The Jolly Farmer, Winchester (From Daily Echo)

The Jolly Farmer, Winchester

3:09pm Friday 11th January 2008

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THE clientele of the Jolly Farmer in Winchester on the day the Daily Echo called last week sums up what is great about pubs.

It's the variety of people who use them.

We conducted a quick poll of the customers - there was a retired sales negotiator, a lady from California who had recently moved to the city, a psychiatric nurse and lots of students.

Everyone is made welcome by managers Eddie and Pat Britton, who with ten years at the helm are among the longest-serving in Winchester.

Mrs Britton said: "I just enjoy the job, the ebb and flow, the busy-ness of it."

The Brittons have seen three owners - Whitbread, Laurel and now Greene King - and "eight or nine" area managers.

One long-time customer, Jim Tuersley, 85, from Abbotts Barton, said: "It is a very good pub. They do a beer which is affordable."

Just £1.80 for a pint of Ruddles Best must be among the cheapest in the city.

The food is also cheap - and whilst not cordon bleu, customers spoke highly of it and its quantity. A sandwich or wrap, chips and a soft drink will set you back just £4.

The day we visited there were a lot of students from nearby Peter Symonds College, a well-behaved bunch sipping their Cokes.

The Jolly Farmer has one of those rare things for a central-ish Winchester pub - a car park. It allows it to capture passing trade on one of the main roads into Winchester.

Whilst the building itself is nothing special in such a historic city, it has one macabre claim to fame.

Framed in a case and hanging on the wall is a hangman's noose, a reminder of more brutal times when the city's gibbet used to dangle the corpses of the city's criminals just yards from the front door.

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