Salisbury Scrutineer

Well done to The Hidden Brewery for taking over The Chough, just before Christmas. This large and imposing building, on the corner of Castle Street and Blue Boar Row, first entered my drinking conciousness as a BeefEater. Since then it has taken on the guise as “Alchemey at the Chough” an enthusiastic but ultimately doomed venture complete with live music but disgusting beer.

So, as of the 11 December 2007 we now have The Hidden Brewery in charge, with a range of 6 of their real ales. Chatting to the manager last night he told us to expect refurbishment works in the New Year (I hope the gents receive some attention) and the restaurant to re-open upstairs in March.

Beer availability should also increase, with two extra pumps being installed for micro-brewery guest ales. It was also pleasing to see taps for Palm and Grolch Wheat Beer, although there were also taps for Carling and Guinness. Luckily for all of us there is no provision of keg bitter – a customer last night who asked for John Smith’s Smooth was politely told to either buy proper beer or drink something else. After a taster of Quest he bought a pint of that.

Salisbury is crying out for a pub that is not owned by Enterprise Inns, and therefore not subject to their restrictive pricing and buying policies. We are obviously lucky to have free houses like Deacons, The Village and The Rai D’or, but for us Market Square types the free house pub choices are pretty thin on the ground.

I look forward to becoming a regular in the Chough and supporting this ambitious brewery turn this pub so full of potential into a great boozer.

Link to Googlemaps for location.

A quick update after a year has passed: The Chough is going well and many refurbishments have taken place. Generally a range of 6-8 real ales are available – all from the Hidden Brewery but it would be nice to see some guest beers instead of just the Hidden range.

The kitchen is producing excellent meals – so good that I held my staff Christmas dinner at the Chough and had a great time. The 3 course Sunday lunch is simply the best I have found in Salisbury and even better it comes in under £10.

Niggardly points that I think need attention include: there is no quieter, warmer dining area for people who just wish to eat with a degree or privacy, and on occasions the ambitious beer range effects the quality – I would trim the number of ales back to give a better turnover to the remainder.

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