Portsmouth's 2 Oldest Pubs?

We only visited 2 pubs when I recently visited Portsmouth as I was a wee bit limited by my company, so unsurprisingly, I chose the 2 that claim to be the oldest pubs in 'Old Portsmouth.' The best on the day was The Dolphin Pub, 41 High Street PO1 2LU (website), opposite the Cathedral, and one of the few buildings in the High Street to have survived bombing during World War II (the town hall next door was flattened!). Apparently built in and certainly licensed from 1716, this Grade II Listed public house has beams made from repurposed wood of ships, and stone flags on the floor. So yes, a very old construction, but in recent times opened out, and more modern decoration, which gives it a kind of 'postmodern' feel inside.

We ate here, which was fine (it was the second of these pubs we visited), and we drank a few pints of Fuller's London Pride (4.1%), which was in reasonable form, indeed, Pride does need to be sold quickly as it doesn't last too long in opened casks (cellar experience there folks!). Brewed with English hops Target (hopslist), Northdown (hopslist), Challenger (hopslist) and East Kent Golding (hopslist), it is a slightly malty and bitter traditional session bitter. CAMRA (website) describe it thus: "Aromas of malt and citrus. The malty sweetness is balanced by spicy bitter hops with orange, apricot, sultanas and toffee." They can have up to 4 ales on, and they did have one other, but I didn't take a note of it as it wasn't something interesting, sorry folks. 😔

We had first visited, a short walk away, The Wellington, 62 High Street PO1 2LY (website), which also claims to be the oldest pub in Portsmouth, built in 1710, but with the frontage reconstructed during the 20th century. The interior had no historical feel about it, but the structure is pretty much as it was built over 300 years ago!

There can be up to 2 ales here, but on the day only 1 was available, St Austell Tribute, a 4.2% pale slightly bitter ale (website), brewed with Fuggle (hopslist), Celeia (hopslist), and Willamette (hopslist) hops; by the by, Willamette is a hop I used to be very familiar brewing with in my days working at the old Kelham Island Brewery. Tribute was first brewed after the solar eclipse of 1999 and was then called 'Daylight Robbery' and has since been renamed. Because of the English and U.S. hop mix, it's not a 'traditional' English bitter as such, but a slightly darker version of many modern pale ales, gentle citrus, and usually very easy to drink. Not on this day sadly, as it was knackered, hence our only staying for the 1 pint each, oh well! 👎

If you go to Portsmouth, there are many other pubs too, good luck and cheers! ✌

The Eight Bells & Sambrook's Black Forest

On my way to London yesterday I noticed on their Facebook page that The Eight Bells, 89 Fulham High Street SW6 3JS, had put on a very interesting ale, so we visited for a couple of pints. The 18th century building became The Eight Bells about 1754, although a pub had been on the site as far back as 1629, when originally licenced as the Blue Anchor. The pub is situated just north of Putney Bridge in Fulham High Street, which used to run down to the older wooden bridge, originally Fulham Bridge, that was built in 1727-29; the present Putney Bridge (opened in 1886) is a hundred yards or so to the west of where the older Fulham Bridge's north end was.

The ale that had interested me is brewed by Sambrook's Brewery (website), which is now situated in the old Young's Brewery site in Wandsworth, London SW18 1UR, and was their 4.5% Black Forest. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn't the stout or porter I was expecting, but a cherry flavoured bitter! OK, I wrote "I get the cherry, but quite subtle with dry bitter finish." Much easier to drink than I thought it would be, and not bad! 

My brother drank Fuller's London Pride, which he assured me was one of the best pints of Pride he's drunk for a while, and the 2 pints together came to £9.80, which is pretty good for the Fulham/Putney area. Overall, a very nice pub, pleasant service, happy bunnies, cheers! 👍