The Dolphin, Portsmouth

Advertised as Portsmouth’s oldest pub, established 1716 (but see the Spice Island Inn), opposite the cathedral and almost looking the part inside and out. The inside isn’t an 18th century alehouse but there’s lots of old and not so old wood, stained glass and brick fireplaces. Beerwise, four pulls with “Gales” Seafarers, Harvey’s Sussex, Tribute and a reversed clip. A couple of horseshoes provide a choice of national brands while Madri gets a solo. Some wag refers to it as “Tadri” due to its source brewery, in Tadcaster. There are separate spaces to the right off the main bar with its left hand counter and to the rear an almost separate dining area. The famous “Nelson” pane of glass is covered in scratched names mostly unreadable.

This spacious bare boarded pub opposite Portsmouth’s cathedral, claims to be the oldest in the city – a claim that seems plausible enough, although anyone casually strolling in would be hard pushed to recognise this from the opened-out interior. You enter into a wide space with high tables and stools to the left next to an upright piano, and an open-fronted snug to the right with some nice old beams and stained-glass screens helping to make it feel like the sort of traditional, historic pub they claim to be. In 2016, the landlord found a pane of glass in storage which was believed to have come from one of the pub’s old windows and been signed by Horatio Nelson. This pane has now been hung over the brick fireplace in this room with a brief explanatory note detailing its supposed significance. Armchair seating and shelves full of books, bottles and salvers give this room a cosy, homely feel and for me it was probably the nicest spot in the whole pub. The bar is along the left-hand side of the main room and has a grey panelled counter front and bar back plus a metal framed gantry, none of which enhances the traditional feel of the pub. There’s a decent sized seating area opposite with standard tables and chairs in front of a nice fireplace and a ‘community pillar’ which has been used to display various messages and advertisements of interest to the locals. Beyond is an area with a stained glass ‘Private Bar’ sign which offers lots of bench and chair seating in a smart space that in turns leads out to the beer garden. The décor is appropriate to the overall look of the pub and includes lots of old photos on the walls and some nice lamps. The ale range here was a lot more extensive than in other pubs in this part of town, offering Adnams Ghost Ship, Sharps Doom Bar, Hammerpot This Is England, Wadworth Horizon, Bradgy Twt Lol Horny Goat Ale and Milk Street Uncle John’s Tarantula Juice. My half of the This Is England was nice enough and served up by a slightly surly barman. It’s a bit of a shame that you don’t get much of a feel for exactly how old this pub is when you’re inside, but despite this, I still thought it was a nice enough place to enjoy a few beers from their decent selection. If you’re out and about in Old Portsmouth, this is definitely worth a quick stop-off.

Not knowing that there is a well-kept enclosed beer garden at the rear of the Dolphin I decided to have a smoke out the front before I entered on a recent Friday afternoon. This gave me a chance to read the A boards on the pavement which advertised the Sunday comedy night, Thursday quiz and live acoustic music on Fridays. Inside the pub there is seating to the left and right of the entrance and there is a piano next to the bar that runs up the left-hand wall. On the right, opposite the bar, is a seating area with fireplace. At the rear is some seating on a flagstone floor that leads to the aforementioned beer garden. The plasma screen was turned off and there is no Sky/ BT Sports, but sports on terrestrial TV will be shown if asked for. Heineken, Amstel, Hop House, Birra Moretti, Fosters, Strongbow and Guinness were the keg options. I counted six hand pumps that were drawing Hammerpot Brewery’s This England, Wadworth’s Horizon, Adnams Ghost Ship, Sharp’s Doom Bar, Trefforest Horny Goat Ale and Milk Street Great Uncle John's Tarantula Juice. Food is available from lunch and dinner menus. A basic burger is priced at £9. I quite liked it in here and would return if passing.

The Dolphin self-claims to be the oldest pub in Portsmouth, which could have some truth due to its location on the high street of the Old town. But it’s not alone in self proclamation as during our extended weekend exploration of the Old Town area we noticed several other buildings that purported historical age or heritage or importance of some description, none more so that the large church opposite the pub that purports to be a cathedral. Back to the Dolphin, which for pub ambience and beer choice was probably the best of the three we tried in this part of town. The very nice front snug with framed window panel and open wooden floored drinking area to the front does seem to have some original features. This then leads to a pleasant and airy stone flagged dining area before you then come to an equally pleasant small courtyard garden section at the end. Six ale hand pumps that were dispensing the five beers mentioned in Mr Fastard’s review below, plus Adnams Ghost Ship. I also went for the Trefforest Horny Goat Ale which was rather good. All in all a good pub experience and although I agree the young bar keep could have demonstrated better customer service skills, I’m not inclined to penalise the overall pub for that on this occasion.

This mid terrace pub has a sign saying "oldest pub in Portsmouth" and given it's location this may ring true.There are some old beams within,although the decorations are more contemporary and not in an olde worlde style.There is a front snug to the right of the entrance with a framed window panel which "reputably" had been etched by Nelson using a diamond in his signet ring.Hmmmmm. The rest of the interior is long and thin with a bar to the left and an upright piano further back.The barman faced with the Pubsgalore crawling crowd ordering halves did try to explain that the beer was also available in pints,but his sarky comment fell on deaf ears ! The six handpumps were drawing Wadworth Horizon,Doom Bar,Hammerpot This England,Milk Street Great Uncle John's Tarantular Juice and a decent Trefforest Horny Goat Ale. Given the range,this is well worth including on any crawl and I enjoyed my brief stay.