As a thirsty tourist in Salisbury you will be faced with a large number of pubs eager to have your trade. Most of these are quite sound so it’s hard to make a really bad choice, but there are a few that are particularly reliable.
Having been here for two years and having visited most of the local establishments (purely for research purposes!) I can make a few recommendations. The following ratings are entirely subjective, but include things I consider important in a pub: mainly ambience, beer selection and food.
As the Americans would say, Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): My top choices for Salisbury pubs are The Cloisters, The Avon Brewery, The Rai d’Or, and The Old Mill (which is actually in Harnham rather than Salisbury)
First, a word about food. The challenges faced by the pub industry (see sidebar below) have created a situation where many pubs have become restaurants in order to survive. This is not a bad thing – many of the pubs I visited on my first trip to Britain in the early 80s were proud to offer a full menu of crisps, ghastly packaged Scotch Eggs and peanuts. So the fact that in most pubs you can now buy something decent to eat is not a bad thing.
However my particular prejudice is that pubs should serve pub food. The “gastro pub” (soi-disant) can be an interesting place to eat but the better and more precious and “cheffy” the food is the less likely that you would want to drop in for a pint (even if they allow you to do so). If I want restaurant food I also want restaurant amenities – which as a minimum include table service by people who know about what’s on the menu and how to serve it, tablecloths and silverware, and most importantly a trained chef in the kitchen who makes the food rather than heating up prepared meals.
So… with one exception these pubs are rated on their ability to deliver the canon: good ales, a decent wine for my bride, and a menu that includes fish and chips, beef burgers, gammon steak with egg and chips, and Sunday roast.
Salisbury Pubs – The top four:
The Cloisters is my local. It offers the best pub food in town, judged on selection, reliable quality and value for money. To get better fish and chips in Salisbury you would have to go to a dedicated chippy, and these seem to be dying out (alas, the fine Yorkshire Fishery on Fisherton Street has just closed). Other top choices are the lamb shank, the beef burger and the rack of ribs. There are always three real ales on tap and they are well kept. Doom Bar is a fine pint and is always available, with a rotating selection of local ales making up the other two choices.
Most of all this is a well-managed pub. The publican, David Ashley, runs a tight ship and ensures that his staff members are welcoming and efficient. My only quibble is that I might wish for a fourth beer selection.
The Cloisters 83 Catherine St (at the corner of Catherine and New Streets)
The Avon Brewery would be my local if I lived south of the Market Square. It’s a nicely kept pub, and being the only one in Salisbury with Victorian decor it can be a pleasant change from the omnipresent wood beams and Tudor architecture. It also has a good beer garden which backs onto the Avon canal. On my last visit there were three Ringwood ales on tap plus Shipyard IPA and Revisionist. The food is very good, and the ambience is friendly and welcoming.
The Avon Brewery 75 Castle Street
The Rai d’Or has perhaps the most interesting selection of real ales. There are always four ales to be had and they represent the best of local and regional brewing. It is a cheery place that manages to hold onto a dedicated local clientele while remaining very welcoming to newcomers. The biggest attraction is the food. The menu is Thai and the quality is excellent. While in general I like to see pubs offer proper pub food, this is the exception that proves the rule. I highly recommend dinner at the Rai, with the proviso that it’s a small place so on a weekend night it would be wise to make a reservation.
The Rai D’Or 69 Brown Street (at the corner of Brown and Ivy Streets)
The Old Mill is not in Salisbury, but in the village of Harnham across the river. It can be reached by a public pathway that leads across the water meadows from the park beside the Lush House parking lot on Crane Bridge Road/Mill Street. The walk takes about 10 minutes, though count on more time to look at the sheep, admire the view of the cathedral as seen in Constable’s painting, and feed the ducks and swans. The pub is indeed an old mill, and old means low ceilings. All but the vertically challenged will need to watch their heads. It features a beer garden that is a very pleasant to be on a sunny day. The food is good and portions are large. The only down side is that it’s a Greene King pub, so the selection of ales is limited – generally the undrinkable IPA plus Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen.
I visited again on 11 October and the pub is apparently under new management. Guest ales are promised.
