please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Lovely pub, but they charge for tap water (£1.50 for 1/2 pt). We were drinking beer and had a meal so tap water should be free. Disgraceful.
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Excellent range of Flowerpots beers all superbly kept; hardly surprising as the brewery is across the car park. Prices are very reasonable; where else in Hampshire can you get a great bitter for £3 in a convivial and relaxed setting.
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Beware you are about to receive a visit from MillHouse of this parish.
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Stirling 1234, whilst I don't necessarily disagree with any of your comments, they would hold more weight if you had passed comment on any other pub in the world. You say you have been in to many of them, but not bothered ever to pass comment on this web site? Strange.
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Just about the best pub in the world and I should know; I've been to most of it. A proper old country boozer. Full marks for no kids inside. Full marks for own-brewed beer direct from the barrel with no horrible frothy nozzles. (If I wanted a creamy head over a (consequently) flattened drink I'd buy a cappuccino). Full marks for sensible menu. Full marks for great range of ales and for the regular "field trials" brews. Great beer festival on August Bank Holiday with camping facilities for those with more sense than to drive home. I'm so glad the people who said they'd never go there again won't be going there again. Perhaps they should go to a MacDonalds or a theme park or a plastic kitsch grockle trap beverage outlet in some la-la land deseynah-world run by a twennie-something-years-old mannidgah with the master key to the electronic till and who has to get home to his or her home in the next town after calling time. I don't want to see them or their womb product wrecking a relaxing an convivial atmosphere. No one arm bandits, juke boxes or other trashy seaside junk. This is a real pub run by real people with real interest in their own business and a genuine pride in their own produce. It shows.
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Decent village local that doesn't give in to the urge to provide 'distractions'. Has it's own ale which went down quite well and staff coped well during a very busy period.
Some people weren't happy having to wait for food - should have gone to McDonalds then.
anonymous - 25 Jul 2013 18:02 |
Not that under 14 years are not allowed in the bar - okay in the summer - but in the winter is it outside in a marquee.
Dont mind about the policy but could have been delivered in a more friendly manor - checked out the HInton Arms - what a difference in attitude
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Twice ? To wit ?
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Despite being a very regular user of this pub, I wasn't aware that it had a manager. It is run by its proprietors and their staff. Like all pubs, it has its good points and its weaknesses. After 44 years, the people who run it probably know what opening hours are appropriate for their pub. The other 'pub' that Trethias is so enthusiastic about may or may not be as wonderful as he likes to imagine, but I rather doubt that it would feel like a pub to me, no matter what the Good Beer Guide says. The GBG is very far from infallible, quite the opposite.
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So good you commented twice?
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Methinks "Trethias" needs either to lighten up or avoid places where his or her sense of entitlement is not met.
For those of us who are reasonably regular frequenters of this excellent pub, the quality of beer continues to be exceptional, the manager and staff friendly, and the absence of distractions in the bar such as phones, music, games machines and young children (permitting conversation or a quiet drink) is a further enticement.
It's a business, and a thriving one - and you can hardly describe the staff as lazy.
Trethias's review, however, is as ill-conceived as his or her earlier effusion. It's good to know when the pub is certain to be open, and the landlord will judge if these hours are correct for the locality and the prospective trade. With his or her vast insight, perhaps he or she should venture their own financial backing for a business model that seems to me and many other posters as totally unnecessary.
Hopefully it's a bit too complicated and therefore the rest of us can go on visiting,enjoying and keeping a great Hampshire pub up to the standard we appreciate.
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Methinks "Trethias" needs either to lighten up or avoid places where his or her sense of entitlement is not met.
For those of us who are reasonably regular frequenters of this excellent pub, the quality of beer continues to be exceptional, the manager and staff friendly, and the absence of distractions in the bar such as phones, music, games machines and young children (permitting conversation or a quiet drink) is a further enticement.
It's a business, and a thriving one - and you can hardly describe the staff as lazy.
Trethias's review, however, is as ill-conceived as his or her earlier effusion. It's good to know when the pub is certain to be open, and the landlord will judge if these hours are correct for the locality and the prospective trade. With his or her vast insight, perhaps he or she should venture their own financial backing for a business model that seems to me and many other posters as totally unnecessary.
Hopefully it's a bit too complicated and therefore the rest of us can go on visiting,enjoying and keeping a great Hampshire pub up to the standard we appreciate.
