We had an opportunity to catch up with some old friends – Ruth and Tim – who were visiting the UK from their home in Santa Barbara, California. They were to be staying in Southampton, a city that neither of us had visited before, so we headed down for a couple of nights.
Our base was the Premier Inn at Cumberland Place, which looked a convenient location for nightlife, but away from the quayside.
Our drive on Sunday afternoon was uneventful, and the car’s SatNav guided us to the Grosvenor Square can park, about fifty yards from our hotel.
Check in was automated, and our room – 424 – overlooked a nearby park. The room itself was serviceable, slightly scruffy and with an unpleasant odour in the bathroom.
I’d researched bars and restaurants, and spotted the London Road Brewhouse, just a few hundred yards from the Premier Inn. It looked good from the outside and first impressions inside looked promising, but a review of the bar taps showed a range of national brands, with no evidence of the brewhouse’s brews. There was a bar upstairs, but when Ali asked a staff member, he simply said that we could go up if we wanted, not very welcoming, so we moved on.
Back to Carlton Place, which we’d walked through on the way to London Road, it’s a short, pedestrianised walkway between London Road and Bedford Place, which is itself home to a stretch of chicken, pizza, and kebab shops.
I’d spotted a Dancing Man Brewery logo at a bar called ‘Raven and Bine’, on Carlton Place, it was also on my research list, and we wandered in. There was an extensive range of Dancing Man brews on tap, so I asked the barman to recommend an IPA. He suggested that his colleague – Flossie – had more knowledge of the various brews and she suggested ‘Rings Around The Moon’, a ‘Luna IPA’. She also advised that, while the pub didn’t serve food, customers were welcome to bring in takeaway meals from nearby restaurants.
Flossie on the taps at Raven & Bine
We took the beers outside, where there was an extensive seating area, under cover.
The beers were delicious, and we settled in. We ordered some takeaways from ‘7bone’ – about fifty yards away – and I went to collect them.
Ali had a ‘(Buffalo Soldier) Dreadlock Rasta’ chicken burger, while I ordered a ‘Ginormous Raincoat’ beef burger. We shared a (huge) portion of ‘dirty fries’ and ‘frickles’ – deep fried pickles. All were delicious, if slightly guilty pleasures.
Buffalo Soldier Chicken Rasta and Dirty Fries
The beer garden filled up, as the pub hosts a Sunday evening quiz, we helped a nearby team – that included a ‘content creator’ who called himself ‘Southampton Eater’ – with a few quiz answers, before returning to the hotel.
It was only about eight PM, but we were blasted after a busy weekend, so I watched some of the highlights of the Italian Grand Prix before we both crashed out.
Next morning – Monday – we were, unsurprisingly, awake early, and decided to wander into town. We’d identified a couple of coffee bars and settled on ‘Artisan’, near Southampton’s Guildhall. Ali enjoyed sourdough and marmite, with a cup of tea, while I had a cinnamon doughnut with a black coffee.
From there we meandered through the city, pausing to sit and people-watch, we spotted many tourists from a cruise ship that was docked for the day.
We were headed in the direction of the docks, as we’d arranged to meet Ruth and Tim at the Maritimo Lounge. It had an extensive menu with several vegan options for Ruth.
En route we spotted the home of the Dancing Man brewery – ‘The Woolshed’ – which Tim had expressed an interest in visiting – and we stopped for a sneaky drink in ‘The Platform’, a traditional pub, dating back to 1863, with a Titanic connection. There are many places and memorials around Southampton with connections to Titanic.
We arrived at the Maritimo Lounge at two, as planned, Ruth and Tim had arrived a few moments before us. After greetings, we headed upstairs to a table overlooking a very chic collection of luxury boats.
We chatted over lunch – Ali had Nasi Goreng while I had Dan Dan Noodles – it had been four years since we’d last met up and there was much to catch up on.
Lunch with Ruth & Tim at the Maratimo Lounge
Later, we strolled back to The Woolshed, which was a delightful place, steeped in history and home to a vibrant brewery. Ali had the same as we’d had the previous night, while I ramped up the strength to try their ‘Clawhammer’ IPA. Tim tried a more traditional English bitter, and Ruth stuck to coffee, as she was driving.
Bar at the Dancing Man Brewery
After more chat, Ruth offered to drive us back to our hotel, so we piled into her rented Peugeot, headed back to the Premier Inn and said our farewells.
Later in the evening we headed back out along London Road to ‘Mexigo’, as its name suggests, a Mexican fast-food café. Ali enjoyed a bowl of Chilli, rice and salad, and I had a pulled pork burrito, all very tasty and filling.
We called into the nearby ‘Giddy Bridge’ Wetherspoons pub for a sneaky (and very affordable at just £2.55) pint of Jaipur then headed back to the hotel where we both crashed out; it had been a long and full day.
Next morning, Tuesday, it was raining, the first real rain we’d seen for about six weeks. We obviously weren’t going to be sightseeing, so packed our bags, checked out, loaded our bags in the car and popped back to the ‘Giddy Bridge’ for a cheap ‘Spoons’ breakfast. We each had a breakfast muffin, Ali had a tea, me a black coffee and all for about six pounds fifty.
By then it was just after nine, so we headed homeward. I’d been in touch with Karen as we would be driving past their place, so we dropped in for a cuppa and a chat. They were both well, Karen had celebrated her sixtieth birthday a few days earlier and they were due to head off on holiday at the end of the week.
It was still raining throughout our journey home, but the traffic was reasonably light and we got home at around lunchtime.
A nice couple of days away, some good food, interesting beers and a catch up with old friends, what’s not to like?