The Great British Public House Peregrination

08/06/2026

On the list...

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06/06/2026

Some very familar haunts here from The P's youth (and beyond, to be fair).

Interesting that the city centre itself wasn't chosen, but rather the east side of the city and Portswood were focused on.

Of particular note, The Humble Plumb. The location of The P's first foray into 'real ale' as we used to walk it - a pint of 6X in 1986.

Happy days.

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02/06/2026

Some beauties recently enjoyed on various jaunts.

Saturday 7th March with DS and PS at The South Western Arms St Denys. Northern Rising - a beautiful collaboration stout from Timothy Taylor and Northern Monk. We had this in cans and enjoyed, so of course we had to experience the cask, despite it being beyond The Dark Season.

Thursday 26th March with Lady P at The Cave Milford on Sea. A decent selection of bottled ales curated by this venue that we have fallen back in love with - Palmers 200 and Bowman Meon Valley Bitter. Oh, it was the P's 60th.

Saturday 4th April with JR and MR in Wi******er. A superb house brewed ale at The Queen Inn and a not experienced one from Hop Back at The Albion which, as we know, is now a Hop Back hostelry.

02/06/2026

Saturday 28th March 2026

Another missed one from The Peregrination's Rest.

We don't normally go for Brewdog (other than Dead Pony Club), but the ice cream addition put us in mind of the much loved (and much missed) Neopolitan Ice Cream Pale from Northern Monk.

Decent enough.

02/06/2026

Satuelrday 14th February 2026

Somehow we missed this.

A beautiful ale - winter, spiced fruit cake. Superb, but even on (especially on?) Valentine's Day, the love of a decent beer still pales into insignificance compared to the love for Lady P.

Oh - and the glass. What a corker.

02/06/2026

As always we are behind with the listing of jollys, so this is the catch up of two that happened in Spring

Friday 20 March 2026
Poole
With The P's Drinking Buddy

An early celebration of The P's 60th birth anniversary necessitated a sunny day trip to Poole.

Hostelries (some not ventured into in some while), ribaldry, curry (a treat from The DB) and the joy of the Holy Grail that is Sign of Spring. Hurrah!

The Angel, Timothy Taylor Boltmakers
The Quay, Badger Line Break
The Poole Arms, Stonehenge Sign of Spring
Rope and Anchor, Wadworth 6X
The Brewhouse, Magpie Nottingham Mild
The Lord Wimborne, Oakham Soul Synergy

Friday 8th May 2026
Branksome, Southbourne and Poole
DB

Now, DB likes a walk and an adventure as much as The P, so we cooked one up (because we couldn't get tickets to Bursledon Beer, Bricks and Buses). A three centre holiday.

First stop, Branksome and a walk to the ever wonderful award winning Barking Cat. It warranted two. Of course it did. An enforced wait for the train towards stop two meant a cheeky half in The Branksome Railway Hotel - DB had admired the architecture so why not?

Thence to Southbourne for DB to experience The Way Outback Brewery and The Wight Bear. We thought we had lots of time but a slow consumption rate meant a march to the station - and still missed the train. Another wait for transport, another half in another pub opposite another station. By this stage we had stopped recording what we had, so no details in the listing of ale in each location from this point forward.

Stop three and the joy of Christchurch. Always worth a walk to The Snug to sample Drop the Anchor's finest ales sat quietly watching the World go by.

Final stop before curry - The Saxon Bar. A good pint no doubt. No recollection.

A doubtless decent curry at Standard Bengal, consumed rapidly for fear of missing the train and needing another half in another pub near another station. Scant memory of the curry, but the evidence was on the shirt for all to see.

A wonderful day. But we were both very, very drunk.

Branksome

The Barking Cat
Left Handed Giant, Bitter
Triple Fff, Comfortably Numb

The Branksome Railway Hotel
Hop Back, Summer Lightning (half)

Southbourne

Way Outback Brewery- Watermelon

The Wight Bear - Salcombe life saver

Something in The Bell (half)

Christchurch
Something in The Snug
Something in The Saxon Bar

Kingfisher in The Standard Bengal

02/06/2026

On recently at The Peregrination's Rest whilst enjoying Garden Sundowners with Lady P.

A not sampled before IPA from Dorset brewer Hall & Woodhouse under their 'Badger' name. Pretty decent effort and worth the investment - monetarily and in alcohol consumption.

Glassware is brewer appropriate although not brew specific.

Website tasting notes:

"This 5.2% Pale Ale is brewed with a firm malt base and a bold blend of hops for a beer that’s pale yet full-bodied, and unashamedly proud of its strength. It’s a bold beer with a noble soul - and just enough bite to keep things interesting"

27/05/2026

Now here's one we should be visiting whilst it's still there.

26/05/2026

On this weekend at The Peregrination's Rest.

There's quite the hype around Bass at the moment, and we must admit when we tried it in Ruddington last year, we could understand the reasons for its renaissance.

The jury is generally out on the bottled version so, in the interest of science, we felt the need to give it a go. And for a session beer ABV and at a price point of only £1 presently, it was worth the alcohol consumption. Note to self though, don't chill it so aggressively next time.

As for the glass - well, when drinking a legendary beer surely one should utilise a fabled brewer's glassware?

26/05/2026

Interesting, if alarming, read

The UK's brewery scene is shrinking as pubs close, costs rise and drinking habits change.