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Image posted by Quinno _
Submitted on Friday, 31st August 2018
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Detail Pages
Winchester Gate, Salisbury
Salisbury
SP1 1JA
Served areas
Reviews of Winchester Gate (Average Rating: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Winchester Gate
Located on the fringes of the city centre, on the opposite side of the busy A36, this is an unusual pub and live music venue. You enter into a corridor with the main bar to the right, a separate seating area to the left and the venue and garden further towards the rear. The bar area is a fairly shallow but wide room that extends a long way to the right. The bar is along the rear wall and has a chequered tile floor around a modern tongue and groove counter with a simple bar back that incorporates what appears to be a former fireplace, now blocked off and with a small pump clip collection to one side. Hard bench and padded banquette seating runs around the rest of the room’s perimeter, with plenty of chairs in support. The room has low tongue and groove wall panels, with quite a dark colour scheme on the upper sections, which is offset by plenty of fairy lights and other muted light sources, helping to create a surprisingly warm feel. The walls are decorated with a series of brightly coloured, framed gig posters, plus a few scruffier flyers for upcoming shows at the pub. The side room was closed when I arrived shortly after opening, so I couldn’t explore properly. But a glimpse through the window suggested it offered quite a bit of additional table and chair seating. I was also unable to explore the garden or venue, but did catch sight of a large circus-style tent out the back which has been furnished to quite a high standard and acts as an outdoor venue and function room. A decent soundtrack was playing in the background throughout the course of my visit, and the bar staff were still busty with their Monday cleaning routine, which weirdly included drying the floor in the main bar by hand using what looked like kitchen roll!
Live music venues are never a great source of cask ale, but this place seems to buck the trend, with four operational handpulls dispensing Southbourne Headlander, Hattie Brown’s Sirius, and Yeovil Hop 242 and Stout Hearted, with three real ciders available from boxes stacked up on the bar back. My pint of the Stout Hearted felt like a Monday opening-time effort and was probably the most disappointing beer of the day.
I really wanted to like this place, as it seemed to have a lot of good things going for it, but I left feeling a little let-down, perhaps because of the dodgy pint, the inability to fully explore or the lack of any other customers. Bonus points for being a live music venue with an interesting ale range and for putting on a roster of interesting up and coming acts, but I’d want much better ale quality if I were to consider a return.
On 22nd February 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Winchester Gate
Called in while doing a trip round Salisbury area pubs and found a couple of Downton beers plus Sixpenny Cranbourne Chaser which we tried along with Cross Bay California Dreamin, both of which were good. Loved the beer garden at the rear.
On 12th May 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Winchester Gate
The outside has had another scrub since my last visit but not the interior which remains a fairly unappealing prospect (apparently there is a decent garden but I’ve never found it). Still, there were four ales on and my Hart Dark Maiden was very good. Also half a dozen ciders so I can see why it’s GBG but to be honest it doesn’t really appeal to me as a destination. Big on live music, if that’s your bag.
April 2012
Just the wrong side of the A36 ring road, we popped in after our usual stop-off at the Wyndham opposite. The exterior (two distinctly different buildings mashed together) had just had a fresh lick of paint and looked quite inviting. The interior was rather less impressive though. Two rooms, one of which was a scruffy games room with a dart board and pool. The lounge had a smattering of fairly friendly locals but also felt a quite tired décor-wise. Still there were three ales on and the one we had was in good nick (Goffs, if I remember rightly). If you like your beer this is worth the extra few minutes from the Wyndham but as a pub experience it doesn’t really stand out in any other way at present. Perhaps the freshly-painted exterior is a sign of greater things to come? Rated 6
On 1st April 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
View more reviews of Winchester Gate (12)
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- Official site of Winchester Gate - www.winchestergate.co.uk
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- CAMRA WhatPub :: Winchester Gate - whatpub.com
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Beer Festivals : Yes - Twice per year - last updated 01 August 2014 by ROB Camra
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- CAMRA Discount : Yes - 20p per pint, 10p per half - last updated 18 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Car Park : Yes last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Child Friendly : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Darts : Yes last updated 03 August 2014 by Malden man
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 28 April 2017 by Jonathan Wilde
- Function Room : Yes last updated 12 May 2019 by Gill Smith
- Hot Food : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Jukebox : Yes last updated 03 August 2014 by Malden man
- Karaoke : No last updated 22 February 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Live Music : Yes last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Micropub : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Pinball : No last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Pool Table : Yes last updated 21 November 2009 by hondo .
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Real Cider : Yes last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
- Wheelchair Access : No last updated 03 August 2014 by Malden man
- WiFi : Yes - The Cloud - last updated 02 September 2018 by Quinno _
