Prince of Wales, Farnborough

A rather good and very traditional pub in the back roads near Farnborough North station. The three rooms have some nice period features, including brick inlays to wooden beaming which undoubtedly has a proper name that I don't know. I suspect people come in for the beer rather than the brickwork though, with a nice of bank of 5 handpumps in each side. Ales on included 3 from Fuller's, two Siren and singletons from Andwell, Bowman, Hop Back, Marston's, and Triple F. Well worth a visit.

A short distance from Farnborough North station, this is a quality ale house with a three bar layout. You enter into the L-shaped main bar which is carpeted and has padded banquettes down the right hand wall and standard tables and chairs elsewhere including under the front windows which are decoratively etched with the pub's name. The servery is opposite the entrance and has a dark wood counter and bar back plus some blackboards to one side listing the comprehensive ale range. A nice brick fireplace stands on the right hand wall and has some interesting old adverts, beer bottles and jugs above. The room, much like the other two, sports some nice herringbone brickwork features whilst a high shelf was holding a display of plates and beer bottles. A door to the left leads into the side bar - a smaller room with similar seating and its own fireplace with a pipe display above and more pleasing herringbone work. Both rooms run through to a rear bar which has further banquette seating and many stylistic similarities to the two other areas, with the notable difference that it seemed a lot darker in here on an otherwise bright spring day. A passage leads out to a decent looking beer garden and I noticed a few picnic benches out on the front pavement as well. There was no music playing in the pub and I didn't spot any TV screens here either - just the buzz of conversation, first from a group of blokes on a pub crawl ticking Good Beer Guide pubs on the Hampshire/Surrey border, then from a vocal bunch of locals including one chap who regaled us with some very entertaining stories of his travels around the world. The pub is the 'go-to' place for ale drinkers in Farnborough and the beer board made very clear why that was, offering a wide range of options from well known and more obscure brewers. Options on this visit were Hop Back GBF and Summer Lightning, Dark Star Hophead, Vibrant Forest Outlander and Kaleidoscope, Ringwood Fortyniner, Three Daggers Dagger's Edge, Wansum Black Prince, Andwell Gold Muddler and Fullers London Pride. Two ciders rounded out the options and some of the beers appeared to be served straight from the barrel including my pint of Outlander which was a bit hazy but still tasty and drinkable. The staff were very friendly and extremely patient with a miserable old sod who tried tasters of numerous beers which weren't to his taste before grudgingly settling on something - I would've told him where to go. This is a quality local's boozer that deserves its reputation as something of a destination pub in this part of the world. I really enjoyed the lively feel of the main bar, the friendly welcome from the bar staff and the decent beer options. I probably didn't do the place justice by just stopping for the one pint, so I'll be sure to pop in again should I ever find myself back in Farnborough.