Whilst considering a pre match venue for a few drinks and discussions on X Factor etc it became apparent that Southampton is sadly lacking in quality hostelry in the City Centre.
Our small but select band that gathers tofgether before a home game for a few drinks and a chat dont ask for much, a decent pub with fair prices, within reasonable walking distane of both St Mary's and the train station, that admits kids and has Sky TV so we can keep an eye on the live game as well as the after match scores.
After the landlord announced his departure from the pub we have used for the last 18 months or so, we considered our options should the place cha nge drastically and it became very apparent that in Southampton City Centre at least there are very very few options that meet all the criteria.
Around the London Road/Bedford place area, our preferred area, there are virtually none, most of the pubs that do have Sky dont admit kids and vice versa, a walk up the high street is even more depressing, where are the old long established traditional type of boozers ? all you have is the Yeates style chain pubs, a visit to Liverpool for the Everton match revealed a City Centre that although has its fair share of chain pubs, sees them outnumbered by old stle type pubs and all thriving, around Goodison Park, within a five minute walk of the ground you had a choice of around 20 pubs, at St Mary's you have 2.
So whats happened to all these pubs, OK we perhaps dont have the drinking culture that still thrives on Merseyside and up North, but surely there must be a niche in our City Centre for those that want to go out and have a pint without loud music blaring out.
The anser it seems is no, in the City Centre itself there are no traditional pubs left, only a few on the fringes that in the main dont seem well patronised, a look at the excellent book Southampton's Inns & Taverns published in 1995, makes interesting reading, it reveals a large number of pubs in the region of the City Centre that are no longer with us, but back then the stretch of the High Street from the Bargate to London Road only had one "pub" that was actually on the main drag, the then named Bogarts, fast forward to now and there are well over a dozen, sadly all of them chain pubs and even during this period there are perhaps six or so that have opened and shut during the period, the City Centre has been abandoned as a haven for the discerning drinker and over run with fun pubs aimed at the 20-25 age group with the odd exception.
Sitting in Liverpool City Centre a fortnight ago we could walk in any direction and find a dozen pubs within a 5 minute walk in each of those directions, you would need to walk a mile or more to do that in Southampton and thats rather sad, in the South at least the age of the Pub seems to be gone.
So if anyone has any ideas about a good pre match pub in Southampton City Centre then we are open to suggestions.