The Old Mill Town Path, West Harnham, Salisbury
Other good places:
The Wig and Quill. A friendly place that features a good selection of Wadsworth ales. It’s usually fairly quiet and low key, though they occasionally have live music. Nice garden at the back that can be warm even on a cool fall day. Cozy in winter when the fire is going.
The Wig and Quill 1 New Street, Salisbury
The New Inn. A Hall and Woodhouse pub, so expect a full range of quaffable Badger ales. It looks small but is actually a large warren of small rooms with a nice garden at the back. A popular place which can be crowded on a weekend night.
The New Inn New Street, Salisbury
The Queen’s Arms. Always has a good selection of real ales. The food is good, especially the giant sandwiches. We had bad luck with the fish and chips but that may have been an off day. The publican is slightly eccentric in a Basil Fawlty way but this just adds to the ambience.
The Sunday lunch has had some good reviews on TripAdvisor so I checked it our on 11 October. The medium size lunch was priced at six pounds and included roast beef, pork and lamb with gravy, roast potatoes, stuffing and yorkshire pudding. Also provided was a generous serving of four vegetables. The medium size lunch was quite large so I did not try the puddings, but the couple next to me seemed very pleased with theirs. All in all a very pleasant meal and very good value for money. There were four guest ales on tap: Flack’s Double Drop, Goff’s Merlin and White Knight, and Wadworth’s The Usual.
The Queen’s Arms 9 Ivy Street
The Haunch of Venison, though quite a decent establishment, suffers under the burden of being the only Salisbury pub mentioned in most tourist guide books. In fairness its interior wins the crown of most Olde English place in town, but really it’s just a small pub with an old, well-worn interior. And small it is, particularly since the upper floor was given over to a twee, not very interesting gastro-ish restaurant. There are about five seats in the snug, and seats for about 25-30 in the two rooms. These are often taken up by tourists clutching their Rick Steeves books and taking selfies. Back in the mists of time they kept a mummified human hand on the bar but the only sign of it now is a reproduction in the upstairs room. The ale selection generally consists of Courage Director’s Bitter (quite a fine pint) and a few local ales. I don’t want to slag the place – it’s a decent pub and well worth a visit, particularly in the off season. I just don’t see why it seems to loom so large in the minds of travel guide writers.
The Haunch of Venison 1 Minster Street
And some question marks:
The Ox Row is just not up to Fullers usual standard. In London you can count on a Fullers pub to get a decent meal and a good pint of London Pride or ESB. The Ox seems to have issues, or perhaps I have just been unlucky. When I have gone there the food service was rarely available, and the one time I could have ordered there was a funky sewage-like smell that put me off. Given the variety of good choices I am unlikely to try my luck again.
Deacon’s. I would like to like Deacon’s. It’s a proper drinking pub as opposed to a restaurant in disguise. I’m not sure if they sell any food but if so it would be a bit of a sideshow. Unlike many pubs in Salisbury it has a dedicated local clientele and it’s also a favourite of the real ale gang. The furnishings are comfortable and well lived-in, bordering on shabby. But for all that I don’t find it a welcoming place. I have visited several times and every time I felt like an intruder at a private party. If it were just a simple local pub I could understand that, but I don’t get why some people consider it a drinker’s mecca. For my money it would be worth a visit only if you arrive at the nearby railway station with a powerful thirst.
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The Pub Industry
The twenty-first Century has not been kind to the pub industry. The twin perils of anti-smoking legislation and the crackdown on drunk driving have, for many people, made a visit to the pub an occasional outing rather than a daily or weekly event. At the same time publicans are faced with very high overhead costs. Landlords are greedy and the breweries are keen to extract every possible shilling from their own tied pubs. To add insult to injury the tax structure and aggressive pricing by grocery chains mean that landlords often pay more for beer at wholesale than the public pays at retail.
According to the latest figures from CAMRA, Britain is losing 31 pubs a week. In fairness some of these are poorly run or located in areas where there is no long-term prospect of success. The roadside pubs built to cater to motorists, for example, have largely succumbed to the sensible notion that we shouldn’t operate motor vehicles after downing a few pints. However even well-run, well-located pubs are struggling. So Britons (and visitors): Use them or lose them!
