The 10 best pubs and bars on the Isle of Wight
In compensation, it has a handful of café/bars and an abundance of wonderful pubs that can be vibrant one night and perfect for a quiet pint the next. Many host live music and most serve food too. The island is home to several breweries, vineyards, gin and whisky distilleries, so there's every chance to sample the local brews.
All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our destination expert to help you discover the best bars and pubs on the Isle of Wight. Find out more below, or for more Isle of Wight inspiration, see our guides to the island's best hotels restaurants, things to do and beaches.
Find bars and pubs by type:
Best traditional pubs
The Bargeman's Rest
Real ale fans are spoilt for choice at this pub, which enjoys a deserved reputation as the most atmospheric in Newport. Located by the River Medina, this snug pub features heaps of salvaged shipping wheels and beams. There's a local crowd, especially at lunchtime and the riverside terrace gets busy when the sun shines. The wine menu is extensive and there's English Brut to mark a special occasion.
Area: Newport
Website: bargemansrest.com
Price: £
Three Bishops
Located in the heart of the village, this has the feel of a locals' pub, with regular live music. Real ales are de rigueur, but the pub unexpectedly hits its straps with cocktails – try the dark and stormy spiced rum and lime juice. The name is a nod to three local priests who went on to higher calling and served as bishops (one was the son of the anti-slave trade campaigner William Wilberforce).
Area: Brighstone
Website: threebishops.co.uk
Price: £
The Union Inn
In a strong field, this is Cowes' most atmospheric pub, squeezed down an alleyway just back from the water and fitted with snug corners where, in days gone by, smugglers could presumably give the slip to the long arm of the law. There's at least one local ale on tap and a good range of wines. The three-sided counter with bar stools makes this an easy choice for socialising.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
43 minutes ago
- BBC News
Date set for first stage of Walsall's £1.5bn revamp
Work on a major part of a £1.5bn project to regenerate a town centre is set to get underway at the start of 2026. The Town Centre Connected Gateway will see Walsall's Saddlers Centre overhauled and a clearer link created between the rail and bus work on the shopping centre is set to be completed this autumn before more extensive renovation work will begin at the start of next year. A spokesperson for Walsall Council said the project would help diversify the town centre, moving away from it having a focus on retail. The plans will see Park Street opened up, creating a clear sight-line from the railway station entrance through to the bus station, they greenery will be planted, walkways will be resurfaced and the Saddlers Centre will be revamped into a light, modern and welcoming space, under the plans. The deputy leader of the authority, Adrian Andrew, said: "What we need to do is change our town centre because people aren't just coming to town centre to shop for retail. "So we've got to bring leisure, we've got to bring education and other reason for people to come into the town centre."We're working with our partners and the community to build a better future for Walsall town centre where people feel safe, happy and healthy and where there are ample opportunities to live, work and spend time."According to the council, Walsall College is planning to take on the former Marks and Spencer store to bring a brand new adult learning facility into the town authority is also working with the Canal and River Trust to improve the canal basin in the town to encourage boaters and make better use of the waterfront area. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Best job in the natural world': seed collector enlisted as modern-day Darwin to document the world's plants
It was described as 'the best job in the natural world': an expedition botanist for Cambridge University Botanic Garden who would follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and go on plant-collecting adventures around the world. Within days of the job advertisement going viral, six people had sent it to Matthew Jeffery and suggested he apply. 'I was already working as a tree seed collector for the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Gardens, collecting native trees from across the UK, and I'd done a lot of European plant exploring – particularly of alpine plants – on holidays with friends,' says Jeffery, 31, who has degrees in biology and plant taxonomy and had worked in horticulture at Chelsea Physic Garden and Kew. After realising he had the right skills for the unique role, which involves organising and leading international expeditions to collect and observe wild plants and seeds, he decided to apply. 'Every job I've done has been a dream job for me – I've been very lucky – but this job has an incredible potential to work in diverse places and with diverse plants,' he says. 'It was too good an opportunity to pass up.' Jeffery was appointed in March: it is believed to be the first time a British botanic garden has hired an expedition botanist in modern history. 'It's very daunting,' he says – but also inspiring. 'I learn a lot more from talking to people from different places about local plants and their uses than I could ever learn from reading about them in a book. Different cultural viewpoints and histories can also completely change how you perceive something, and add value and insight, so when you come back to the UK, you have a totally different outlook on how you would grow these plants, treat them or even think about them.' Like Darwin, he is excited about exploring the world and hopes to make discoveries with the help of the expert botanists he will encounter. 'It would be really cool to find a new species,' he says. 'Obviously, the people from the country we're working in would be best placed to find that, but just to be there when it happens.' In preparation for his first trip, Jeffery was given advanced wilderness medical training on how to survive and deliver first aid in a remote environment. 