Painters Arms, Cowes

Facebook page of Painters Arms - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Painters Arms - www.facebook.com

Quite compact and noisy pub just off the main street in Cowes town centre. Whether it's this noisy normally, I'm not sure, but Cowes appears to attract large groups of lads out on a session and they were occupying much of the available floor space and had spilled out onto the pavement outside too. The Liverpool game was about to start on TVs and a few of their telly-clapping fans were in. I had to go to the gents when their anthem started playing. The interior is nice enough with 2 distinct rooms - a lighter main bar and a much darker side room. There appeared to be an outdoor patio area to drink in to the side. Razor Back & Boltmaker were the real ales. It's an ok pub, but I'm not quite sure how it made the latest Good Beer Guide.

Official site of Painters Arms - www.thepaintersarms.co.uk

Official site of Painters Arms - www.thepaintersarms.co.uk

A Victorian corner pub in the back streets immediately behind the High Street. The original building is largely intact, but the décor is a mess (ironic, given the name) and rather unappealing, although there are one or two interesting features – etched windows designating the former bars and the ‘jug and bottle’ element. There is no real ale, no WiFi, no decent food and no warm welcome on offer. Indeed, the landlady was rather hostile and the locals mostly ignorant, particularly the aggressive smokers ‘guarding’ the door from tourists and other itinerant drinkers. I really didn't like it here and shall gloss over this one in future.