The Dancing Man, Southampton

Official site of The Dancing Man - www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk

Official site of The Dancing Man - www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk

Quite splendid transformation of an ancient building, with an excellent range of ales and keg/bottled craft beers from the central bar, which also houses the brewing kit. Thoroughly recommended.

Now this is an interesting place,a modern pub/restaurant on two levels by way of a gentle spiral staircase, housed in an authentic very old building,the stone walls and barnacled dark timbers make quite a feature, its also home to Dancing Man brewery and their beers can be found amongst the eight handpumps in the downstairs bar.My pint of Dancing Man Congo Driftwood was spot on, its a top place and a must visit.

Built in 1415 as a storehouse for wool,this grade 1 listed building is one of Southampton's oldest buildings and over the centuries has been a warehouse,prison and up till 2011 a maritime museum.The building was given a new lease of life when it opened in February 2015 and is now a modern styled pub and restaurant and home to the Dancing Man Brewery that has come a long way since it opened up in a disused kitchen of the nearby Platform Tavern pub. The building has an excellent restoration which includes an impressive curved staircase which leads to the upper floor restaurant(4 casks available)On entry you notice quite a few oddments and other miscellany plus a tourist information centre and proceeding forward up a few steps the bar faces you with around 8 handpulls the majority from there own brewery which included Pilgrims pale ale,Congo driftwood ( a mango and papaya pale ale)Fiddlers Jig bitter,Big Casino IPA and The Last Waltz which was a black IPA at 5.3% The pub is situated at Town Quay and is only about 200 yards from the Isle Of Wight Ferry.Without There is also a brew school where you can learn the art of brewing which starts at 6am and is 75pounds per person with a maximum of 3 and includes a buffet lunch and a couple of pints at the end The pub is open Sunday till Wednesday 12-11 and Thursday till Saturday 12-12. Definitely worth a visit