The Lion, Southampton

Me and my wife come here for a drink, we had a stressful day getting here. First impressions was that this was going to be one of those spit and sawdust pubs. I was wrong. Looked like it had been recently refurbished, everything had a fresh feel about it. Was drinking my pint, didn't taste good at all. The landlord came to me and took my pint and offered to change as the ale I had wasn't up to scratch. In all my time of going to pubs I've never had a landlord honest enough to tell me that. I was impressed! The ale that I had was Sharps Doom Bar and was better. He was telling me that he was having problems with the cellar-seemed a nice man. Everyone was friendly, including Morgan the Boxer dog, who came sitting beside us. Next time we are in this part of the world, I will definitely come back here again

Utterly sterile PubCo outlet, only one ale (Ringwood Best) on and in questionable condition. Almost deserted upon my visit, barman seemed a bit pissed off that I'd interrupted his viewing of Bargain Hunt or somesuch. I do wonder how places like this stay open.