The Fox & Hounds, Heath End, Tadley

Pub SignMan left this review about The Fox & Hounds

This is a popular local's pub on the main road to Basingstoke, with a bit of a faceless, corporate interior thanks to Greene King's design team. You enter via the car park before passing through the main entrance which takes you into the bar area, with the servery running in an L-shape opposite. It's a tile floored room with bare boarded spaces to either side offering ample seating options. To the left of the entrance is a nice lounge space with button backed sofas and a small fireplace on the end wall. Another such fireplace can be found to the right, with high tables and stools opposite and a chequered upholstery banquette further back. The room narrows past the bar before emerging into a rear, public bar space with basic seating options and a dartboard in one corner. Moving on again, you reach a covered rear garden, which has a huge TV screen for live sport coverage, with many more smaller screens throughout the rest of the pub, all in action on this visit, including at least one with the sound turned up. The decor is a little dull, as tends to be the case with this sort of Greene King pub, although lots of fancy wallpaper styles liven things up a bit.
Not too much to get excited about on the ale front, with just Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale on handpull. The staff were nice and friendly though and there was a good buzz from a sizeable band of locals on a Saturday afternoon.
I only popped in here because I had a long wait for my next bus, and had very low expectations for what looked like a bland, corporate venue. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find a lively, well used local's pub with a welcoming feel and a couple of cask options, which meant I quite enjoyed my time here, rather than it just being somewhere to kill a bit of time.

Date of visit - 17th February 2024

On 30^th June 2024 - rating: 6
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