stuart-field.co.uk

University Area
The Gate - Quite a large pub, with big projector TV for the sport. Looks quite locally, but not seen any trouble in there myself. Bar billiards and pool at the back, and some standard ales behind the bar.

The Crown - Popular with the chemistry department, and most people that know about it! Good beer (ales and Hoegaarden), plenty of seating, and very good food. Got a small beer patio which gets heated in the winter, and is generally a friendly place - good for taking the parents to for lunch, but make a booking at the weekend as it gets packed very quickly!

Drummond Arms - My favourite local - situated in Swaythling half way between uni and Big George's kebab shop. Very friendly owners, and if you go more than a couple of times you begin to feel like a local. Not big, but has free pool and jukebox during the weekdays, as well as darts and comfy seating. Also has two great dogs, and a somewhat evil white cat that keeps molting on the pool table. Guinness and a couple of regular ales make for the perfect hostellry.

The Stile (formerly Hedgehog & Hogshead ) - Post-refurb, it's now got a stone floor, spacious seating and a brighter atmosphere. Good beer, with a few guest ales as well as some regulars (Best/Directors). Still can't understand why there always seems to be one toilet out of action though (some things never change I guess)

Portswood

The Mitre - Used to really like this place, and always ended up there after exams and on pub crawls. Now been converted into a sports bar, so attracts more locals, but still very popular with students. A few pool tables, TVs for the football, and a good sized bar. Gets very crowded in the evenings.

Gordon Arms - Small pub opposite Safeway. Does cheap doubles, which is all very well if you can fit inside the place in the evening.

The Hobbit - Great place - big area upstairs with plenty of space and seating; a small room with a knackered old pool table; and the biggest beer garden known to man out the back. Does live music regularly in the downstairs bar, and the place has a really good atmosphere. Can't remember the beer, but I think they do Beamish Red which is always a good thing (even if it does mess with your guts)

Jesters - Dive. Studenty. AU everywhere. Manky floor. Mankier toilets. If you go, you're guaranteed of the following: a) If you're a girl, black feet, if you're a bloke, tide marks on your shoes from the toilets; b) Out of the two sinks in the gents, one will be blocked with someone's dinner, the other will be blocked by a rugby player urinating; c) You'll know half the people there; d) If you're in a uni sports team, you'll have pulled half the poeple there; and above all e) Despite going on about how awful Festers is, you'll still have a great time with your mates and end up in there again.

Clowns - The warm-up to Jesters (being as it's next door) During happy hour (which seems to be pretty much all the time) it's ludicrously cheap for everything. Especially trebles. You know it's classy when they offer you mixers from Safeway's own 2-litre bottles... Has a pool table, quite a bit of room and, like its neighbour, you're bound to recognise someone there.

Royal Albion - I think - opposite Safeway, the very locally looking pub. Suprisingly it's full of locals, but if you go to the small side bar and aren't rowdy, they don't seem to mind. Very pleasant place, and the only one in Southampton I've found that serves Mild

Top of the High Street

Giddy Bridge - Wetherspoons for young people (as well as the obligatory drunk old man, and the guy who sneaks past the bouncers every now and then to flog you the Big Issue) Nice, bright, busy. Downstairs big with loads of tables, upstairs more tables, and a balcony hiding around somewhere too. Not bad selection of ales - the usual 4 or 5 regulars, and a couple of guests. Used to be a better selection but I think they changed the management in 2001 which has had a bit of a detrimental effect.

Orange Room - Strange bar hidden away behind Avondale. Looks like a classy wine bar, with post-modern decor upstairs (fishtanks and leather sofas) and expensive drinks. Nice for a change.

Avondale House - Yellow card pub. Therefore cheap and full of drunk students. Quite pleasant during the day or when they're all on holiday, but very busy otherwise. Has a pool table, but also a rather confusing layout, which makes it easy to lose everyone else. The warm-up to Academy, and as such usually empties out about between 8.30-9.30pm.

Acadamy - Great place. Students only I think and also yellow card, so discounts aplenty. Just don't buy a big round after 11pm, as the card becomes invalid and prices suddenly double! A variety of music throughout the week, but La Grande Fromage is the big one. The clubs in Southampton seem to vary in popularity from year to year, but when Academy was at its peak, queues began an hour before the place opened, and were ridiculously long within 30 mins. Fortunately there's a huge offy next door to keep you going til you get in...

Greenhouse - Nice, modern, expensive, pool table. Seems to be where the "sophisticated" students go, and ironically also the Institute crowd

Pensioners - Local old man's pub. Nice, friendly, small.

Square - It's a Square....cocktails, expensive, but plenty of comfy chairs. Good on a pub crawl, but that's about it. (Yes, that was lifted straight from the Reading page, but they're all the same. OK , it's also really big and has a revolving TV system above the bar. And the time taken to get served increases exponentially with the number of people in there. And the bouncers are fussy on ID and shoes.)

Bar Kellar - Went there once, and got scared by all the peroxide 40-somethings. Nice foreign beers though.

The Old Fat Cat - Huge, pool tables, and a couple of nice ales.

Bottom of the High Street

??? - The older generation Wetherspoons- the one you take your parents to for lunch (although the old man rule from above still applies...there're just more of them...) Less busy, more character and better beers than the Giddy, but you're more likely to get stared at if there's a big crowd of you.

New York New York - Club that we went to a lot in our 3rd year, as it was £1/pint and they played fantastic old harcore/house one night a week. Queue always seemed to take ages to move, and whenever people went to the bar they always seemed to get huge rounds, so that took a while too, but for the music and atmosphere, it was worth it.

Ocean Village

Ikon/Diva - Erm...your usual brand club outlet. Lasers, loads of locals, expensive drinks. Ikon generally played the cheese/house stuff; whereas Diva was more alternative (I think they played a bit of D&B at one point)

Hot Rocks - Nice place - central circular bar surrounded by plenty of tables. Also had a load of arcade machines, so can impress the ladies with your drunken driving skills (or not as the case often was) Pool tables and day-glo bowling were also at the back somewhere.

The Common

Cowherds - The most popular parent-taking pub (so that's a grand total of three in Southampton now). Very nice food, good beers - a couple of regular ales. Is situated in the common, so good for a lunchtime pint in the summer; and isn't on any pub crawl routes, so there's not any trouble either.

 

For a more up-to-date and comprehensive pub guide to Southampton, try Southampton-Pubs

 

 

Disclaimer: Some of these guides are years out of date, and are for entertainment or reminiscent value only. It's likely a number of the pubs included have since closed, changed hands, or are now completely different. Some of them I've only visited once, and hence may be misrepresented. These reviews are my opinion at the time of writing, and no accuracy in claimed in their description - for those of a sensitive nature, please take no offence.