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Hiding behind the adjective "traditional" is a bit of a smoke screen. Similarly "country" raises an impression which belies what is really going on. Traditional pubs don�t have children in them according to some grumps. Not so, says I. Hogarth's gin lane appeared to welcome inebriates of all ages and depicted traditional inner London scenes. The country is not, as some suggest, a sleepy backwater in which the natural order of things means closure in the afternoon. The pubs closed, at first, in the afternoons so the munitions workers would get on with bomb making. If folks suggest that traditional pubs bar children and people of all ages for random reasons at random times of the day, think up something more original than "tradition" or "the country" whilst you blithely excuse these lazy and ill-conceived business practices. Well run pubs allow families, even grumpy ones, through their doors all day long. Badly run ones don't and are closing, sometimes forever. Not all pubs will be saved like the Bugle, Twyford, which is a shining example of how a pub welcomes all regardless of age and drinking and eating habits.
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Went in here, finally, after hearing so much about it from others. Tied it in with a walk around Cheriton so we were pretty thirsty when we got here. Pretty simplistic layout with two bars to the left and right as you go in through the main door. Beer gravity fed from the barrels as it should be. There must have been seven barrels behind the bar, but only three ales being served (my only gripe). They were Flower Pots Bitter, Palmers Pale Ale and Goddards Gold. As well as this there were two ciders in the shape of Thatchers Gold, and Old Rosie. We plumped for the Goddards Gold and at �2.70 a pint we wished we had got there earlier to sample a few more. Being a traditional country pub it closed at 2.30 p.m. and didn't reopen till 6 p.m. Attached to the pub is the Flower Pots micro brewery where we picked up a leaflet about various sizes of containers of ale that you can take away. Already we are talking about putting in an order for Christmas! Will come again when we have more time on our hands.
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Back again for one of our too infrequent visits. Only just made it before lunchtime closing after a slight problem with map reading meant a major detour!! The beer was still fantastic and the ploughmans was delicious. We had to sit in the sunshine for a while before we could get going again. Can we afford a house in Cheriton???
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Actually used the accommodation last weekend when me and my mate were blown out by the Woolpack at Totford who had booked us a double instead of a twin and had no alternative rooms. It happens, but they also did it last year too and that time I ended up in my own self-contained flat with no extra charge! Maybe we come across as a little too 'dandy' for them and they make the wrong assumptions?!
Anyway, the Pots' accomm is similarly-set aside from the pub, adjacent to the small yet perfectly-formed brewery. The room was spacious and no complaints. Shower worked. Brekkers was available in a number of forms, all capably despatched between 8 and 9AM by the industrious Jo. Lovely bacon and a Tardis of a tea-pot - managed 4 cups from it plus 1 with more hot water. Loose leaf to boot - can't recall the last time that happened!
Beers: no point saying anything much as everybody else including myself have already said it. Perridge Pale, Goodens Gold, Hoptons (hhmmm lovely!) and Pots on. Sampled in impeccable form from stillage, as was all other FP beer tried elsewhere (see Stottidge Stout).
Thanks for providing such a superb rescue package.
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Brilliant little pub! Brewery on site and well-stocked bar with own beers poured straight from the barrel. Only �2.50 a pint as well! This is a 'proper' pub, simple but delicious food at good value prices - the ploughmans was amazing, exactly how a traditional ploughmans should be - a big hunk of cheese, lovely crusty bread and no fuss. 10/10 if you're after friendly traditional pub, the way pubs were before all this gastropub nonsense!
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This is a top pub. There's a Beer Festival this weekend (26th to 28th August 2011) with a a cracking range of beers - and a Curry Marquee! On the Saturday night, top local band The Replays are in the main tent. Not to be missed.
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What a cracking boozer. proper ale drinkers pub with friendly knowledgable staff. tried all 4 ales on offer that day and all were excellent though I would have prefered it if a dark beer was on offer. but will try to return in the autumn to try those. The IPA was particularly good.
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The Pots remains excellent - the absence of all the "modern" trappings of the country gasto-pub experience which haunts Hampshire and most of the rest of the South, mobile phones, piped music and children indoors is coupled with good beer and simple food at prices which, while not cheap, reflect quality ingredients and are served enthusiastically.
