Pub #1 - The Unexpected Review
The is nothing better than the great outdoors. Thats not quite what I found myself saying at 2:30am this morning as my two French bulldogs, Dexter and Wilson demanded I let them out of the tent into the freezing cold so that they could relieve themselves under the moonlight. Why were you in a tent I hear you cry!? As my wedding is merely 3 weeks away now, my best man and brother set up a jolly little jaunt to The Parish Lantern in White Parish (Technically not The New Forest I know!). This pub has all the facilities that you would expect from a pub PLUS a handy little campsite in it's back garden! There we would spend Saturday afternoon and evening, sampling the delights that the local breweries had to offer. Having been undecided on how I would rate all these pubs I thought a brainstorm would help the situation and funnily enough after 5 pints it all started to make sense! I will mark on 5 separate categories and each category will be worth 10 points meaning the perfect pub will be 50/50! The categories are as follows; 1. Atmosphere - Is it authentic to George Orwell's grand design? Wooden beams on the ceiling, cozy furniture, open fires (weather permitting), friendly locals? 2. Staff - This is a big one! Are the staff friendly and helpful? 3. Beer - This is a little tricky as everyone has different tastes but I'll be focusing on real ale and the range the pub offers 4. Food - Price Vs. Quality. 5. Facilities - Dog friendly?, Children friendly?, Pub Garden?, indoor games? So let's get onto Pub #1 THE PARISH LANTERN in White Parish. 1. Atmosphere - The pub was very traditional with wooden beams on the ceiling, typical pub carpet and dark wood furniture. The locals were friendly as I had to two hounds with me (they get more attention than I do). That was until Wilson decided to empty his bladder on the traditional pub carpet..... The Landlord quickly brought over some blue roll which was most helpful. There is a central fire which is quite a feature and on a cold night I can imagine being used to its maximum. I liked the atmosphere but to me something was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it. For that I scored the Atmosphere - 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 6/10 2. Staff - Brilliant. Chatted away with us about the campsite behind that they run, were attentive when it came to ordering and even let us off despite the fact we arrived late after the final call was made for food (2pm FYI). Whilst sat at our table we also noticed that the landlord and landlady did the rounds with the locals and chatted away to them. The pub had a community feel and that goes a long way in this day and age. I've scored the staff 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺9/10. 3. Beer - The Parish Lantern clearly supports local breweries and how refreshing that is to see. The Hop Back brewery from Salisbury and Flack Manor from Romsey were represented also. I sampled 'Citra' from The Hop Back and 'Double Drop' from Flack Manor. Doom Bar also makes an appearance. This was a fair array of ales offered at a reasonable price. A round of 4 averaged out about £3.75 a pint. My score for the beer 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺7/10 4. Food - Well priced but disappointed that a burger wasn't available. The staple food for me in any pub is a burger and chips. I'm a burger critic in my spare time don't you know! Anyway, no burger, so ran with fish and chips for £9.95. Dad had the same and said "best fish I've had in years!". He had a point as it was good fish and the portions were fair too. No issues with the food at all. It was prompt, hot and tasted good but didn't blow me away. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 6/10 (Would have been higher but not for the burger) 5. Facilities - we had ample parking, a pub garden with children's jungle gym and two swings. Inside the pub it offered a pool table and the was a television screening the athletics in the background. The biggest and best addition for me is the 5 berth caravan/camper site out the back with electric and water available for £14/£16 a night. As this was a mini stag do for myself and the dads #dadstag it was absolutely ideal for us to stagger back to our camper and in a somewhat drunken mess. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺9/10 This gives The Parish Lantern 37/50 on the perfect pub chart. The Pilgrim Inn, in Marchwood was supposed to be pub #1 but my wife to be decided to have a hen do hangover #lighweight. Roll on this weekend were I will be attending the Seafood Festival in Lymington and will be reviewing a pub within close proximity to be revealed on Thursday. Until then! Rich BNB