The Flowerpots Inn, Alresford

The new owners have indeed made considerable changes (and no doubt spent considerable money), although in fairness they have successfully kept a very nice pub, even if not quite the 10/10 it was. The frontage still looks like a country pub, but the very large and very full car park detracts a little. Inside, they have lightened and brightened up the interior and created three rooms - a tiled bar off to the right, a smaller front area and a dining room off to the other side. Beers still come straight from barrels on a stillage behind the bar. But it is to the rear where the major changes have happened; a large modern extension heads back across the garden, with its own bar (also with stillage) and a couple more rooms. The outside tables have continued to breed, covering the front and side and making an assault on the adjacent paddock. The brewery at least remains in the outbuildings across the extended car park, The place has been done up with some taste and has certainly avoided the corporate excesses had one of the pubcos taken over. It is still a very pleasant place for a decent drink - the beers are good and still well-priced, while the food looked ok - but it is not quite the unspoiled gem it once was.