To the posters below: firstly it's a country pub and trade is not necessarily huge in the afternoon. A village does not support the all-day boozing of those who hang around in Wetherspoons or All Bar Ones, nor should it. The landlord decided when to open and balances the costs of keeping the pub open (staff, electricity etc.) against the potential trade - and I wouldn't want to waste time hoping that a hyper-critical tourist passes by for a half pint and a sniffy inspection of the premises.
As for child-friendly, I remain of the view that a pub also needs to be adult-friendly. With the absence of modern distractions, plenty of outside seating and a large marquee outside, the fact that the Pots keeps the bars for adult drinkers is to be celebrated. If Trethias wants to find a family-friendly pub then there are plenty around.
This is an excellent, slightly quirky pub. I would have more patience with Trethias if he or she were capable of tolerance, but we don't need more identikit slightly sub-standard, extremely expensive chain country pubs. And I've never had a problem at either ten to twelve or ten to six with getting in! Shame we have the braying boat-shoe brigade to contend with, sometimes.
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The key factor in the character of the Flower Pots is surely that it still feels like a traditional pub, when very few do. When you go in, they don't ask 'will you be eating with us today?' There isn't a big screen and lads in footie gear watching the histrionics of the Premiership. They don't even wish you a nice day.
I would be more than happy to encounter some well behaved youngsters in the Pots. But the reality is that I'd be much more likely to encounter some badly behaved children rampaging all over the place while their parents leave them to it. There are dozens of pubs catering for that scenario. Let's keep the Pots different.
As for six o'clock opening: this is the country. If you want to drink at four thirty, you'll find plenty of places in the towns who'll be glad of your business.
Come on, Trethias, you can't have the Pots both the same as all the rest and different. I'll vote for different.
anonymous - 13 Jul 2011 23:49 |
Yes, I tend to agree with the poster who aired frustration at the opening at six business. In addition, to that how does a country pub serving food justify the nonsence of a no-children policy. Apparently, it is fine for children to sit outside but not in. Come on Flowerpots prove yourself to be part of the hospitality business. Send your management up to the Bugle in Twyford and observe how local beer drinkers, gastronomes and God forbid, children happily co-exist in a pub. Cast away the curmudgeonly crys of the old time nicotined stained, city boozer next to the bookies "We're not open yet" and "No children". Its nothing to do with the law, its just bad manners.
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Visited Yesterday and sat in the sun in the garden. Between us, tried Best, Perridge and Goodens Gold- all brilliant.
Bar staff were friendly and no problems with opening, despite us arriving at 11.30 and the offical time was 12, we were still served immediately. Sandwiches were good and other food looked delicious too.
Took home a couple of pints of Perridge for OH to enjoy later, I slept all the way home in a gentle beery fog!!! Great way to spend a bank holiday lunchtime.
I would suggest to the previous poster, who gave zero, that the happy people sitting waiting for the pub to open knew something he didnt!! I would have joined them and not missed a real treat!
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This is still one of my favourite pubs in Hampshire. Good honest food great beer and a lovely unspoilt interior. It is very individual, even a bit quirky. Wish it was my local even if I did have to wait until 6 for a pint.
To balance the big fat zero below, it gets a 10 from me.
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I don't think the pub is 'unable' to open before 6 pm. That is the time the landlord has chosen to open. It's his business, so his choice.
And for many British citizens, the further removed from the Continent we are, the better.
Your 'big zero' won't be a cause for much grief. Vive la difference!
anonymous - 12 Apr 2011 23:21 |
I drove quite a way to get to this place on the glorious sunny saturday, but it was shut. This reminded me of all the problems in this country with the social life revolving around a pub. Also astonishing were the happy faces on people sitting outside waiting for it to open!! I know the Brits love to queue but this is ridiculous farce. BEing unable to open until 6 is just plain madness. I will not return here- and although the beers sound great it doesn't sound worth the bother. Scores a big zero for not being open and being as far removed from the continent as ever. Nonsense.
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Beer straight from the barrel-Yum! and very reasonable indeed. Own brewery next door is ingenious and paths the way for real pubs to survive i say. Lovely goodens gold bitter and tried the stout which was very rich and mourish.
Top Pub.
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Excellent Real ales, served on gravity, brewed right next door and only �2.50 pint. Friendly service, but on this Saturday with a group of hikers, the food service was very slow even for basic (but good) menu items like large filled baps. Still, the delicious ales and the sunshine gave us no reason to be in a hurry.
