Queens Hotel, Gosport

The Queen's Hotel is Gosport's last GBG pub, having been a regular entry now for over 25 years. It is a moderately sized Victorian building, now in the back streets, and has a few architectural gems inside, although much of the interior has been marred by badly fitted 20th Century features (such as the incongruous brick fireplace). The bar is a semi-open plan single room on the ground floor, slightly shabby which makes the building feel a bit neglected. The atmosphere is calm, the barman very welcoming and the locals civilised. There were 5 ales on - I had a pint of Hookey Gold which was in perfect condition. This is definitely one of Gosport's better pubs, an essential part of any crawl and well worth seeking out simply for its beer.

At one time there were some 200 pubs in Gosport with it's own large brewery (S & T N Blake & Co Ltd. which closed in 1941 and is only celebrated by the Oakleaf micro brewery's 'Blakes Gosport bitter'). Today that number has dwindled to around 40 and the cream has not risen to the top. An exception is the 'Queens Hotel' Set in the back streets of Gosport this is a large three storey Victorian building on the corner of Queens Road and Kings Road. it's interesting to note the King and Queen 'gargoyles' on the facade were allegedly put in before the streets were named and are in the wrong way round. On the night I went along with the 'Crofton Crew' of beer connoisseurs it was the October Beer Festival which was celebrating Sue the Landlady's 27th year at the Queens. Besides the festival bar they had Ascot Ales 'Anastasia Stout', Burton Bridge 'Burton Porter', Black Dog Brewery 'Black Dog', Howard Town Brewery 'Wren's Nest', Isle of Purbeck 'Solar Power', Newton Brewery 'Warrior' plus three Cider's from Westons as the Main bar ales and this is the standard number of beers with a rotation of ales from other brewery's. All the beverages were in top condition. There are three areas and a great log fire with an impressive carved fireplace and the decor is much as I remembered it some 30 years ago when I last visited, which is no bad thing. The juke box reflects the age of cliental (40+) with it being stuck in a 'time warp' of the 60's - 80's. A concession to the modern era is a large flat screen telly. sensibly placed darts. children are welcome in the daytime. There is a small beer garden at the rear. The staff are really friendly and local punters love this classic 'bare boards' pub and if you do manage to end up on this peninsula which is famous for being the largest town in Britain without an operational railway station, you need look no further that this multi award winning bozzer.