The Pembroke, Portsmouth

A perfectly decent if basic locals pub,a carpeted U shape bar complete with a piano in one corner, background music from the 60's, Orbison etc, gave a not unpleasant throwback feel to the place. Three beers on ,Pride,Abbot and Bass, the latter a drink I hadn't tried for years was nice enough.

This large, Edwardian hostelry is both a busy town pub and a popular local. Regular events such as quiz nights punctuate the routine delivery of decent beer and food. The staff were very welcoming, even getting us to join in with administering the quiz. The clientele were also friendly, engaging in banter and even intellectual debate. There were 3 ales on: I had London Pride, which was OK but not brilliant. Overall, though, well worth a visit.

Might have changed since the post in 2009 but I found this pub to be a really clean proper traditional locals pub serving about three ales and the Bass was in superb condition. Rolls available at a very good value with no frills such as A side salad. Superb banter between the locals and bar maid. If only there were more pubs still like this ..if I wasn't on a bit of a pub crawl then I could quite happily quite happily have joined in the conversations going on at the time. Really glad I called I here for a pint.