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My first chance to sample the Pots ale in the place where it is brewed and it was simply delicious.
However the landlord was not welcoming, answering our queries about food service like he was telling us off, and then watching us in a disquieting way as we sat and chatted at a table opposite the bar.
Great beer, a strange atmosphere.
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Decent beers form the brewery next door but this place gets very busy. Have been unable to order food on a number of occasions because of demand, although what we saw coming from the kitchen did look very nice! Saying that, the staff aren't particularly friendly - the landlord in particular seems to wish there was no-one in his pub at all. Worth a visit just because you won't get the range of Flowerpots beer anywhere else.
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Splendid location but unfortantely no food was available late on a Sunday afternoon so we went to The Devils Dyke.
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I had a lovely day out yesterday, brewery visit to the Dark Star brewery in Sussex, lunch at The Royal Oak just up the road and finish off with a few at the Flower Pots beer festival. Good choice of ales as was the choice of food. As an infrequent visitor to the Flower Pots I've never had a problem with the staff, always been helpful & friendly and the ale is always top notch.
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Fantastic, unspoilt country local that has the added benefit of being a brewpub (and a good one at that) with pints starting at �2.40. I don't usually comment on other people's posts but I wonder if Hanrew has got the right pub - staff and landlady were charming and food was good hearty basic fare, home cooked and probably at the most reasonable prices I've seen anywhere in the south-east. �7.70 for a bowl of Lancashire hotpot, half a loaf and a big wedge of butter. Overpriced?? Think you better stay in in future.
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Service seems to be coming increasingly chaotis in this once excellent pub and a 45 min+ wait for food is now the norm. Will be going elsewhere for a while which is a shame because I really like the pub and especially the beer. I'll give it another go next year and, hopefully, they will have sorted out their problems.
Don't let this put you off if you've never been there as it's still worth a visit.
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The ale was very good, brewed on site, and the gardens to the front and rear are nice spaces. However, the owners were quite rude to customers and the atmosphere amongst their staff is tense which affects the overall atmosphere. Also the food is pricey for what it is.
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After visiting Southampton on Thursday morning I decided to try an alternative route to the M3. Only using the M3 as far as Winchester I turned off and found this gem of a pub. After parking the car I was immediately greeted by the unmistakeable aroma of ale brewing,the pub itself is laid back from the road with ample parking at the front.Entering the Flowerpots I was struck by the polished wooden interior, the walls are festooned with awards for the pub, the ales etc.I tried the perridge als first which was a straw coloured 3.6% gravity ale with an unbelievablly overpowering fruity taste, absolute nectar! The pub has FREE containers for two and four pint takeaways,it would be almost rude not to use one.Sadly the flowerpots ale was at the end of the barrel.The food was of an extremely high standard and value at about ten pounds a throw.
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Great pub on a return visit from the 80s. The Perridge Pale was very good in particular although Flowerpots and Coodens were in good order too. Plenty of seating outside for the good weather and campsite through car park (not sure if connected to the pub). They do takeouts, which is useful as the beer is very tempting especially if you have driven there.
Minor criticism - if you are not local you might wait to be served!
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Agree with all the other comments a perfect pub with no bad points well worth the visit if your in and around the area
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Spent the weekend at the Pubs B&B and loved every minute .Great staff Great beer & food in a lovely village>
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Still excellent with reasonably-priced beer. The Cheriton Porter was sublime. Food good but a bit pricey.
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Good real Ale and an inviting pub, prices a bit high for food, but its an affluent commuter village so thats to be expected. Worst 'authentic' Indian curry I have ever had - garbage! Local 'click' very evident on the evening we visited - I can understand why its popular with vistors though as the pub has a an old world charm.
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Great beer at a less than average price, this genuine pub has a most friendly and helpful staff. I was served food in a reasonable time but if the pub was full of customers it would probably have difficulty coping as even the soup is home made. A real log fire and a glass topped well in the public bar floor are added attractions. You'll just have to get here early if you want to be served food, pub closures puts a strain on the remainder, especially if they're up the standard of the Flowerpots. Recommended, I'll be back yet again!
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Excellent quality, superb value beer in a simply lovely pub.Foods pretty good as well.A must - visit.
