General Chat

Don't think I've ever been there. Passed by it a few times, but too close for a swift half if we're out for a drive, and too far for a swift half if we just want a drink!!

The Black Boy in Winchester is a 'must go to' pub.

It was, wasn't it?

A bit out of my usual orbit but we have been sent there to work in the past.

Was it the Bridge, in Shawford?
By that I mean the pub called the Bridge - now The Bridge Inn, I believe.

What is the pub under the railway viaduct where Victor Meldrew died?

We have worked there and I recall the food as being very good but I can't remember where it is.

In 1885 My Gt Gt Grandfather William Notley Riggs died at East Tytherly Stockbridge. I can't recall having been there, though may well have been as a child.

We only wanted a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Did I once read that there was a very good ice-cream parlour in Stockbridge?

well I like the Greyhound as it is now inc the props. and def prefer it to the Potter's Heron at Hursley. My OH no.1 is a place in Brockenhurst. My mum though likes the Little Chef or "Toby's" for Sunday lunch. She is easy to please. There you go.

Saying it is "no longer a pub" is true enough but given the number of pubs that have been converted to houses could also be read as saying it is no longer in business at all.

There is a similar pub/restaurant at Fontmell Magna we use more often (the Crown) but it will serve a decent pint to any passer by.

There are those amongst us who prefer to hide our lights under a bush. When there was the panic buying of meat on bone, there were queues at the butchers.
I just managed to grab OH's jacket before the television crew did - he was loaded down with 3 bags and I knew he was ready to rip re red tape telling him what he could and could not eat meat. TG OH did not appear on tv - much to family disappointment.

I have a know-all neighbour - is it thee Rollo/ Just curious not rude. I also learned how to tickle a brown trout as a little un and it was only when I taught my two - OH pointed out I was poaching that I was horrified.

Yes, I know, Rollo - the Greyhound is now a restaurant, run by some self opinionated 'critters in suits'. I preferred it when it was a pub run by a couple of funny friendly blokes.
I'm also well aware of when the butcher is open, but we don't decide to go to Stockbridge solely to go to the butchers!!
The number 68 bus also goes to Stockbridge from Winchester - I worked that out all by myself. Never used it though.
So no need to 'make things clear' to a relative local, who, amazingly, still has all her faculties. :-S :-S

Just to be clear the Greyhound remains very much in business but yes, it has moved on. Recommended.

Trad butchers usual hours are 8am-2pm 3pm or even 4pm at a pinch. Early birds and all that.

Apparently, Sharron, the butcher is good - but the shop's never open when we go there.
It's a shame the Greyhound is no longer a pub, and an even bigger shame the Vine Inn has closed down - I liked that place.

Stockbridge is mainly famous in having a lot of places to eat and a surfeit of 4WD and women called Chloe and Jessica. OTOH if you are on a budget best to bring yr sarnies.

The Greyhound in the High Street is quite nice. Like most places in Stockbridge try and arrange things so that somebody else is paying the bill. Otherwise take your most flexible friend.

Shopping is a bit like shopping in the Cotswolds though slightly cheaper - all sorts of useless pretty stuff and fancy clothes at wild prices. It is quite easy to dress yr three year old in Boden/Joules kit for a couple of hundred smackers much cheaper than Fulham ;-)

I bought my Barbour coat there about 200 years ago and it's still going fine, a bit creased, so I match it quite well.

The village is pretty in a predictable sort of way with the housing developments tucked nicely out of view. It s def., a lot easier on the eye than Boyatt Wood.

You can see trout in the river at lots of places in Hampshire/Wilts/Dorset eg Salisbury, Winchester, Christchurch. There are few more relaxing ways to spend a day than fly fishing and it is this I think that underpins the economy of Stockbridge :-)

When I was a lad I learned how to tickle trout for a free lunch on a hot summer's day but that is frowned upon when you are older. I daresay that any youngster trying it now would be nailed down sharpish by the youth protectorate and put into couldntcareless. The east European method of casting nets is even more stamped upon, ditto snaring ducks.

I don't think that the red bus service is up to much. The M3 from west London to Hampshire also takes much too long for the 4WDs so the DoT is spending a vast sum to widen it from the M25 to the A31 exit.

We are all in it together just that some have their heads above water.

Been there quite a few times on our holidays. Love it.
Phyll

We went in the tea rooms and I was delighted to see that one of the young men working there as a waiter was Downs syndrome.

That is the sort of thing that would have me go there again.

Go there quite often. There are a couple of upmarket 'country' clothing shops we go in for a laugh :-D
They've done a good job in preserving the structure of the old garage.

Do you like Stockbridge, Maggie?

:-D :-D :-D

OH doesn't work on Mondays. we have arranged this so we get to go out sometimes.

This week we went to Stockbridge, it's a bit west of Winchester. It's not a place we have been to more than once before so I was sat-nav. I road mapped it until the signs started and we followed them until they suddenly stopped.

So there we were, driving round and round the roundabout, looking for the sign for Stockbridge. Yes, that roundabout, the one at the end of the street in Stockbridge!

We were pleased we went there. The River Test runs under the street. Where else can you see trout in the main street?