Halfway Inn — Restaurant in Eastleigh

What a difference new management makes...

As regular (sometimes too regular!) customers of the Halfway Inn over the past 8-9 years, we have seen it shake off a slightly dubious reputation and with a few wobbles go from strength to strength - particularly in the last 3 years. The atmosphere was friendly, the beer was good, the food wasn’t likely to get a Michelin star, but that wasn’t the point, it was exceptional value, the portions were generous reliable. We live less than a 5 minute walk away and were happy to have it as our local.

Unfortunately the landlady who was largely responsible for this resurgent position was recently whisked away by Greene King to work her magic on another pub and there has been a steady decline ever since. Last night was the worst experience we have ever had at the Halfway Inn and will be our final experience for a good long while.

We were “greeted” by the new landlady, Teressa, barking at us that we couldn’t go into the usual eating end of the pub with our dog... this was surprising, given that we’ve sat there with him as recently as the week before and members of staff had even come to pet him. Having spoken at us and stalked off, the landlady then left an embarrassed and clearly uncomfortable young waitress to try to help. We should have taken the hint and left at that point, but we were hungry, so were forced us to sit under a giant tv, with imbecilic football commentary so loud that we had to shout at each other to be heard. The waitress did manage to get it turned down eventually- not her fault, there was far too much for one person to do. The football customers are clearly a hardy breed and are used to the freezing temperatures at their end of the pub... but we were hungry. There was a 30minute wait for food, which was also surprising, given that most tables already seemed to have been served...being hungry and with little alternative we decided to wait. One of the meals we ordered turned out not to be available - sadly the stock position hadn’t reached the till, so the poor waitress had to let us know that we needed to re-order. Fortunately for us the food did arrive just before hyperthermia and actually looked ok - ok, there were two eggs with the gammon instead of one egg and one pineapple ring and one piece of fish was much more cooked than the other, but that’s the sort of error that can be forgiven. Less forgivable was the long black hair that one of us found in fish batter near the end of the meal...bon appetite! Once again a difficult conversation with the clearly very beleaguered waitress while the landlady again pointedly stayed away and took zero responsibility. The cost of that meal was taken off the bill, but it was an empty gesture as it meant we lost the advantage of a deal and paid almost the same. We declined the offer of a free desert because one desert between four people isn’t really enough and anyway we just wanted to leave. Even when we left there was no apology or even an acknowledgement from the landlady, although she was happy enough to let us pay for the miserable experience. We just left and felt sorry for the waitress who was still stuck there.

All of the incidents taken individually could be brushed aside as trivial, but they didn’t happen individually, they demonstrate a pub that is short on staff, short on management and short on customer care. Very sadly we seem to have lost a good local - Halfway...

I go to the Halfway Inn most Wednesday nights with a friend, usually to watch football, but mostly to just regularly catch up, eat and have a few pints. Wednesday at the Halfway is £5 burger night - a full burger meal for £5! That means for food alone, we spend £10 for 2 dinners every Wednesday - let that sink in....I think that's less then either 'Spoons or even Mickey D's!! The pub is part of the Greene King group, which means there's an App (GreeneKingSport) free to download that gives you access to a weekly bet on football, rugby, F1 and other sports for free with nothing to lose, but free or discounted drinks to win. It really is that simple - guess the correct score for one of the Prem matches they select and you win a pint - that's roughly £5 worth at no cost to you!!...as if the food price wasn't low enough. But the Halfway isn't just the place we go because it's cheap, it's a really nicely outfitted traditional pub, with multiple big screens for sport, a pool table, darts and ample dining space. It's not fancy and definitely more pub than restaurant, but don't let that put you off.

The staff are friendly, fast and competent, although I do sometimes worry there are too few to handle a full bar - it is an odd location that seems to have an unpredictable customer base - some weeks packed, some empty and unrelated to specific "TV events" it seems.

At a time when pubs are a bit of a dying breed, the Halfway Inn remains exactly the kind of pub I want to stay alive and maintain the cultural staple of a place to eat, drink and socialize with people who live nearby...and without...

I would just like to thank the 2 groups of locals, who assisted me on my visit to the Halfway Inn. I'm a disabled pensioner who struggles badly with mobility. On this occasion I was having a bad day and needed my stroller to help me, a young guy, who works in landscape instantly told me to enter through the side entrance and he removed the barrier chain to assist me.

'We can't have you walking all the way to the front door...can we'?

Later, upon leaving, a guy from the next table, again removed the barrier and asked did I need help with getting the stroller into the boot of my car.

Builders get lots of bad publicity and locals are often very standoffish to strangers... luckily for me, I met some truly helpful, caring and welcoming people.

So my thanks to each of the 7 people who welcomed me and helped me.

I would also like to thank the 2, young lady, staff members who were so helpful in helping me order, using their app to order and track and trace on my mobile.

Well worth a visit and highly...