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Don't often give a 10 but impressed with our brewery trip here and the friendly service in the pub afterwards. Prices very good at around the �2.30 mark. Idyllic setting with fields in the distance and roses climbing the walls at the front. This is where we had the idea to grow roses outside our pub in Pompey only for the scum to first pinch the trellis and then the roses. :( 10/10
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This is an idiosyncratic little pub in the chocolate-box Hampshire village of Cheriton, which serves as something of a brewery tap for the Flowerpots Brewery which is on the same site. It has an old fashioned two-bar arrangement and a pleasant little garden complete with a marquee which serves I presume as a smokers' shelter.
The Flowerpots beers were in pretty good form (Perridge Pale & Flowerpots Bitter sampled) and cheap for the area at around the �2.30 mark. This pub is clearly very popular with both locals and those passing but I feel I must draw something of a negative from the rather off-hand service - possibly a result of a busy Sunday lunchtime of trade. Still, I enjoyed my visit nonetheless.
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Back on form with a vengeance - sampled several of the beers which were superb. Slightly concerned that on a glorious Saturday the pub was not exactly heaving, but hopefully this will not last all summer.
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I think I'm going to have to move to Cheriton. Holidaying in the area for four days, we found ourselves there on three nights, and the own-brew beer was worth the 250 mile journey - especially at �2.30 for the bitter. Food was really good - strightforward, tasty and good value. Lovely setting and staff really friendly.
Should be in anyone's (sorry - everyone's) top ten.
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the 7.2 rating does not do this pub justice ............ should be higher.
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i fell in love with this place many years ago. i even had a barrel of pots ale on the bar at my wedding.
there's a fine line between charming eccentricity and frustrating incompetence and i'm afraid that line was crossed on saturday lunchtime. the wait at the bar at times was 10 - 15 minutes. the wait for food was 50 minutes. food is advertised as sold until 2pm but customers were being turned away at 1:50pm because the kitchen was over-stretched. some of them had been walking in the area and were relying on the food before starting their return journey.
the beer and food are both wonderful and, when the staff are able to cope, the pub is charming and interesting. however, if you are unlucky and hit peak time you may leave disappointed and frustrated.
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Glowing review in last Saturdays Telegraph.They sell some nice beer apparently including Four Candles and Bitter all own -brew ales.
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Hmm. I turned up in a bus with some beer monsters and associated baglets(Bristol Ex Belfast RE with "Falls Road" on the front!!) and had a great welcome and great beer.
My companion spilled a pint and found no pomposity from the landlord,indeed it was replaced free of charge with a cheerful "Accidents happen". The Goodens and Pots Bitter were sampled and were impeccable. Alas the Elder ale wasn't on,I wanted to try that one after having "Village Elder" from the previous on site at many festivals over the years. In summary,a country mile ahead of the previously reviewed Triple FFF pub in Alton,in every respect.
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I'm genuinely surprised by some of the recent comments. After a relatively shakey period, the Pots is now back on tremendous form. The beer is tasting fantastic, the food remains wholesome and great value and the atmosphere and general hospitality remains first rate. Some of the staff - and regulars - might appear to be a little stand offish at first but in reality are a very friendly, interesting bunch. It's certainly not full of beer snobs or CAMRA types! Amongst country pubs in South Hampshire, it's up there with the Hawkley Inn, Hampshire Bowman and the Royal Oak at Fritham.
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I spent a disconcerting hour in here being stared at by the locals and having to endure the rather loud pontificating of the usual CAMRA beer snobs. What was once a great pub is now just a tourist attraction for the beer tickers. Living on the reputation of the brewery, (much deserved) this pub has given up trying and is in a slow decline. Try the Hinton Arms, at least they care about their customers.
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Have got to agree with Mr Reasonable below, we turned up in a coach yesterday and the look we got from people sat on the beches outside, had to check to make sure I hadn't grown a second head.
Apart from that a top notch pub, serving good real ales in an idyllic setting. Landlady even agreed to stay open an extra hour for us.Prices seemed reasonable and the elder beer the pots produces is wonderful.
Keep up the good work.
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Continuing its recovery from the hiatus over the brewery - the Flowerpots Best continues to improve. Still a favourite with people who have read about it in guides and who manage to be both noisy and patronising to more regular visitors. Food good and now predictably good rather than hit-and-miss.
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A great traditional pub that serves fantastic beer straight from casks behind the bar. The staff were friendly and welcoming and even got shown around the adjacent brewery, which was excellent.
