Newport Ale House, Newport

Small locals ale house in Newport.

Not quite a micro, but as near as dammit. A one roomer with 3 casks on stillage behind the tiny bar and a few interesting (mainly European) keg taps. The walls are covered in pumpclips and various breweriana and it generally oozes atmosphere. The ales on this visit were Ossett Excelcius, Mr Grundy's Big Willie and Rudgate Viking - perhaps all a bit golden but otherwise fine. A definite must to visit.

This is the smallest pub on the Isle of Wight, and I believe was the island’s first ever micropub, not that it’s really advertised as such. It’s the sister pub to the Cowes Ale House, but has a very different feel, set up more as a lounge bar and making use of a much nicer building, formerly used for such diverse purposes as stables, coffin store and hair salon. Steps take you up into a porch area with the toilets directly in front of you and the bar through a door to the right. It’s quite a homely little room, with exposed floorboards, half panelled walls with plain uppers, the occasional section of floral wallpaper and the servery along the back wall. The bar has a fairly plain counter and a nicely decorated bar back strewn with countless pump clips which are now extending their tendrils across much of the rest of the pub. Tub chairs serve two small, glass-topped tables with beer mats from island breweries displayed beneath them under the front window. Elsewhere, a few low stools serve tables further back and there’s a tall table with high stools to one side which makes up the sum total of the pub’s seating options. Some nice items of breweriana line the walls, as do various award certificates, some brewery mirrors and a Cerne Abbas Giant clock with an anatomically impressive minute ‘hand’. The radio was playing quietly in the background during our stay and a steady stream of locals came and went as the afternoon wore on. There were three ales available when we arrived, with a couple more racked up but still conditioning. I opted for the Brewsters Stilton Porter, from a selection that also included St Austell Proper Job and Adnams Old Ale. Thankfully, it didn’t taste of blue cheese and was actually a very tasty and satisfying pint. My other half ordered a tea and, as had happened in the Cowes Ale House, got a bit of good-natured stick from one of the local’s. I really liked this place and found it was pretty easy to settle down in the comfortable lounge-like environment they’ve created, although the small-size means this may be a very different matter at busier times. It’s a good addition to the island’s pub scene and well worth a look if you’re passing through Newport.