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Fortunately there was no crowd of confused locals standing outside with their bags of laundry when I visited The Wash House on this particular Sunday lunchtime.
It did occur to me however that whilst the repurposing of pubs by Tesco et al is rightly frowned upon by beer and pub lovers, repurposing of retail outlets etc to make micro pubs is absolutely fine. Even if you have nowhere to wash your dirty laundry...
It’s a funny old world...but perhaps we’re still waiting for the first mega-pub in a repurposed Tesco supermarket, and if any one can do it 'Tim - Knight (in waiting) of Spoons’ can.
The Wash House micro ale pub is in an attractive building, which to be fair is much more deserving of a micropub than a laundrette. The owners, as is the trend, have made a theme of its previous life, and not just in name...
There are plumbing pipe coat hooks on the walls, drums from washing machines as ceiling light shades...
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| From wash cycle to upcycle... |
....and even an old high level toilet cistern...(not in the toilet)...
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| 'The Milford' - made in Milford on Sea - from a time when villagers made their own flushers... |
The wooden barrel table with washing machine door in the side is pretty quirky - a kind of old wash tub meets 'appliance of science' effect...
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| Front loader cask complete with load of ‘smalls'... |
A good, but not excessive, number of handpulls awaited me at the bar with plenty of local micro-brewers in evidence. I was tempted by Vibrant Forest’s Cambrian Root, a ‘salted liquorice stout’, which was nice and chewy and bursting with flavour (very good).
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| Sample jars, a random cloth and a goblet of Cambrian Root |
There were a few customers sat a various tables, enough to make the micro look popular - including one or two hipsters, now that the confusion has been cleared up...
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| No confusion there then.... |
A middle-aged (and clearly confused) man at the bar was pointing to the the micro’s sign for its 'under 25 year olds’ policy and expressing his disappointment to the barmaid that he hadn’t been challenged on his age ...
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| Non-hipster at bar disappointed at not being mistaken for an under 25 year old... |
The Wash House, like most micros, doesn’t have space for a hot food kitchen but there are food menus on the table. Meals ordered in the Wash House are prepared by the neighbouring 'La Perle' restaurant, run by ex Masterchef competitor and Raymond Blanc protege according to the menu card...
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| Raymond keeps a close eye on professional Master-micro chef... |
The food is brought in under foil covered plates and served. Very ‘bohemian' but seemingly popular - a good example of creative collaboration between two businesses.
There was no rush to hang the washing out - so it was time to try another beer...
Local microbrewery Dancing Cow’s OSB (Odd Shaped Balls) is fortunately presented as an abbreviation on the pump clip to avoid any embarrassment. RetiredMartin would have avoided this beer because of its weird name and potential rugby connotations, which is a shame because it was very good/excellent.
Described as an amber ale it had a superb flavour, and I half suspected that they had included some sort of gin flavourings - distilling artisan gins being Dancing Cow's other speciality.
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| Odd Shaped Balls and jockey pants - an interesting juxtaposition... |
Another speciality of the Wash House is ‘proverbic' writings on the walls....including this one supporting women’s rights...
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| Come on men... get it right...it’s left... |
...and this one in the mens toilet... probably not quite so supportive...
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| When CAMRA has sorted the sexist beer names ‘dirty washing’ - will it then be cleaning the toilets?... |
The Wash House is an excellent micro well presented and with great quality real ales. I even spotted the owner briefly appearing behind the bar to taste/check the quality of the beer (I’m thinking of applying for that job)...
...definitely a pre-emptive Good Beer Guide tick here....
...and, on Milford’s promenade, I just had time for New Forest Ice-cream's mint-choc chip with a flake...perfect...
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| NIMBYs furious as giant mint-choc chip cone obscures Isle of Wight and the Needles views... |
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