The food was good and wholesome, huge baps! (ooh err) quite a busy lunchtime with locals and popular for lunch. We got there around 12.10 and it was nearly full by 12.40.
Highly recommended and surprised by the negative comments of some other reviewers, if you appreciate good beer then you must drink at this pub. We will certainly return soon for another lunch and a couple of pints of their excellent ales.
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i run a pub just 10 miles away and this is where i come for great pint of home brewed real ale
(mine is supberb too). a perfect family run country pub
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Really nice pub with great beer brewed across the yard.The Stottidge Stout was one of the finest ales I've ever tasted.The Hop Dog wasn't bad either.Well worth the trip.
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Still superb, excellent ales. Good food if you're in for that.
Mercifully free of children - long may it remain so.
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Yes the stout was excellent -think they have a new brewer.The young lady behind the bar was very friendly, but the older guy was a bit miserable and charges twice as much for soft drinks.
anonymous - 25 Nov 2007 13:34 |
Really lovely pub.On the last visit the beer was the best it's ever been. The Stottidge Stout was truly excellent and the Hop Dog was pretty good as well. Food was good , if a little pricey.Will certainly go back.
anonymous - 25 Nov 2007 13:31 |
Have spent many hours supping the superb ales on offer at this true village local. Staff always friendly, good food albeit with a limited menu. Have always found other customers very pleasant.
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Really really poor pub, very clique, would like to comment on food but always stop serving before they say so! We have tried this pub several times and always leave wound up! Avoid if you want a pleasant time
anonymous - 12 Jul 2007 11:22 |
The beer quality is still slightly erratic - but the food and atmosphere remain much as they always have been. Regarding the comment below about the "child-unfriendly" policies - there is a large secluded garden and marquee, and I for one consider one of the attractions of the traditional pub that it is one of the few adult environments left in our modern child-centric world.
anonymous - 24 Jun 2007 15:49 |
I come from Basingstoke to see my better half in Alresford & have no problems in doing the extra mileage down one of Hampshire's wiggliest roads to get a pint or two here.
If we want a nice drink in a beer garden or a warm cosy sofa in a little bar this is where we usually end up. Can't really fault this pub.
As for the changes that have happened here over the years I think the biggest change that I've seen is the bar has been scrubbed back to the wood & oiled!
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The Flowerpots Inn will always fall comfortably short of perfection for its bizarre policy of refusing to allow children entry. The place is perfectly hospitable if you ignore the treatment of children due to its association with local brewing and reasonable food. If it were a tired old man's drinking hole next to a betting shop in a run down part of Southampton filled with overflowing ashtrays and old soaks, it would make sense not to allow children. Since over eighteens are just as likely to misbehave as are under eighteens this moribund poicy, still adopted by some rural village pubs without good reason, should be consigned to the dustbin of outdated sensless social conventions.
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It was disheartening to say the least to hear of this pub's longstanding relationship with the Cheriton Brewhouse coming to an end earlier this year, and that in effect Pots Ale - one of my personal favourites (and I drink a lot of different ales!) - is no more, along with Cheriton's other excellent offerings.
However, it is encouraging to hear that the pub has set about re-starting a new brewery, and that its first fruits are equally worthy as their predecessors, and I hope to try them either at the Flowerpots or at a festival very soon.
As for the pub itself I understand that nothing has changed, and it retains a glorious country cottage feel that welcomes both locals and its many visitors, who may also make use of the unusual camping facilities at the rear.
It is certainly not a "Butlin's" type place, however: it is excellently-run, serving its well-kept beer from the cask, and superb food to boot. In Summer it is just idyllic to sit on the outdoor benches at the front and enjoy a drink, followed up with some Jude's ice cream...
This really is a classic country pub that seems to cover all aspects which the discerning and traditional pubgoer would value, and balances them to perfection. On the presumed understanding that the new beer is as highly-merited as before, I shall award it the full compliment of marks.
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The new - and rather fine - new brewery is very much up and running. Two new beers were on when I visited: Flowerpots Bitter (3.8%) and Gooden's Gold (4.7%). The Flowerpots Bitter is an instant CLASSIC. As is the pub and the excellent staff. 10/10.
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Apparently the brewery is now back up and running as "The Flowerpot Brewery".
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Very nice villagey pub which unfortuntely no longer brews its own beer. The doggy factor is a plus and also large apple trees to sit under outside.
