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The Ship & Castle, East Cowes
East Cowes
PO32 6RB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Ship & Castle
After a swift visit to the Cowes Ale House on the other side of the river and a journey across the river on the chain ferry, we completed our day trip to the Isle of Wight with a return visit to the Ship & Castle.
With the White Hart now demolished, this is the only pub in the vicinity of the Red Funnel ferry terminal.
It is a single room and extremely basic corner pub with a fairly friendly welcome. There was a barmaid and a local in and they were eager to engage in conversation. They asked me which pubs we'd been to. We said that this was our 10th, but the barmaid proudly exclaimed that they were number 6 on the island, a fact I instantly recognised as being correct, as the local CAMRA group had rated them as 6th best pub.
In terms of real ale selection, the pub certainly deserves that honour, with 3 well-kept ales on. On this visit, these were Portobello Decca Supreme Session Ale, Titanic Plum Porter & Rudgate Ruby Mild.
The bare boarded bar has very little furniture and seating is at a premium. Toilets at the rear along a corridor are equally basic. Music was playing and there was a small fish tank on the side of the bar.
Definitely worthy of a brief stop before or after a ferry crossing.
On 7th May 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Ship & Castle
A nice little locals' corner pub, the only survivor in the area near the ferry terminal. Just the one room, with signs of an earlier divider, with odd furniture and too many fairy lights, but otherwise quite splendid. The range of pump clips on the wall behind the bar is a giveaway that this is a good pub for beer, and the Halland Only With Love oatmeal stout did not disappoint; the other ale on was Butcombe Haka.
On 23rd February 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Ship & Castle
How funny - 7 years after the last review for this place and I enter with some trepidation (it is one of the smallest pubs I've seen and we are in a global pandemic).
Guess who is the first person I see in a full bar?
Only the bloke that looks like the Sea Captain from the Simpsons.
Three real ales on in this Good Beer Guide 2021 entry - and I can never ignore a Fullers ESB - even if something more LocALE was available.
Small outside area.
Proper drinkers pub. The direct opposite of the other GBG Entry in town - the Lifeboat.
On 6th July 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Ship & Castle
A basic back-street boozer, a marked contrast to the yachtie pubs in the area, although it does retain a nautical theme - a working pub, though, not a comfy cruising bar. The landlady is an experienced sailor and has a tale to tell of her own Atlantic adventures. There was only one other customer in, a sailing type who reminded us of The Simpsons's Sea Captain. Other occupants included a small, mad dog, a caged budgie and goldfish in a tank on the bar. The overall feel is of someone's grannie's back room with rising damp, but it's homely. The walls support a flat screen tv and nautical pictures. The only ale on was GK IPA which was OK, good for a quiet pint or three. Happy to pop in when passing.
On 24th May 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3285 recommendations about 3250 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about The Ship & Castle
A narrow corner pub in white render and black paintwork. In the GBG 2010
The interior is of course, one long narrow room, with quite a small bar area accessed more easily at the side entrance. The is lots of ship and other naval ephemera and pictures on the walls. There was Sky TV and a dart board. The decor is in keeping with the exterior, white and black wood panel. The service was fine and the clientele a good mix.
Beer; tap stuff with a good choice of the more uncommon handpull beers for the Isle - Hopback Summer lightning, Hampshire Brewery's Tumbledown and a pretty decent Vale Brewery's Golden Eagle.
A smashing little place, worth more time than the swift ale i could manage
On 15th April 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]