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Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Bookshop Alehouse, Bevois Valley, Southampton
Southampton
SO17 2ES
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
Quirky little community bookshop/micropub, friendly, good beer. Wooden floors and relaxing and alround nice place to visit. Short walk from St Denys railway station.
On 4th April 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
Another Southampton micropub and probably the pick of the bunch and still rivaling the Platform Tavern for the honour of best pub in Southampton in my opinion.
For a Saturday evening, it was surprisingly quiet. My previous visit here was a weekend lunchtime visit and it was full. This time, there were just a few people in, including the owner who takes a keen interest in his customers and is happy to recommend beers.
4 real ales are served here. On this visit, they were Elusive Level Up: Level 27 Citra Galaxy, Red Cat Mr M's Porter, Wild Weather Calleva & Mallinson's Centennial. Real ciders were Farmer Jim's Rhubarb Bob, Abrahall's Thundering Molly & West Milton Dorset Twilight. Craft beers were Elusive vs The Nags Head Sonar Biscuit, Thornbridge/Elusive Superuser & Unity Collusion.
Another friendly local establishment that will always be fairly high up on my list to visit in Southampton.
On 20th February 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
On approach, I actually thought that this was a bookshop, especially with the large writing on the window. The pub had a nice relaxed atmosphere on our Saturday afternoon visit, with a few people at the bar and a couple of chaps perusing through some of the books on the left hand side shelving. Four cask ales on handpump, so we went for the Elusive Brewing Pyramid of Doom, an unfined ale, which was ok, but didn't warrant a refill. I would have been better asking for a taster, before the barman filled out a pint. I thought the pub was a tad too pricey for a micro and our pint and a half cost £5.80 and the beer was only a 3.7%.
On 5th April 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
Aug 2016
A great little concept,I personally would call it a micro pub despite the presence of four Craft Keg taps on the bar alongside the four Handpumps,a small room with various seating options,any more than ten or twelve customers in here and it would become crowded but with my group of four and another five visitors at the time of my visit ,it remained comfortable. Two tall bookcases full of books covering a multitude of interest are for sale, most around the one or two pound mark. A good selection of ale was to be had,XT4,Dancing Cows Admiral and two from Vibrant Forest, Flying Saucer and a rather excellent Oat and Coffee Stout.
A great place, long may it last.
On 4th May 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
Opened in early 2016, this charming micro pub is a clever conversion of a bookshop, retaining a large amount of shelf space and plenty of books for customers to peruse and indeed purchase. The pub has a bare boarded interior with a ramp to one side allowing wheelchair access to the raised bar at the back of the room. The bar counter has been covered with all manner of stickers which are well worth a look at and the bar back has a pump clip lined window to one side and is decorated with military caps, a Chinese waving cat and a stack of Good Beer Guides. A large board in a nook to the left of the bar lists the full beer range and there is a collection of board games on a shelf next to it. Simple seating runs down the left hand side of the main, lower section of the pub under the aforementioned bookcases which seem to stock a pretty eclectic range of reading material. The positioning of the tables here means it's not that easy to nose through everything when the tables are occupied, but this is a minor quibble. On the opposite side of the room, a table has been laid out with local listings and event flyers and the music theme is enhanced by walls decorated with some wonderful old posters for various musicians and bands. There are a few bits of Southampton FC memorabilia on show and a couple of pleasant murals have been painted on the walls, including one depicting the house from The Simpsons opposite the bar.
There were four cask ales available on this visit - Dark Revolution Atomic, Dancing Cows Pony, Red Cat Tomcat and a beer called Oat Stout which I tried but failed to note the name of the brewer. This turned out to be an excellent drop of extremely flavoursome stout and I was tempted to stay for a second but forced myself to carry on with my crawl instead. There were four beers from Vibrant Forest available on keg dispense and four cider/perry options were on the go as well. The landlady here was very friendly as were the locals and we got chatting about the local pub scene and that afternoon's fixture at St Mary's among other things.
I thought this was a high quality example of a micro pub with an interesting spin in the form of the bookshop. The pub recently won the local CAMRA branch's pub of the year award and judging by my experience, this recognition is fully deserved. I really enjoyed my visit here and thought it was the sort of place I could easily settle down for a good session. The pub is in a part of town blessed with plenty of top quality ale houses and I would suggest that this is the pick of the lot.
On 4th May 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Bookshop Alehouse
A fairly recent conversion of a bookshop into a small pub which would most likely qualify officially as a micropub if it didn't do a couple of kegs and ciders. The listed frontage indicates it will continue to look like a functioning bookshop, hopefully this will not be disadvantageous to business. Inside shelves of old volumes remain and break up the room, the bar is at the back, orange coloured and full of stickers and transfers. Lots of music and gig flyers about. Small round tables with rather quaint creaky and rickety chairs, ale casks stacked by the entrance give another pint perching option. Friendly and clearly passionate about the project, I had I good chat with the landlord and landlady.
Four on cask, Red Cat Gyle 120, Hammerpot Red Hunter, Sothwyk Skew and Island Brewery Nipper plus ciders from Orchard, Pig Hogfather and Whitehead's Newton's Discovery. Kegs from Marble, Damage Plan plus Hop Stuff Pale Ale. Loads of pump clips around the back window. They don't do food but they allow takeaways and have a list of recommended outlets of various types, cutlery and plates provided.
An excellent spot with cared for ales, a newish venture, I wish them all the best.
On 21st April 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]