Honeysuckle Inn, Newport

Hidden away a short walk from the high street the Honeysuckle Inn isn’t somewhere one would just stumble upon, so this is a local’s pub that had two customers and the landlady in situ during a recent midweek evening visit. They were a good laugh though, moaning about their husbands and giving some bants about me ordering just a half. Picnic tables run up the left-hand side of the pub to the central door that leads to a games room with a pool table and dartboard down to the left and the bar area down to the right. I spotted a couple of televisions that were airing a music TV channel and live music is held here, although not every week. This is a Bank’s pub so the bar counter across the rear wall supports their Amber alongside Wainwright, two more hand pumps stood unused. Standard keg was also available, and there was a strong smell of Indian food, although I didn’t see a food menu so maybe one of the ladies had just had a take-away. Opposite the bar along the front wall are a couple of long tables and to the right is some compact seating that is faced by a fireplace with iron stove in the right-hand wall. Old Exposed wooden beams hint at the pub having some age, and the furniture has a whiff of the 1970s. Out the back is a large beer garden with decking and a grass covered area. This is a friendly pub that I’m sure the locals love.

Just outside the main shopping streets but in a different world, this oddly shaped pub is at right-angles to the road, with a farm gate giving access to a small yard where the entrance porch can be seen. It was very quiet, for the reason that the pub was not open at the time of my attempted visit, 1:30pm on a Thursday. Both WhatPub and the Honeysuckle's Facebook page say that it ought to have been open at this time. There was no notice on the door or windows giving changed hours, so I shrugged and went elsewhere, though not until I had glanced through the window to see Wainwright and Banks's Amber pump clips on the hand pumps in the gloomy bar.

A long thin pub at right angles to the road, the exterior finish is in brewers Tudor. Inside there's a back pool and darts room and a front public bar with the counter, home to four pulls serving Marstons stables beers in reasonable nick. The big screens were showing golf but I then noticed the Honeysuckle Golf Society forthcoming trip sign up form. A mix of Carling and ale drinkers noisy but friendly. Fairly plain decor, rough cast plaster with a few drinks ads and a couple of humorous signs, with largely middle aged male lager drinking punters and a Scots landlord as well this could be a bar in the west of Scotland. Nice big garden at the back.

Bit hard to find, if you look for the Adams Grammar School, then it is right behind it off the High Street in newport. A good pint - it's a good drinking pub!