The Angel, Andover

Facebook page of The Angel - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Angel - www.facebook.com

I wasn't expecting the Angel to have re-opened after lockdown. But we wandered up to find it open and very busy. Social distancing had gone out of the window in the bar and it took an eternity to get served. Staff were friendly enough though. Tribute was the only real ale. Andover appears to be full of drunks. The Angel certainly had its fair share. The pub has two rooms on two different levels. Both have bars. But it appears that only the lower room offers service. As an old coaching inn, you can also drink in the courtyard, where a plaque displays which famous people have stayed here. Pretty poor overall though, even by Andover's standards.

Very old pub but a bit run down and rather needing a bit of tlc. The front room is laid up for eating, with most of the action taking place in the central bar area, with a small room behind just big enough for a pool table. There is a courtyard area on the way in, and a separate patio garden at the back. Draught beers were St Austell Liquid Sunshine, Robinsons Dizzy Blonde and OSH.

It's a nice looking, obviously old pub, suitably described by ETA below,the lower order primates were reasonably well behaved,but it was just past mid-day, maybe a few hours later it might have become more boisterous.Three hand pumps and three beers, Old Speckled Hen, Greene King Barmy Army and thankfully St Austell Liquid Sunshine which was in really good nick. I found at the time of my visit this to be one of the better pubs in Andover, this doesn't say a lot for Andover though.

Andover's oldest surviving building, dating from the 15th Century, this former inn has been a coaching inn, hotel and restaurant over the years, and it's now a town centre pub which also serves food and coffee to shoppers during the morning. A small courtyard garden is mainly used by smokers, while inside there are two bars at different levels. Stone floors, exposed structural timbers and inglenook fireplaces provide architectural interest. As a pub it feels wasted and under-exploited – it's rowdy, and the locals utterly fail to appreciate the gem they have. We found people inhere hostile and utterly uncouth, although the staff were much friendlier and maybe a bit embarrassed about the lower-order primates to which Quinno, below, refers. They run regular karaoke nights on Fridays, and roast lunches are available on Sundays. The beer was actually better than expected – GK IPA, Old Speckled Hen and Magellan were in pretty good shape and rather enjoyable. I'd be happy to come back for the architectural charm and the beer quality, I'd include in a crawl, but the unangelic morons would put me off staying here too long.