee Bank Holiday Friday.
Winchester's a great little place for a crawl. Been there a few times so happy to help organise the list...
Initial Pub thoughts and not in any crawl order (timings need to be checked ect) , pubs for consideration as follows,
Must do pubs IMO....
Albion
Black Boy
Wykham Arms
Hyde Tavern
Fulflood Arms* (this ones a bit out of town but well worth the look for the more intrepid)
Other considerations....
Old Gaolhouse (Spoons for earlybirds and those that way inclined)
King Alfred (pairs nicely with The Hyde Tavern)
St James Tavern (nearest of listed pubs to The Fulflood)
Overdraft ( Crafty option)
Old Vine
Eclipse Inn (for the pub and probably not interesting beer)
Alfies
Queen Inn (another involving a bit of a hike)
Thats 13 pubs, maybe Quinno or others have other suggestions that we can add and whittle down to a solid crawl.
Checked opening times with Google.Most open at 12.00.Queens inn 11.00 Hyde tavern 6.00.Alfies 6.00.Old vine seems to be a hotel so 11.00 and the Black dog shuts between 2.30 -5.00.
Checked Untapped.As you would expect not a great range of beers but plenty of red cat and flowerpots beers who are good brewers.Also Alfred's brewery who I have not had.Overdraft has keg only but great choice imo .
i wouldn't disagree with any of those (other than walking distance!) and the remainder are mainly GK, a couple of Fullers and restaurant chains. Has anyone been to the Westgate recently? Gone a bit upmarket but it used to have some some good ales pre-Covid.
Have been to all the mentioned pubs but some not for a few years, when we have a date I may go and have a look beforehand as Winchester is only 30 minutes down the tracks for me. Agree about the walking distance but not much can be done about that.
Red cat and Tiny rebel seems to be the regular cask beers in the
Westgate
Yeah that's pretty much how I'd line them up as well. Those 5 'must-do' pubs I agree with. The Albion is right by the station so ideal for a first and/or final pint.
Westgate could be a wild card. I was unimpressed on my first post-refurb visit in 2017 (!) and haven't felt the need to go back since so no new info from me.
The Queen has been very impressive on each of my visits. As mentioned it is a bit of a hike so one for the more mobile and energetic. WhatPub claims an 11am opening time. In contrast, the Hyde (which is a bit away from the main drag) doesn't open until 6 on weekdays, so I'd suggest that's the final scheduled stop.
Are there no buses? Plus Bus bought (for less than the price of a pint) with train tickets, or bus passes for those of us lucky enough to have reached the state pension age can take a lot of the fatigue out of pub crawling.
The number 1 bus service, from Winchester railway station to Southampton has a stop in Ranelagh Road just around the corner from the Queen, and runs every 20 minutes.
I'm in, but looks like the 15th July would be the best bet for me due to work cover being required on the 29th. The missus goes in for an op this Monday, so June is a write-off until she's recovered as she'll likely want to spend the day in the city whilst I'm imbibing.
Have been to Winchester a couple of times, but never had a drink in the centre, the closest being this venue for a gig (a Kiwi band called Die! Die! Die! if anyone wanted to know), which isn't classed as central.
It's been on the hitlist for a number of years, so be good to get some of its pubs ticked off. If I twist her arm, I might get a visit to The Wonston if we make a day or two of it.
And Friday 15th takes a one point lead going into the final furlong...
The poll has now closed and the winner is .......................... Friday 15th July
:bemerry:
The handbrake is overseas with work so I can't make this one either.
Ok, with the summer crawl looming on the horizon I've been having a look at the possible candidates and route, still trying to figure out the timings as there are some unhelpful opening hours involved combined with the best pubs are complete compass points apart and involve a bit of walking, anyway heres a list of pubs in a possible running order for starters, anyone please feel free to chip in with other suggestions or ideas.
Old Gaolhouse (Spoons) for early arrivals
Overdraft (craft keg only)
Westgate
Fulflood Arms*
St James Tavern
Old Vine
Eclipse
Wykeham Arms*
Black Boy* (opening Times 12.00-2.30 - 5.00-11.00)
Alfies (opens 6.00)
Hyde Tavern * (opens 6.00)
The Albion*
I've starred the pubs I feel are must do's.
I've omitted The Queen Inn as It is yet another walk but I guess its do-able for those that fancy it.
Also another wild card is The King Alfred close to The Hyde Tavern but time may be running short by then except for anyone staying over.
I shall try and fine tune some timings over the next couple of days as I'm aware some may want to be on their way home by 7.00
The Albion used to be an early opener but alas no more, else I'd have suggested that one as the start point.
That looks like a fair route to me.
If Alfie's and Hyde both open at 6, I know which one I'll be doing...
Right this is my best stab at timings plus a bit of route editing, I'm under no illusions it will be this smooth though.
11.00 - 12.15 Old Gaolhouse, meet up in the Spoons.
12.20 - 12.45 Overdraft , keg only
12.50 - 13.15 The Westgate
13.30 - 14.00 The Fulflood Arms*
14.10 - 14.30 The St James Tavern
14.40 - 15.00 The Old Vine
15.00 - 15.20 The Eclipse
15.30 - 16.00 The Wykeham Arms*
16.15 - 16.45 The Queen Inn*
17.10 - 17.40 The Black Boy* ( opening times 12.00 - 14.30 and 17.00 - 23.00)
(Wild Card Alfies) 10 mins walk from black Boy and 10 mins to Hyde Tavern, opens 18.00.
( Wild Card The King Alfred) 2 mins walk from Hyde Tavern.( open 12.00 - 23.00)
18.00 - 18.30 The Hyde Tavern* ( opening times 18.00 - 23.00)
18.35 - 19.00 The Albion*
I've included sensible walking times in the timings but not with much leeway, for those with a more limited time frame I'ved marked what I consider the better pubs with a *, still a fair hike between them though. The Old Vine and Eclipse are quite small but very close to each other so maybe wise for the group to split visits.
A map overview.
Though the list hasn't come out in order.
Sorry can't make it.Shame as I don't like travelling and this would have been easy enough for me to get to.enjoy.
Many thanks to Moby :notworthy: for coming up with this excellent route and timings.Sad to hear that london calling can't make it,but that does beg the question of who is turning up.Reading back through the thread it seems the following will be there,apologies for any omissions or errors.
Mobyduck +Big Steve
Quinno
Pangolin
Komakino
Bucking Fastard +Clive +Nige
ETA
rpadam
Tris 39
I will update as more confirmations roll in.
Looking forward to it.:drinkup::drinkup::drinkup: