The Mucky Duck, Winchester

Official site of The Mucky Duck - www.muckyduckwinchester.co.uk

Official site of The Mucky Duck - www.muckyduckwinchester.co.uk

The White Swan has undergone a makeover and had an official name change to the Mucky Duck. This appears to come from the fact that the pub in its more salubrious days was referred to as ‘the Mucky’ by its local clientele. I believe the running of this place has been taken over by the same people who run the Corner House, the Green Man and the St James Tavern. And the common theme with all these four is a director of the company, one interior designer Jane Gillin, who is responsible for the interior makeovers of these four Winchester pubs. I visited the Green Man during my stay in Winchester and have to say it wasn’t my cup of tea, but will say what has been done to the old White Swan is interesting, when you consider that it is now aligned to be a sports pub showing live sport. It doesn’t start well as you approach. The building is virtually unchanged from the outside , still being white and green. But the first indication is that the former ‘GK Good Food’ sign has been replaced by one saying “A "Sporting" Bar for Discerning Gentlemen and their Good Ladies! Splendid Tucker, Spiffing Ales, Quaffable Wines, All in all... a jolly good show actually!” which frankly sounds like a load of pretentious old nonsense. But when you go inside then you get what they are on about. And I say this next bit as a statement of fact and not a sexist comment, but if you asked any woman to design a sports pub she would like to frequent, then you would get something not dissimilar to the new interior of the Mucky Duck. Very clean and comfortable space, a pastel duck egg blue colour scheme with lots of nice decorative touches, a pristine wooden floor, lots of comfy leather chairs, sofas and chesterfields with the odd giant chesterfield. A bar area which has equal if more focus on the racks of wine bottles behind it rather than the beer pumps on it. And then finally four high resolution screens dotted about that somehow blend in to the décor rather than dominate it. And that leads us back to the opening sign on the wall and to the new pub sign of a rugby playing duck, indicating that in a sports viewer perspective the target audience are those that frequent Twickenham rather than the premiership terraces. However, for Ale drinking non sports fans, then you will probably walk past, because one thing that hasn’t changed is that it is still a GK house and Old Speckled Hen, Old Golden Hen, Morlands Original and Belhaven 80 shillings was available on the four ale pumps on the bar when we took a lunchtime look. However it seems to be working for the younger clientele of Winchester as the place was rammed with a very mixed male and female crowd late on the Saturday evening when we walked past again on the way back to our digs