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I believe that the brewery ceased production at the end of April 2006, what a shame!
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Excellent beer in a lovely pub. Food not bad either and they allow dogs.Well worth travelling 20 miles for but suggest you open all day.
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Not offended chf, I do enjoy good service in many many pubs, and my 'self confidence' has never been a factor if they fail to live up to expectations. That's what these sites are for, to vent ones spleen in public.
As for stevehar nothing 'sinister' intended, but you must have been lucky not to meet the noisy ones on your visits.
I hope you enjoy many more years drinking at the Flowerpots.
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When I wrote that despite living 13 miles away, I regard the Flower Pots as my local, I had no idea it would cause so much excitement. So let me explain myself.
I have been visiting the Pots casually, like many others in Hampshire and beyond, for about 10 years. During the first five of those years my main watering hole was a much nearer pub that had for many years been a Marston�s house. But when it became a Greene King house, I had to find a new �local�. After all, who wants to drink Greene King IPA?
So I started going to the Pots more often. As time passed, I became friendly with those who own and run the Flower Pots, and in February 2002 I had a whole-page freelance piece about the Flower Pots published in the Hampshire Chronicle.
During the last few years my wife and I have also developed a number of friends who drink in the Pots and live in or near Cheriton - people who are not so parochial that they cannot socialise with immigrants.
For me, the Flower Pots is as a pub should be. Fine beer, customers of all ages and social backgrounds, no music or gaming machines, and an agreeably old-fashioned atmosphere. No wonder I�m willing to make an extra effort to drink there.
I must have been lucky, because in none of my hundreds of visits have I encountered these over-loud nouveau riche who want to be lords of the manor.
So all I meant when I said I regarded it as my local is that it�s my first choice when I fancy a pint. Nothing sinister about it. Sorry, Bornanbred, to frustrate your obvious need for something to be angry about.
anonymous - 21 Apr 2006 21:52 |
Rural pub with limited opening hours, it closes in the afternoon even at the weekends. The food is reasonable but the highlight has to be the award winning beers which are brewed in the brewhouse across the car park and are gravity dispensed from cask behind the bar. An annual beer festival is held on the August bank holiday weekend when the pub is open all day serving the normal range of Cheriton beers whilst a marque outside serves a range of maybe twenty of the best beers from around the country and usually including the wining beers from the Great British Beer Festival held a few weeks previously. Curry and burger stands and live music in the evenings all add to the festival. Accomodation is available and there is a field behind the pub where you can camp. Next door is a bed and breakfast.
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No offence taken, Borninbred.
But I'm intrigued to learn that, thanks to your twenty years' experience in the trade, you are unquestionably right.
Whereas, the rest of us (the locals - of over twenty years service, the family who have run the pub for 38 years, the many who praise the 'Pots on this site, the cricket clubs who use it in the summer, the Morris dancers, the Ramblers, the vintage car clubs,the clubs and commitees, the Am Dram Society, the Good Pub Guide, the Good Beer Guide, a hundred other books and magazines who have rated this pub one the best in the county, the thousands who flock there once a year or a hundred times a year, not forgeting those who - shock horror - live 13 miles away and consider it their local) are utterly and irredeemably wrong.
Do you take this supreme self-confidence to every bar you visit? I wonder if this might possibly have something to do with how the staff treat you.
My apologies, as they say, if this offends.
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I am flattered that my review was discussed, thank you. Maybe being in the trade for twenty years has coloured my view of what is considered a decent pub, and maybe that is why I appear 'grumpy'in my reviews. More likely it is because so many pubs/inns get it wrong. I admire your tenacity for staying twenty years in one pub if it hasn't changed from what it is like now. I do accept that local farmers and rural inhabitants use this pub, but I surely do not have to remind you of the over loud nouveau riche and wannabe lords of the manor that also use this establishment. See man who lives 13 miles away considers it his local.
I certainly do not prefer big super pubs or corporate drinking holes, what I care about is service, well kept beer and a sense of realism from the clientelle. Since my last visit on the bank holiday I am afraid my previous views stand.
My apologies if this offends.
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We sat in the Flowerpots the other day, and Borninbred's 'review' was passed round. He seems to have been slightly confused - perhaps he'd had one half too many.
He suggests we, the clientelle, should 'stop playing at rural living' - bit difficult when most of my drinking companions are farmers, and all within a mile of the 'Pots.
