The Mucky Duck — Restaurant in Winchester

As a venue to watch sport, it has 4 screens inside and one outside. You have to have poll position to be able to catch a glimpse of one of the screens inside as viewing angles are limited.

As a place to eat grub, the food is uninspired and bland. The chicken wing chili sauce was actually quite palatable, but the chicken came out blistering hot yet somehow still under-cooked!

As a place to chill and socialize, I've experienced worse, but the atmosphere is generally rather drab, probably due to it being so dark in most of the nooks and crannies inside. Lighting is uneven to the point of being noticeable and even annoying.

But, and based on someone who has been to the pub over the last 3 years, is the management. Bar staff are friendly, but the manager is an absolute yellow flag (you get to know who she is after a while). She is a total joy sap that seems to treat customers like children. I've seen it on a number of occasions now - actively telling customers to leave because she didn't appear to like that they had a rebuttal. Her default facial expression is one of antipathy and disdain.

Overall - with better management, the experience could be upped. This is not a dig at the staff, who have always been courteous. It just falls short in everything it is doing - it tries to do all flavours of pub yet falls short in every area. Winchester has much, much better on offer and in better more central locations,...

The staff are great! The decor is as far from neutral as you can get. Dark green/grey walls do nothing to accentuate the local culture that most of the wall decorations provide. Drinks are reasonably well kept, but the price is quite frankly insulting. The staff deserve a considerably higher rating, but the management just screams: "Ms. Havisham-esque elitism". The women's toilets are relatively nice and well kept from what I hear, but the men's loos are boxed in by rusted corrugated iron that is not only disgusting, but dangerous too. The "focus" of the pub seems to favour yuppies and rowdy rugger buggers as opposed to "riff-raff", even when the yuppies and rugger buggers are acting considerably worse. If there is a sports event on; shouting, singing, crowding the bar and even jeering is somewhat excused. From my experience however, this tends to happen more so when there isn't an event on. This is what you'd expect from Wetherspoons, not somewhere that charges over a tenner...

I Lived in Winchester for a year for work commitments this year and I can honestly say that in this pub I found a home from home. Jade and Cole run a wonderful pub with the most friendly and welcoming service. I explored and tried all of the pubs in Winchester during my time there and I never felt more welcome and at home than the mucky duck. Beers are always clean, fresh and well kept. Very reasonably priced in the current market, great atmosphere for all sporting occasions and my god one 10/10 chicken leek and gammon pie!!. I have moved now but had to leave this review to give Jade, Cole and their team the credit they deserve for running one fantastic pub. Hopefully I can return soon. Many...