Talking Heads, Southampton (From Daily Echo)

The Talking Heads, Portswood Road, Southampton

11:46am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in Pub Reviews By Michael Carr, Reporter

MUSICALLY it is one of Hampshire’s best loved venues, but it is not just the music that gets the punters talking about the Talking Heads Pub.

The pub situated on Portswood Road, Southampton, is a labour of love for owner Guy Benfield who has put his heart and soul into making the venue a success.

Immediately when you walk in you are greeted by traditional furniture in a pub which has yet to modernise, but why should it? It is strikingly unique.

For Guy Benfield, 51, from Bassett the pub has always had a place in his heart, since he first went there in the 1980s.

He took the pub on after it was facing dark times in early 2012, it was Guy and business partner Martin White, 55 who joined forces to save the much-loved venue.

Guy Benfield said: “I just wanted to keep the pub open, and now we are trying to make it into more than just a music venue, a place where people can come and socialise in the early evening and late afternoon.”

One of the features that the pub boasts is that it sells real Hampshire ales and Guy Benfield added: “We are a proper pub, it’s got character everywhere. For me running this place is my life, all I want to do is to restore it to its former glory.”

The venue musically is superb, with a big stage which makes the sound vibrate throughout the pub, and it is for this reason that musicians venture far and wide to visit.

Guy Benfield told the story of how a top banjo player just walked in and had a jam – out of the blue, because he knew of the venue.

The pub is also said to be home to something other than punters and bands that is a ghost that the staff have seen on several occasions.

The pub even had a paranormal investigation to find out the identity of the ghostly spirit.

It’s easy to see why people wanted the pub to be saved, it’s got character and an owner that would do anything to keep the place alive, and alive it is.

• Talking Heads, 320 Portswood Road, Southampton, SO17 2TD
• 023 8067 8446
• thetalkingheads.co.uk