The Froddington Arms, Fratton, Portsmouth

A traditional Victorian corner pub in a dense residential area, very much a thriving, welcoming local. The ground floor has been converted into a single L-shaped bar with separate bar counters at each leg. There is a pool table at one end accompanied by a dart board and gaming machines. There are tv screens which were showing live football with no sound, but even if there was sound, it would have been drowned out by the truly awful racket coming from the jukebox. The bar staff were very welcoming, maybe because we were several decades younger than most of the coffin-dodging regulars who may have been responsible for the strange smell which we originally thought was a faulty toilet. There were 5 handpumps, two of which had reversed clips, 2 appeared redundant and the last of which was dispensing Brains's Bread of Heaven. The beer was in very good condition, and the barmaid seemed to know what she was doing with her ales. They run a meat raffle and karaoke – an odd combination – every Friday. I would include on a crawl for its beer quality alone