The Coal Exchange, Emsworth

A smart and traditional Fullers pub located on the town's High Street, the Coal Exchange occupies a characterful two-room premises. You enter into a small, carpeted front bar where the servery faces directly opposite the door, framed by frosted glass windows and flanked by hard benches and chairs. A cosy lit brick fireplace adds some warmth to this compact space. The dark wood panelled bar counter and matching mirrored back bar create an inviting, old-fashioned feel, with pint pots strung from a beam overhead for added charm. The pub stretches back down the right-hand side into a second seating area, featuring two rows of tables and chairs beneath plain painted walls and a fairy light-strewn ceiling. Another fireplace sits to the right here, with a Fullers clock hung above it, while a mix of military memorabilia, paintings, maps and ornaments bring a touch of history to the decor. There’s also an outdoor gents’ toilet block and a covered garden area to the rear, and the pub is very dog friendly, replete with an inevitable bout of orchestrated barking whenever the mutts crossed paths with one another.. The cask selection was strong, with Fullers London Pride and ESB, Gales HSB and Seafarers, Dark Star Hophead and Butcombe Bitter all available. My pint was well kept and served promptly. The service was friendly and patient, even in the face of some challenging customers, and the place maintained a lively and welcoming atmosphere as the crowd built to healthy numbers as the evening progressed. This felt like a solid, well-run Fullers house with plenty of character and a pleasant buzz that lasted throughout the course of my visit. The beer was in good nick and whilst finding Fullers beers isn't exactly tricky in this part of the world, they at least put enough of a range on to give you a couple of lesser seen choices. This felt like the place to be in Emsworth on a Saturday night and it makes a good double header with the Bluebell a few doors down. Date of visit: 4th January 2025

Official site of The Coal Exchange - www.coalexchangeemsworth.co.uk

Official site of The Coal Exchange - www.coalexchangeemsworth.co.uk

A pleasant looking pub in the centre of Emsworth heading down towards the quay, it has some attractive green glazed tiling on the exterior that still has the Horndean Ales logo in place. It seems to be something of a male orientated, locals pub, and the friendly barmaid had to ask a couple of the punters to mind their language. Internally it’s somewhat more basic than might be expected from looking at the outside, and is arranged in to an L-shape configuration. There was some old blue carpet on the floor and some plain wood panelling on the lower part of the walls. A plasma screen was at the rear showing the football and there were a couple of old brick fire-places, although one of these appeared to be covered up. A number of black and white photos were on the walls. We didn’t inspect the menu, but a couple of notices advertised pizza and burger nights. They also have live music on a Saturday night, and it was certainly very busy and loud when we passed by on the previous evening to our visit. There was a good choice of beers on tap with New Dawn Pale Navigation, London Pride, Olivers Island, HSB, Hophead Dark Star and Seafarers Ale. Ciders meanwhile were Strongbow and Stowford Press.