Our first venture offshore (unless you’re living on Wight), and a county that gave me great joy to complete on 2022.
I’m not saying the pubs are rubbish, there’s a fair few unpretentious boozer straight from the South London/Kent playbook. And they get extra points for producing a lovely printed guide to the pubs in 2019, the Gutenburg printing press having finally reached East Cowes the year earlier.
No problem with Wight is some ropey beer quality, and the transport, both to get there,
and then bump around the island on Southern Vectis buses.
But it’s gorgeous in parts,
and these five pubs will give you a flavour for its (hidden) charms.
The sort of blokey boozer (run by women who take no nonsense) that make Portsmouth so great, I finished IoW here and couldn’t have wished a better finale.
Just lots of blokes talking nonsense and coming and going for a fag and the sound of pumps being pulled.
But what on earth could you possibly want from a pub ?
It’s possible I’ve put this one in for a laugh, and the Wight Gold was awful (so stick to Guinness),
but the Dairyman’s Daughter is a true destination pub, the sort that gentlefolk who go to the Thursford Christmas “Spectacular” would love.
A sea of tat, Bass mirrors and all, and a collection of fruit machines in the shed next door.
Don’t miss the bus or you’ll be stuck their forever.
Sometime the picture does ALL the work for you,
and the Castle is your chance to see ALL of Sandown’s retired Old Boys in one place at 11am. I sort of loved it.
And if you’re bored, you can watch to see if the knight in shining armour moves,
or ponder when and where you last saw a half pint glass like the one below.
I suppose I better give you one with interesting beer.
Newport (IOW) – Newport Ale House
Honestly, the Ale House is pretty good (so the Cowes one). Some proper bar stools, odd arm chairs, and one of those Mew, Langton & Co mirrors from an industrial estate on Wrexham.
OK, a bit wordless, but they take their drinking seriously in Newport (IoW, not Gwent).
Which brings us towards the Needles, and an unlikely favourite,
particularly with “EAT. DRINK. STAY” on the wall, but the Highdown was full of life, and had bargain cask.
Outisde Gents and Proper cake,
and people who looked like they were having fun.
Possibly because they never had to go on a Southern Vectis bus.
Right, over to you for a sixth. Shanklin, anyone ?
retiredmartin 
The photos of The Dairyman’s Daughter make it look a great place to visit. Shame the beer was poor on your visit.
The bar billiard table has gone now, apparently.
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I included it because it’s a great little visit to a place you might actually want to go, and I may have been unlucky with the beer (it’s been in the GBG) and many people don’t drink cask anyway. Cask on the Isle of Wight has never been its strong point, even in the good pubs. No idea if that’s cellarmanship, turnover, or the ferry crossing !
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Ah, the days, when people would go to a Banks’s’s pub and buy a packet of Will’s’s…
“Whiffs” were a popular one I recall. Don’t think they’d sell so well these days.
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Had a couple of widely-spaced holidays in the IoW, but didn’t go in any of the ones you mentioned. The best I found were Yelf’s Hotel in Ryde (although WhatPub suggests it no longer has Bass), the Castle in Newport and the White Horse at Whitwell.
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I like the little conglomeration table in your sixteenth – I think – picture Martin.
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That pub sign reminds me of cow pox and makes me realise what the Jenners have done for us, Edward saving us from that nasty ailment and Miles now brewing the best of beers for us.
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Great comment Paul and got me wondering what other pairs of brothers have done for us.
The Corbyns…not really
The Wrights…OK
The Everleys… fair dos
The Barclays…🙄
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The Smiths; the Theaksons; and the Modschiedlers?
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Never liked mod, more a ska man myself (but never a skinhead).
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