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Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Swan, Winchester
Barton Stacey
Postal town: Winchester
SO21 3RL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Swan
This village pub was probably one of the better ones we visited on a Sunday trip to Hampshire. There is a front bar and a dining room to the rear. Sunday lunch was being served in both the bar and dining room on our visit, with a choice of pork, beef or lamb shank available. A pie night was being promoted for Thursdays, with pie, chips, peas and gravy for £13.50. In addition, a Beaujolais Nouveau evening was being advertised for November, along with a Christmas menu.
The front room has a large fireplace to the right as you enter. Off to the left were a TV and a separate large screen. There were military shields lining one of the beams.
At the bar, the regular cask ale Alfred's Saxon Bronze was double-clipped. The guest beer was Flack's Double Drop and there was a fourth unclipped handpull. St Austell Proper Job was available on keg. Ciders were Thatcher's Gold & Somersby Blackberry. Service was from a fairly dappy barmaid who rang a couple of pints through the till, when we were drinking halves. There was also a fairly friendly and chatty barman too.
A number of Halloween decorations were scattered around. Music was playing in the background and BT Guest wifi is available. A quiz night was also advertised for Thursdays, strangely the same night as pie night. Posters invited customers to feed their brains in time for the quiz! Dogs appear to be welcome. The pub dog is a westie. He was wandering around tables on our visit. There were signs up asking people not to let the dog out of the door, as he/she had no road sense!
A friendly enough place that is clearly popular for food.
On 22nd October 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
E TA left this review about The Swan
A village pub, slightly faux-rural, the sort of place that makes “Hampshire” an adjective. There is a small car park at the side, seating on benches with tables on a small lawn at the front and a larger terraced garden overlooking the pub from behind. Inside, the rooms have been opened out to form a single L-shaped bar with an extended long end used to form extra restaurant space. There are timber beams with bons mots inked on them, various military plaques hinting at the former Army camp in the village, and an ancient sideboard supporting a coffee machine. A small Jockanese terrier acts as a pub dog, while the human staff are pleasantly welcoming, although it initially took a while to get served as the barman appeared to be over-loaded. The atmosphere was calm, marred only by the dull 1970s muzak, while the TV and piano were both silent . The food is basic pub grub supplemented by more modern dishes – Polish road kill, wraps and weekly pie night. Four pumps on the bar, only one ale on which was Saxon Bronze from Alfred’s Brewery. The keg choices were Guinness, Fosters,Carlsberg, Hobgoblin IPA, Somerset Blackberry Cider, Thatcher’s Gold and Estrella. It’s worth deviating from the A303 to find for a reasonable lunch or drink, but I don’t somehow see it as a good local, possibly due to the restricted opening hours.
On 8th August 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3517 recommendations about 3481 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Swan
Set off the road in this sleepy village up a small embankment, the pub has an unexpectedly opened-out and modern feel to it – mint green, undressed brick etc. A laid-back Sunday vibe on my visit though the friendly Scottish barmaid did a good line in customer chat and made-up for the otherwise quiet ambience pre Euro 2020 final. A number of pumps but just the one ale on, Alfred’s Saxon Bronze (NBSS 3.5). The wee white pub dug was delight. A decent mid-market all-rounder that’s worth its GBG place.
On 22nd July 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]