The Ship & Castle, East Cowes

After a swift visit to the Cowes Ale House on the other side of the river and a journey across the river on the chain ferry, we completed our day trip to the Isle of Wight with a return visit to the Ship & Castle. With the White Hart now demolished, this is the only pub in the vicinity of the Red Funnel ferry terminal. It is a single room and extremely basic corner pub with a fairly friendly welcome. There was a barmaid and a local in and they were eager to engage in conversation. They asked me which pubs we'd been to. We said that this was our 10th, but the barmaid proudly exclaimed that they were number 6 on the island, a fact I instantly recognised as being correct, as the local CAMRA group had rated them as 6th best pub. In terms of real ale selection, the pub certainly deserves that honour, with 3 well-kept ales on. On this visit, these were Portobello Decca Supreme Session Ale, Titanic Plum Porter & Rudgate Ruby Mild. The bare boarded bar has very little furniture and seating is at a premium. Toilets at the rear along a corridor are equally basic. Music was playing and there was a small fish tank on the side of the bar. Definitely worthy of a brief stop before or after a ferry crossing.

A nice little locals' corner pub, the only survivor in the area near the ferry terminal. Just the one room, with signs of an earlier divider, with odd furniture and too many fairy lights, but otherwise quite splendid. The range of pump clips on the wall behind the bar is a giveaway that this is a good pub for beer, and the Halland Only With Love oatmeal stout did not disappoint; the other ale on was Butcombe Haka.

How funny - 7 years after the last review for this place and I enter with some trepidation (it is one of the smallest pubs I've seen and we are in a global pandemic). Guess who is the first person I see in a full bar? Only the bloke that looks like the Sea Captain from the Simpsons. Three real ales on in this Good Beer Guide 2021 entry - and I can never ignore a Fullers ESB - even if something more LocALE was available. Small outside area. Proper drinkers pub. The direct opposite of the other GBG Entry in town - the Lifeboat.