The Greenwich, Southsea

Not a pub but a restaurant/café/bar type of thing serving a hotchpotch of global food and which I only entered as part of a group. Had a half of something unmemorable called Frigate at £2.00 a half. For me, 'frigate' is the operative word.

Part of a small chain operating bars in Chichester and here in Southsea, the Belle Isle is a modern bar with a nice mix of dining and drinking trade. You enter into a fairly large, open plan space, broken up in places by short sections of wall, pillars and shelving units. There is a good mix of seating throughout this space, including comfy lounge furniture, high tables and stools and plenty of regular tables and chairs. The bar is tucked away a little towards the rear on the left hand wall. The pub narrows significantly here, with some decent banquette seating opposite, but it does fell like a bit of a pinch point before opening out again to a small rear space that felt quite bland. The whole place is bare boarded with white walls decorated with various murals listing food options and other such practical details. This doesn't make for the most visually stimulating interior, but it was still a bright, clean space that seems well suited to those wanting to eat. The place was doing a roaring trade on a wet Saturday afternoon, including quite a lot of kids making plenty of noise in a room lacking in soft furnishings. There are four handpulls on the bar, three of which were in operation on this visit. I decided to try a pint of the Tiny Rebel Beat Box - a tasty APA that was served up in pretty good shape and at a nice cellar cool temperature. Most people here were eating and I think I only saw one other person ordering an ale throughout my stay, so I'm not sure how they fare on throughput - an issue their Chichester branch also seemed to have. This seemed like a decent enough bar, with an interesting selection of cask and keg beers and the sort of set-up that would appeal to a fairly wide range of customers. I probably timed my visit here badly, clashing with the weekend lunchtime crowd, and suspect I would've enjoyed my stay more in the evening, but I left with a generally favourable impression and would bear it in mind when in the area again.

Modern café-bar sort of place, with lots of bare wood and eclectic furnishings and a clientele as likely to be drinking tea as beer. Friendly enough though, and with some interesting local ales on draught as well as craft beers.

A wooden-floored corner bar, modern (in a good way) and lively. It manages to strike a good balance between food and ale, it's a bit pricey but it's quite welcoming. Food is of the burger, burrito and beef mince variety. The staff were descended from bearded trolls, but friendly nonetheless. The clientele were a real mixture of ages and characters. There were 4 ales on – Exmoor Ale, Yeovil Stout Hearted, Welton's Horsham and something called Glitch. All were in good condition and went down extremely well. I'd be very happy to come back here again for beer and better-than-average fast food.