The Marmion, Southsea

The Marmion was busy with a salt-of-the-earth crowd during a recent Friday afternoon visit. The island bar supports a standard and premium keg range and two hand pumps. Unfortunately, both ales ran out minutes after we arrived. Food seems to be key here with many dishes listed on a large chalkboard. As a guide to price, a burger is £12. I didn’t note the presence of any televisions, but there was some background music playing. The barmaid was very apologetic about the lack of ale. I didn’t find the locals to be very friendly so I will give this place a miss when next in the area.

Really not sure what to say about this bar. A former traditional pub known as the Lord Napier it is now another of those trendy modern bar and kitchens with a clear focus on the kitchen side if the large chalk board menu’s adorning the walls was anything to go by. The décor would indicate that they are aiming at the chic and trendy clientele market but when I entered on this Friday afternoon, they appeared to be attracting more the “just finished on the building site” crowd, very confusing. Perhaps that’s due to the prominence of the Fosters, Amstel and Moretti taps on the bar. Apparently there had been two ales in the shape of TT Landlord and Marstons 61 Deep, but both of these had gone by the time I made it to the bar. So, what was going to be a fleeting visit anyway became even more fleeting and a performed a U turn and headed back out the door towards the nearby Porters. Unfair to rate this one as I didn’t actually manage to have a drink but suffice to say how this place ever made it in the Good Beer Guide is a complete mystery.

A rough and ready sports bar with a boisterous atmosphere to match ,it felt like the sort of pub to avoid when the locals are well tanked up later in the evening. Open plan with pine flooring,there was a rear dining area,and an attractive mural of two ladies on one wall.It was very loud and by the time I arrived both ale options were off,so I was forced to consume a keg Greene King East Coast IPA which was as awful as it sounds. It's laddish and earthy,and I would swerve if in Southsea again.

A modernised pub with restaurant pretensions, although it appeared mainly populated by lager-drinking locals clustered round the island bar, behind which is a dining area. 2 handpumps offered Marston's 61 Deep and TT Landlord: the former was undrinkable and swiftly withdrawn, while the latter promptly ran out. We might just have been unlucky but it did not seem to be a great place for ale.

Official site of The Marmion - www.themarmion.co.uk

Official site of The Marmion - www.themarmion.co.uk

A single room, wood-floored pub well described by Quinno, below. It's lively and populated by those with more taste and better manners than the regulars of the nearby Palmerston Road area. Food s of the burger style, with a few old pub favourites thrown in. The pub is spacious and the staff are very friendly. Three ales on: Dartmoor Jail Ale, London Pride and Sharp's Atlantic, all well kept and in good condition. One of the better pubs in this part of Southsea, and one to which I shall return.

A rather upmarket bar and perhaps a somewhat surprising GBG 2014 entry. Pride, Doom Bar and Dartmoor Jail Ale available and in fairness the Jail was in good shape. Huge coffee machine that wouldn’t look out of place in Starbucks dominated part of the bar, which gives you an idea of the regular clientele. U-shaped island bar, with three quarter length wood wall panelling, painted in a duck egg colour and containing inbuilt uplighting which looked rather swish. Chic and hipsterish furnishing, my high table had a seat that swivelled which almost caused a minor incident as I hadn’t appreciated this fact as plonked my rump down at an angle. The table also had free marshmallow sweets in a glass jar (I resisted). Selection of daily papers available, large TV switched off, WiFi. (Over)loud pop classics belting out of the speakers, thought they’d have gone for a more laid-back vibe myself. Black and white prints of old Pompey on the walls. I didn’t note anything about the cheese menu mentioned below. One for the upper class set rather than the average pub-goer but fair play to them for doing a decent job on the ale.