The Wyndham Arms, Salisbury

Corner "house" style boozer - multiple rooms, with very domestic looking toilets upstairs. Hop Back House.... thought I might try and Entire Stout but this is only on cask in the winter months. Was available on keg/bottle. Went for a perfect Crop Circle instead. Despite being full (entirely on men) there was little atmosphere. Everyone was quietly muching on snacks, reading newspapers or dabbing at phones.

On the corner plot of terraced houses next to the A36, the Wyndham Arms isn’t in the most scenic of places, and it isn’t the most attractive pub, but the large Hop Back Brewery sign over the entrance is welcoming enough, this being the original building of the brewery. The interior feels like a converted house with the entrance opening into a narrow hallway with a flight of stairs up to the toilets and seating on either side of a chimney breast at the front of the pub. In the right rear is more seating and a dartboard, a window overlooks the adjacent residential back gardens. The serving counter is found on the left-hand wall where the brewery’s Citra, Rocket’s Revenge, Crop Circle, Summer Lightening and GFB were available on cask. The sixth hand pump, sat between the SL and GFB invited people to have a half and half of the two, unfortunately I missed this prompt before ordering. At the end of the counter in the left rear corner are some banquettes with tables where our group camped for our visit. I thought the service was very friendly and I enjoyed the pub, so I’ll certainly return when next in the area, and while I’m there I’ll see if they still have my glasses that left behind.

Old corner pub located a bit out of the city centre on the northeast side but definitely worth the walk. Retains much of the original layout, with various small drinking areas and a relatively cramped bar, but the decoration is quite restrained and less traditional than one might expect. The original home of Hop back Brewery, with GFB, Crop Circle, Citra, Summer Lightning and the seasonal Rocket's Revenge available from five of the six handpumps when we called in.

Dating from the 1880s as the Wyndham Hotel, in 1987 this became the birthplace of the Hop Back brewery. The countenance of Hop Back’s trademark Green Man, looms Janus-like over the entrance, appropriately enough, given that he’s the God of Doors (see contemporary photos and 2016), so perhaps this isn’t actually Dionysus as claimed on their website after all; either way, beneath in increasingly rare traditional form, is the name of the landlady: Lisa Saberton. Carpeted with simple furniture, the interior is sparse and modern in a 1970s’ way (see CAMRA and 2007 photos), with pale t ‘n’ g and tuckpointed(?) brickwork to the bar front and some of the walls; in short, rather plain. There’s a comprehensive collection of Hop Back beers – sadly no entire – with my half of Crop Circle at £2.25 a half, good and served by pub stalwart Ms Saberton. This is quite a good pub, certainly one of the better ale selections in the city and worth a visit, even with the effort required to reach here; makes for a good double with the Winchester.

One of three pubs slightly out of town adjacent to the busy A36 that are worth the walk to find, for different reasons. In this case its primarily due to the fact that it is where the Hop Back brewery started back in 1987 and now largely functions as the tap pub for the brewery, despite it moving out to Downton some years ago. A very good example of a nice traditional pub, most of the action is focussed on the main long thin bar room, but the front parlour and the snug room beyond the bar provide a couple of quieter places to escape to with your beer. The décor is a bit sparse but it’s a comfortable pub to enjoy the ales. There are six ale handpumps central to the bar and five were in operation for our visit dispensing Citra. Summer Lightning, GFB, Rockets Revenge and Crop Circle.

Out of town but most definitely worth the walk,this is a fine locals boozer owned by Hop Back and featuring a range of their ales in great nick.PSM nails the interior detail,it's functional if basic with a small front snug,a long tap room with a comfortable lounge area at the rear with bench seating and views of this part of Salisbury.The exterior Hop Back green man above the apex door is smiling on your entrance but the reverse side looks sad on your departure. The handpumps were drawing Hop Back Summer Lightening ,GFB,Rockets Revenge stout,Crop Circle NBSS 4 and Citra .The barmaid was very friendly and offered good ale and pub advice in the City and the locals were a friendly bunch.Conversation rules the roost and next time I'm spending a lot longer in here,it really is a must visit when in Salisbury.

Official site of The Wyndham Arms - www.hopback.co.uk

Official site of The Wyndham Arms - www.hopback.co.uk

This pub is out on the fringes of the city centre, but still easily reached within 10 - 15 minutes. It’s a classic local’s boozer, now run by the Hop Back Brewery, with an unfortunate location alongside the busy A36. Entering from the main road, you find yourself in a compact front seating area with some basic banquette and chair arrangements around the four walls, a few arty prints on display and a fireplace to the rear, with a little cut-away next to it, allowing you to see through to the bar. Passing through a doorway to the rear right, you enter the long, narrow main bar area - a carpeted space with low tongue and groove wall panels and another small fireplace to the front, with an unlit stove inside. A small seating space to the front left has a single table served by a banquette and a few low stools and the walls here are covered in lots of Hop Back breweriana and an amazing collection of paintings of the pub, plus one particularly impressive needlework rendering of the building. The bar runs down the left-hand wall and has a simple brick counter front and a basic shelving unit bar back. To the rear, the room opens out slightly into a lounge area, with padded banquettes around three sides, an unused TV screen to the rear and a dartboard over to the right. There also appeared to be a side room, or maybe just an exit to a garden, over to the right, opposite the bar, but I failed to explore this properly. A good range of Hop Back beers were available on cask, with options comprising Summer Lightning, Citra, Crop Circle, GFB and Entire Stout. I gave the Citra a try and thought it was a decent enough beer, if perhaps not the best this brewery has to offer. I had arrived shortly after opening, but there were already a fair few customers in attendance and it was notable that everyone was drinking cask. This is a nice little boozer, well enough away from the tourists in the city centre, and with a nice little buzz about it. The interior is a little basic and maybe not as homely as you’d hope - a feature with other Hop Back pubs I’ve visited, but regardless of this, I still would’ve been happy to stay here for a session and especially enjoyed looking through all those great pub portraits. Definitely worth the short walk from town to check this place out.