A Bar & Restaurant, Close To The River - The Crown & Anchor is situated close to the South Downs Way and in the city centre. There are bus stops and car parking spaces close by.

My initial... read more first impression of the Crown & Anchor was being overwhelmed with the amount of instructional signage - "prove you are old enough to drink", "no fake identification accepted""no standing at the bar". The latter I found rather perplexing. I did ask why they didn't want customers to stand and was given the banal and exhausted reason, "COVID". There are too many dictating notices and orders. People go to a bar to enjoy themselves.

The barman was polite and gave good service, and I overheard the Scottish lady being very polite to customers that she was serving. Some customers, rather cheekily ordered one pudding and wanted three spoons to share it! The staff remained professional and accomodated this request, none the less.

The decor was pleasant and smart. However, I would have liked a bench seat sans chair, as I find they offer a greater spinal support. The toilets were clean and pleasant smelling.

I did see a gorgeous white rabbit in the beer garden.

This is overall a good bar and restaurant.

  Fabulous pub. Food was great - I'm vegetarian and intolerant to gluten and some dairy so eating out can be a nightmare, but this pub was amazing. They have a... read more vegan menu with tons of choices - mix of fake meat and veg/lentil dishes - and nearly all the menu, normal and vegan, are gluten free! Found out someone in the chef's family is gluten intolerant so this makes sense! 1st time in ages I've had a meal out and not had a reaction after. AND a bonus, the staff are great - thanks to Tom and Amy for making it such a great xmas lunch. REALLY popular spot so definitely book.

  Had a fantastic night. Excellent food and mine hosts were really great. Part of a large group all enjoying great food and company

  When travelling from Scotland and looking for a relaxed place to eat we couldn't fault the Crown and Anchor. On arrival with our 2 dogs we were greeted by the... read more fantastic friendly staff who gave us a table with some space and promptly attended to the dogs with a bowl of water and a biscuit whilst we perused the menu, felt very spoiled for choice, everything is homemade by the talented chefs by also offering gluten free choices, I had a chicken and cider pie which was so huge I couldn't finish it but got to take the remainder away with us, my husband had steak and kidney pie which he devoured in minutes. Can't wait to go back on our next trip South and will go out of our way just to revisit here. Thanks Crown and Anchor

  It was so good I nearly jizzled myself!🔥 🙂 I had the Chicken burger with cheese, salad and chips and it was so spectacular and amazing!

  We dropped our son off to Univeristy and popped in to the Crown and Anchor for Sunday Lunch. Really friendly staff, great location and amazing food, best roast dinner we've... read more had in a long time. They were very busy but fitted us in at short notice. Definitely recommended. Proper Pub !

  Best in winchester, soo so good, friendly atmosphere, omg the roast phenomenal, def going back, staff are so sweet and make you feel welcome,

  Dropped in for a quick bite and drink. Two steak pies were really good, plus two gammon and eggs. Proper gravy too. Good prices for food and drinks. The lady... read more who served us was really helpful and seemed genuinely happy to look after us. Thank you. A good place to visit and great value.

  The pub is very nice, the staff are brilliant, the food is FANTASTIC, l always go there, when l am visiting family and friends, its well worth a visit, you... read more will not regret it,

  Wow.. what a treat!! Yuuuuuuuumy !!!

My friend and I went for dinner and was so overwhelmed with the expansive vegan & GF menu . Usually you just... read more get one or two options but we were spoilt for choice and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

We both had the bannna blossom “fish” & chips.. for pud the apple pie & crumble with icecream

Highly recommend!!

  Lovely vegan banana blossom fish and chips. Friendly staff and nice garden. Looking forward to visiting again soon.

  Saturday afternoon lunch. Googled decent food and this came up. Myself, wife and daughter - fairly busy, International Rugby on, Italy v Scotland. Nice table close to window overlooking main... read more street. Waited only 5 minutes before nice lad took our order and a jug of iced water. A choice of board games was in the corner on a shelf so we played Pop Quiz whilst waiting for our food. Only 10 minute wait - my gammon, eggs, chips and onion rings as an extra was lovely - my daughter ate all her 3 sausages and mash with peas, parsnips and carrots and my wife enjoyed her sandwich with soup. The onion rings were really nice and crispy so we ordered more. Not a morsel was left on any of our plates. Would thoroughly recommend.
A lady on the next table had ordered a meal not knowing there was meat in it until the waiter mentioned - it was changed immediately - no problem whatsoever.

£30.50 thank you very much. Will see you again if my daughter signs for Winchester Uni!!

  I’d been looking forward to a lovely day in the sun in Winchester with a friend, visiting from London. The Crown and Anchor was our second stop of the day,... read more shortly after midday. On arriving, there were no staff at the bar and a sign asking us to Wait to be Seated. I was desperate for the toilet so instead of waiting any longer, I left my drinks order with my friend in the queue and headed to the WC.

On my way, I was confronted by the first member of staff I’d noticed at the venue. Instead of greeting me, or acknowledging the queue, she asked me if I was a customer. Just as I was about to respond, I was denied the opportunity. She didn’t leave a pause long enough for me to answer ‘yes’, and continued to tell me that the toilets are only for customers and that if I’m not a customer, I can’t use the toilet. It’s a fair enough policy but I wasn’t given a second to tell her that I was.

As I sat on the toilet reflecting on my life’s choices, I wished I wasn’t a customer of a venue where the staff can be that affrontive and suspicious of someone before they’d even allowed them to speak. The toilet seat was brightly covered but that didn’t really lift my spirits enough to want to stay beyond the first drink, or return in the future.

  Very rude!! - My Husband and I came in yesterday at 12pm and just wanted a quick drink or two.
A woman who came past when we were stood at the Bar... read more was so rude, we asked if we could just grab a drink and we would be gone in 20-30 mins and she just said no the tables are all booked, the tables were all empty!!
I am sure that they were not all booked at 12 and some would have been free for a few minutes to grab a drink.
We went on to the Bishop on the bridge where the staff were so much more welcoming and really friendly and in the full Christmas spirit!
A little tip to those pubs who we want to support and you would think would be grateful for any income please remember how to treat customers with respect and be friendly at all times, it makes a huge difference!!.

  Fantastic veggie options. I had the vegan burger which was delicious. My party all thoroughly enjoyed their meals. Lovely and attentive service! Will certainly be visiting again!

  Visited this pub a couple of weeks ago friendly staff and I have to say food was absolutely cooked to perfection and the best food I've had in a pub... read more in years top marks to the kitchen and chefs will definitely visit again when we come over to Winchester

  Lasagne-mainly cheese and undercooked mince. Burger undercooked. In retrospect we should have complained but we just paid up and left

  Stopped at Winchester on a drive back to London from Dorset & decided to have lunch after a walk & popped into Crown&Anchor, a busy bustling pub, staff were friendly,... read more good menu with lots of veggie vegan options for me, food was quick & good quality for a good price