The Westleigh, Leigh Park, Havant

Part of Havant & Waterlooville Football Club's complex, the Westleigh is a large, social club-style bar with a straightforward, functional feel. The interior is part-carpeted and part-bare boarded, with low tongue and groove panelling below plain upper walls and the servery along the rear wall. Tables and chairs fill much of the space, with high tables and stools closer to the bar and some neat banquette and sofa seating along the left-hand side. The bar itself features a chunky wood-panelled counter and a fairly plain bar back smartened up slightly by a large pub-name mirror. Raised areas to either side provide additional seating to the left and games facilities to the right, where pool tables and three dartboards can be found. Several TV screens show live football with the sound on, although the volume is low enough not to dominate the room. Old local photos decorate the walls, but surprisingly, there’s little football-related paraphernalia despite the venue’s close association with the club. There’s also a large area of picnic bench seating out front, and the venue is child-friendly. There was no cask ale available; keg Doom Bar was the nearest alternative, priced at £5.10 for non-members and as woeful as you're imagining it to be. Service was slow and uncertain, with long wait times, staff unclear about the rules around taking drinks into the ground (you can't), and yet despite this, everything was served in plastic cups anyway. This is a fairly functional venue for football fans that offers little appeal otherwise. Even as a match-goer, I didn't really enjoy my time here, finding it over-run with kids, expensive by non-league football club standards and devoid of any decent beer. I might give it another try if I came to another fixture here - there's not much competition hereabouts - but it's by no means worth the long trek out of town for. Date of visit: 4th January 2025

Situated next to the Havant and Waterlooville stadium is The Westleigh. No real ale here just lager. OK for a pre match visit.

Official site of The Westleigh - www.havantandwaterloovillefc.co.uk

Official site of The Westleigh - www.havantandwaterloovillefc.co.uk

The refurbished clubhouse of Havant & Waterlooville FC now functions as a fully fledged pub rather than just a place for a quick half time bevvy. All the pre-requisites you would expect of what is still essentially a football ground bar are housed within with live footy obviously to the fore. A programme of regular live music and karaoke might not be to everyone's taste and it certainly isn't a place that non-locals will seek out but there are a couple of ales on the bar (Old Speckled Hen and Fullers Front Row on my visit) and I've been in a lot worse.