King Harry's Bar, Shanklin

Located on the main road through Shanklin, although situated down in a bit of a hollow making it not immediately apparent, this is an old-fashioned hotel bar in an attractive thatched roof building. Some steps take you down into the hotel lobby area, unmanned on our visit, which in turn leads you along a corridor towards the bar. Against my expectations, this turned out to be a surprisingly compact room with the servery to the left and some limited seating to the right. The bar has a nice counter with an impressive carved frontage, mirrored bar back decorated with blue fairy lights and a basic pot shelf above. The seating area is carpeted and has sufficient space for four or five tables served by standard chairs, all arranged around a nice stone fireplace which acts as a focal point for the room. A small arch to the rear right leads through to a small side room which appeared to have a few more tables and chairs, but was in darkness on our evening visit, suggesting it’s only ever used as an overspill area during busier months. Décor consists of traditional items such as decorative plates, old paintings, numerous salvers and some information boards detailing various bits of local history. Music was playing very quietly in the background during the course of our stay and there was only one other customer in when we arrived, it being off-season, although a few more turned up before we left. I didn’t expect too much from the bar, so it was a nice surprise to find four hand pumps in operation, dispensing Fullers ESB, Andwell King John, St Austell Proper Job and Ringwood Boondoggle. The King John was in good nick and a nice traditional bitter to enjoy in this very traditional feeling hotel bar. I thought this was a nice quiet bolthole away from the louder pubs and bars on the beachfront and the food-led pubs along the main road. Finding some well kept beer in a homely place like this felt like a bit of a coup and I would definitely consider heading back here in the future.