The Ship Inn - Winchester

I have had the pleasure of enjoying a leisurely lunch here with friends and our children and also an evening with my husband. The meals on both occasions have been outstanding. The garden is beautiful and great for our children to run around in which allows us to relax and enjoy our food. The varied menu with the items from the kitchen garden is a lovely touch. The last time we visited they were understaffed and had a large wedding party ordering drinks but they still managed to provide a high level of service. We have spoken to the chef and his sous chef on both occasions and they are thoroughly nice people who enjoy their jobs. This is reflected in the food. We are heading there again soon for a Sunday Roast and cannot wait!

A 5 minute drive from where we were staying and signposted from the main road this charming, traditional establishment is a little off the beaten track but is well worth a visit, a small but good selection of beers and a good top shelf . The menu has plenty of choice and there should be something for everyone, I had the Braised Octopus to start followed by the Trio of Wild Boar Sausages, for dessert I had Strawberry and Lavender Sorbet with Pistachios and Berries in Sloe Gin, some of the ingredients come the the pubs own garden, suffice to say it was excellent. The staff are friendly and welcoming as are the local patrons. There is a large Beer Garden to the side/rear and plenty of off road parking.

Fantastic food, fresh local fabulous. For a family of 7 practically adults it's hard to please us all but they did. Highly recommend.

Visited with my husband, a little South Downs get away. Stopped for lunch, didn't book but were very lucky to be accommodated on a busy lunchtime. Waitress (manager? was absolutely lovely, very knowledgeable about the food and area and took the time to chat and answer our questions despite being obviously very busy! The food was brilliant, better than your usual pub fair. I had the fish and chips and my husband had the wild boar sausages 3 of them! The garden was beautiful too. Well worth a visit.

Very rude bar staff! I politely asked if I could watch the England Women 's World Cup football semi final match at about midday when the pub opened. There was only one other customer in the entire pub. The staff member 's reply was a curt 'No '. Not 'sorry, we don 't show sport here ' or whatever (I can 't think why they wouldn 't but I know some pubs have a policy on that). The match was on BBC1 so it 's nothing to do with not having a sky subscription. Just a straight 'No '! I then asked if the answer would be the same had it been the men 's England team but she didn 't reply. I wonder why? Maybe because the likelihood is it would be shown and the pub would be bedecked in England flags and bunting with the obligatory bouncy castle for the kids? I know for a fact that Rugby and Wimbledon tennis is shown there (it 's on their Facebook page) so maybe they think football would attract the 'wrong sort of people '? I 'm having to guess all this because the only word uttered was 'No '. Needless to say I left. Perhaps the manager could reply to this and give a reason? I 'm sure others would be interested. It couldn 't surely be a simple case of women 's football being seen as unimportant? I mean those days are over aren 't they?