The Rai d'Or, Salisbury

One of the more unusual perennial Good Beer Guide entries - it's a Thai restaurant but you can, if you want, just drink (and we propped up the bar due to a lack of free tables). The Oriental ladies behind the bar won’t bat an eyelid if you just want a pint and there’s no hard sell on the food. There were two cask ales on; Downton Apple Blossom and Wickwar BOB (fair shape) and at £3.50pp, a bit of a steal by Salisbury’s usual standards. There was also a pump for Wessex cider. The interior is a small L shaped affair with restrained Oriental stylings, with wooden trellises acting as room dividers and numerous potted plants along with windowsills. Inevitably, the air hangs heavy with Oriental cooking smells, which may put some off. It’s an intriguing enigma – well-worth popping in on your inaugural crawl round Salisbury (note the limited opening hours – doors at 5), though whether you’d want to settle in for a session is a moot point. Hard to score without eating any of the grub, seeing as that’s an intrinsic part of the experience. But as a purely vertical drinking experience it isn’t (and can’t be) all that.