"All in all a plastic version of a country inn produced by the village inhabitants who have 'bought' a pub." This seems even odder; I've been drinking here for twenty years, some of my companions for thirty years or longer - and in that time the 'Pots has stayed astonishingly unchanged. I can't believe that a pub that has stayed so untouched from all those years ago can be called a 'plastic country inn'!
He's right about "village inhabitants who have 'bought' the pub" - that's exacly what happened. But I can't believe he means it as a criticism. Does he really prefer remote big-business-owned theme pubs?
Mind you, Borninbred seems fairly grumpy about every pub he visits, so we in the 'Pots shouldn't take it too seriously. I suspect the time to worry is when he approves of us!
Stay as you are, Flowerpots, stay exactly as you are.
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A fairly average pub overall. Not "unwelcoming", but the staff do seem rather indifferent to your presence. Nice location and some good beer brewed onsite. Food is rather ordinary. Interesting glass cover over an old well in the middle of the bar. No credit cards, so take cash. A good place to start/finish a countryside walk, but there are other nicer pubs nearby. Can get very busy on weekend afternoons in the summer. Generally worth a visit, but nothing to write home about.
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We have always had excellent beer, served efficiently and friendly, by excellent staff here. It is a must on visits to Hampshire, and is all a pub should be - though sometimes rather too crowded. The lack of music is a delight.
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The Flower Pots is an absolutely authentic country pub, run by a family who have been there for 38 years. It has marvellous beer, brewed in the micro brewery across the yard and served straight from the cask. The food is prepared (not just heated) on the premises and is tasty and interesting. The pub has no restaurant pretensions but serves good wholesome bar meals. No table reservations, no fruit machines, no juke boxes or canned music, mobile phone calls frowned on. This is a pub. Its popularity is testament to its formula, if keeping a pub completely traditional can be called a formula.
At times, particularly summer weekends and bank holidays, it can be very busy and the wait for food can be long. Oh and they don't take plastic, so take cash with you, or your cheque book and card.
It's not got a children's licence, so you can't take your young family inside, but they can be in the garden or marquee, which has heaters on request.
The Flower Pots isn�t perfect � it hasn�t got a cat. But it's such a wonderful contrast to most modern pubs that it enjoys enormous popularity. I live 13 miles away, but as far as I�m concerned, it's my local.
anonymous - 15 Mar 2006 22:59 |
Clientelle are very much like that of the Wykeham in nearby Winchester. If they got out more and stopped playing at rural living they might appreciate a real pub. Food sparse,bland and over rated. Staff when in attendance (rare) are rude and/or ignorant, beer badly produced (best pint of the infamous 'pots' was had at the Black Boy).
All in all a plastic version of a country inn produced by the village inhabitants who have 'bought' a pub. Depressing.
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Great pub but why is it closed so bloody much
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Excellent pub, excellent beer, shame about the staff
daveL - 29 Aug 2005 12:45 |
Great location but limited menu (vegetarian option appears to be little more than a tin of curried beans, which at �6 is a bit much) and increasingly indifferent staff.
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A gem of a pub. The garden is great on a sunny day - lots of shade beneath the trees. The menu may be a bit limited but there should be something for everyone - and it tastes excellent. I had the Beef Bourgignone (spelling?) Hotpot and it was obviously home made - delicious.
The beer is also home made and is dispensed from barrels behind the bar. I've never had a bad pint here.
I did stay here in the bed and breakfast rooms once, but I wouldn't again. The rooms are not at all soundproofed and you can hear everything that goes on - and all the toilets flush noisily. That said, the breakfast was excellent.
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Great beer as long as you stick to Pots! Good live band on Sat night and great to be able to camp there overnight. Bar staff much friendlier than last time. Food okay if you like burgers or curry!
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This really is a great pub. The winning combination of a good selection of home brewed beers and good food is hard to beat. Situated in a delightful part of the world. We had delicious steak rolls sitting next to the fire, they were excellent, as was the beer. The interior of the pub is very pleasant, lots of nice old pictures and prints,certainly worth a visit.
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Excellent pub and home of the supremely good Pots ale, brewed on site. The curry night is rather good too. One to visit in the summer; sit out underneath the knarled tree in the pub garden. Lots of good memories from this place!
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The ultimate pub; good beer, good food (Curry night Wednesday)
Jack - 7 Jan 2005 22:35 |
