I did the Butser Hill Challenge in 2017 with my niece's partner, Martin, and we had lunch afterwards in the Wetherspoon in Petersfield. I thought that the town looked interesting, so a few weeks later stopped for a little pub crawl after dropping off the girls at Gatwick airport.
I visited the Red Lion (Wetherspoon), The Townhouse (modern), Charles St. Tap (craft bar), The Old Drum (gastro), and Square Brewers (Fullers). The Fullers pub was the most traditional, while the Wetherspoon offered the best value, but was also the most popular so there was a long queue at the bar. Fullers competes well with Wetherspoon, offering good value food and a good number of cask beers (five), though Wetherspoon has a greater range of breweries and brands to choose from.
Red Lion, Wetherspoon
Red Lion, Wetherspoon |
Beer selection and sample tray |
The whole building is Grade II listed, from the small attached building, known as The Tap, in Heath Road, which is the oldest part, and is the original pub, through the corner location main building, to the more recent (early 1800s) and larger building by the car park, which has the upper floor bay window.
The Luker brewery and Petersfield's almshouse on the site of the Red Lion's car park. |
This and the Square Brewery pub are possibly the two best pubs in Petersfield. I think I like the Square Brewery slightly more. It's interesting that both have historic associations with Petersfield's long gone breweries.
* WhatPub
* Wetherspoons
* Trip Advisor
* BITE
The Townhouse
Townhouse ambiance |
Townhouse beer selection |
* Website
* WhatPub
* Trip Advisor
Charles Street Tap
Charles Street Tap |
This craft beer bar and kitchen looks and sounds promising, but they present difficulties with their beer dispense system, as the taps are behind the counter, which makes it really hard to see what's on offer. They have a list but that is on a wall behind the bar, and is also small, so I had to stand in front of it to read it. And when I did I was disappointed at how few beers were really "craft". Most beers were simply keg beers from the big breweries, with some beers from smaller traditional breweries who would not think of themselves as being part of the modern American style craft beer movement which is about using off the shelf lab yeast, and filtering and force carbonating for stability. Flack Manor beers were on offer, and while they are small and young, they are a proper traditional brewery.
The Tap range |
* WhatPub
* Website
* Trip Advisor
The Old Drum
The Old Drum |
Ambiance in the Old Drum |
The bar area is clean and attractive, and this is the place you'd bring your partner for a drink or meal, but you wouldn't come here with your mates for an evening session.
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* Trip Advisor
* Pub website
Plaque on the Old Drum |
Oh well, we shouldn't let truth get in the way of a good plaque. Curious, I looked up H. G. Wells. He never lived in Petersfield. His mother was a house maid at a country house 10 miles away, and he went to stay with her briefly when he was 13. He was later a student then a teacher at Midhurst School, about 20 miles away, and then didn't return to the area for the rest of his life, living and writing mainly in London.
I see no scholarly account that puts Wells in that pub (or even the town - though Wells mentions Petersfield Station in his own writings in his account of when his mother was dishonourably discharged from her duties in the country house, and caught the train there), but I see the story that he "regularly dined and wrote" there all over the place - people simply copying the story without bothering to check the facts.
My most likely explanation is that his father (who lived and worked in the area as a gardener long before H. G. was born) might have done some gardening for the pub, and the story got tangled over time. The closest pub connection I can find in the area is that while he was a student teacher at Midhurst School, he lodged next door to the Angel Inn in Midhurst.
Square Brewery
Square Brewery, a Fullers pub |
Five pumps (only four showing) |
Ambiance in the Square Brewery |
* Pub website
* WhatPub
* Trip Advisor
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