'Most of the risks and dangers of the expeditions are the same as they would be in the UK, because there are very few places left in the world that are really extreme and remote – but I might be going to some of those places,' he says. Jeffery recently returned from his first expedition to Croatia where he and his colleague, Andrea Topalovic Arthan, worked with botanists from the University of Zagreb to collect seeds and record data about plants in wet grasslands. 'This is a habitat under threat because of land use change and increasing drought levels,' he says. Seeds they brought home included Eriophorum latifolium, a cottongrass that is rare in Croatia but grows well in the UK. On Plješevica mountain, they also collected data about populations of alpine and subalpine plants, including high-altitude saxifraga and bellflowers known as Edraianthus, taking samples to press and dry for the herbarium in Cambridge. Working alongside local botanists on such expeditions means seeds and knowledge are shared across international borders, helping to ensure rare and threatened plant populations can be protected and boosted in a plant's country of origin, as well as in Cambridge, Jeffery says. After an expedition to South Africa this summer, he is planning to collect more wild seeds from Croatia in September. These will be brought home to Cambridge to diversify the botanic garden's living collection and aid scientific research and conservation. 'What's so interesting about Croatia is the environmental gradient across the country: the coast has a dry Mediterranean climate and as you go inland it becomes much more temperate and continental European,' he says. At the border between the two climates, plants that like cooler, wetter conditions grow next to Mediterranean plants that prefer dry heat. 'And the species overlap quite considerably – so the plants growing at those borders potentially have the capacity to deal with both climates to some degree. They are more adaptable than usual, one way or the other.' Within the space of a few metres, the habitat and species composition of the plants change completely. 'That shows they are very adapted to their specific niche. But it also shows how under threat they could be – how easily you could lose that whole population if the environment changes slightly.' It was while he was in the isolated grasslands with his Croatian colleagues, observing the plants, that the unique set of challenges an expedition botanist must face hit home for the first time. 'There was a mother bear with her cub in the area and we were warned she was very aggressive.' Their only means of defence, he says, was to make as much noise as possible 'so the bear would be aware we were there' and avoid them. As the light started to fade, Jeffery's Croatian colleague Katarina Husnjak Malovec came up with a novel solution: loudly playing a mixture of Croatian music and 80s and 90s hits from her phone. 'We now have a bear deterrent soundtrack,' he says. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage
BBC News
43 minutes ago
- BBC News
Youlgreave 'cut off' by 'bizarrely timed' road closure
Residents say the main road into their village has been cut off for the summer as a result of a "bizarrely timed" closure which could last up to six Lane closed to traffic, cyclists and pedestrians on Monday, so emergency tree works can take place, meaning those travelling to Youlgreave in Derbyshire have to divert several miles.A GP has told the BBC he fears the closure could mean longer waiting times for ambulances, while a publican said it was poor timing for Estate, which is behind the works, said it was legally obliged to fell the infected trees and had "no other option but to close the road" so the work could take place. Dr Edward Oakley from The Youlgreave Surgery said some of his patients had arrived late for also said the closure was having a big effect on home County Council's (DCC) temporary order, which enforces the closure, said it could last until 5 September, but the road would reopen as soon as the work was done. Aiden Marsh, who runs The George Hotel in Youlgreave, said he is concerned about the closure's impact on custom during one of the busiest periods of the year."It's especially hard for caravans to get through. And obviously the six weeks holidays as well," he said."To me it just seems a bit of an utterly bizarre time to choose to do it. And why you can't have traffic lights up or at least [the road] opened at night?"Mr Marsh's father recently died, and he is also concerned about the impact on the undertakers."His funeral's next Friday and I've been trying to think about how the hearse is going to get here. It's not an easy route to be doing," Mr Marsh added. Amy Young, who runs the Post Office and Village Store, said: "People aren't going to come to Youlgreave, it's not the most accessible place anyway, but with that road closed, there's no easy option of getting into the village."I run the shop, but I also run the village milk round."So we deliver milk to Alport which means a four-mile round trip." People who live near Youlgreave say they are concerned about the impact motorists taking unsigned diversions could have on windy single-track roads around the village."It's a nonsense, they've got to cut down a few trees, there's no respect for the shops, for the pubs," said resident Phil Wildbore. 'Least worst option' In a statement, Lord Edward Manners, of Haddon Hall, said the closure allowed dead and dying trees with Ash dieback to be felled."Due to the steep sided banks of the valley on one side and the river on the other the estate has no other option but to close the road which we have done in full consultation with DCC Highways senior traffic technicians," he said."There is no ideal time to do this work, but closing the road during the school holidays was considered the least worst option."We have a large team working as fast as they can, seven days a week with extended hours to complete the job as soon as possible and we thank the local community for their forbearance."The road will be temporarily reopened for the August bank holiday between 22 August at 17:30 BST and 26 August at 06:30.
