The Mucky Duck, Winchester

The White Swan has undergone a makeover and had an official name change to the Mucky Duck. This appears to come from the fact that the pub in its more salubrious days was referred to as ‘the Mucky’ by its local clientele. I believe the running of this place has been taken over by the same people who run the Corner House, the Green Man and the St James Tavern. And the common theme with all these four is a director of the company, one interior designer Jane Gillin, who is responsible for the interior makeovers of these four Winchester pubs. I visited the Green Man during my stay in Winchester and have to say it wasn’t my cup of tea, but will say what has been done to the old White Swan is interesting, when you consider that it is now aligned to be a sports pub showing live sport. It doesn’t start well as you approach. The building is virtually unchanged from the outside , still being white and green. But the first indication is that the former ‘GK Good Food’ sign has been replaced by one saying “A "Sporting" Bar for Discerning Gentlemen and their Good Ladies! Splendid Tucker, Spiffing Ales, Quaffable Wines, All in all... a jolly good show actually!” which frankly sounds like a load of pretentious old nonsense. But when you go inside then you get what they are on about. And I say this next bit as a statement of fact and not a sexist comment, but if you asked any woman to design a sports pub she would like to frequent, then you would get something not dissimilar to the new interior of the Mucky Duck. Very clean and comfortable space, a pastel duck egg blue colour scheme with lots of nice decorative touches, a pristine wooden floor, lots of comfy leather chairs, sofas and chesterfields with the odd giant chesterfield. A bar area which has equal if more focus on the racks of wine bottles behind it rather than the beer pumps on it. And then finally four high resolution screens dotted about that somehow blend in to the décor rather than dominate it. And that leads us back to the opening sign on the wall and to the new pub sign of a rugby playing duck, indicating that in a sports viewer perspective the target audience are those that frequent Twickenham rather than the premiership terraces. However, for Ale drinking non sports fans, then you will probably walk past, because one thing that hasn’t changed is that it is still a GK house and Old Speckled Hen, Old Golden Hen, Morlands Original and Belhaven 80 shillings was available on the four ale pumps on the bar when we took a lunchtime look. However it seems to be working for the younger clientele of Winchester as the place was rammed with a very mixed male and female crowd late on the Saturday evening when we walked past again on the way back to our digs

The Hyde Tavern (our original destination) was closed further up the road (doesn't open until 7pm), so stopped in here for a breather. All went a bit Sam Tyler in here, patrons, jukebox and television were all stuck in a 1996 timewarp. Knew I'd had a few but thought someone had spiked my last pint. Well actually it turned out that the landlords ipod was on playlist Britpop, the patrons looked like they got their Britpop clothes on for the day and the TV was showing a re-run of the England vs India Test match from 1996. This was Oasis-style Britpop, lots of beered-up mooing, grunting and unintelligible conversations. Get the feeling a lot of these punters think they're too good for the Rising Sun, or too pissed to find it. The interior was in fairly good shape, with a small beer garden out back. A Greene King pub with only a couple of ales on - my Speckled Hen was fine, to be fair. Not sure I'd bother this place again unless I had a copy of Loaded and a packet of 20 B&H in my pocket

Very big pub with a tap room to the left and a huge lounge straight ahead. Tap room has a pool table, darts and a quiz machine. Lounge has banquette seating round the outside and dining tables/chairs in the middle. Does very reasonably priced food every day. Six handpumps on the bar but only 4 beers on tap, Banks’s Bitter and Original plus Jennings Snecklifter and Marston’s “John Marston’s Golden Ale”. Had a pint of the Golden Ale which was very good, better than on previous visits when the beer quality was only OK. It’s always been almost empty when I’ve been in on a midweek evening, it may be busier at weekends, if it’s not it’ll be in trouble soon.

Formerly the brewery tap of the now defunct (and bought out by Marstons) Winchester brewery, the building next door was the offices and the etched windows say “Counting House”. The pub has an open plan design although the etched windows and door signs still say Bar and Lounge. The bar, to the left, still has its tongue and groove bar counter and lower walls, bare board floor, settles and darts board although there are a few trendy armchairs and a big screen. The lounge is carpeted and has more armchairs and tall tables and stools, the walls here are plain cream with some pleasant mouldings. Strangely at the front of the lounge is a pool table and another darts board. Although Marstons bought the Winchester brewery they sold a number of Winchester pubs to Greene King who own this one, their IPA and Old Speckled Hen were being served from two of the three handpumps. Very standard keg line up with Carling, 1664, Becks, Fosters, Guinness and Strongbow.