March 29, 2012
Well away from the tourist area, this pub is worth walking out to find. It sells Hop Back beers (four different) and one guest (plus lager etc), on draught, along with Hop Back bottled beers and a fine selection of Non-UK should you require a change. The locals are friendly and like a beer or two. The music is heavy/rock (well it has been on my 3 visits), Black Sabbath yesterday (23 Aug 2006). The walls are full of beer posters, along with notices about up and coming events (like local beer fests etc). One wall is dedicated to CAMRA awards which the pub and Hop Back have won over the years. This pub was the original brewery, but it had to move because it could not cope with the demand of its beers. Track this place down if you are visiting Salisbury.

January 25, 2012
A quintessential backstreet pub - and excelletn beers as well. A must visit even though it’s on the outskirts of the town. No guest beer when I was there but a well-kept range of Hop Back beers available, and a very welcome coal fire!

May 31, 2006 [ Updated March 9, 2008 ]
As the original home of Hop Bcak brewery, one of the first of the new wave of British brewpubs, a visit here has almost pilgrimage status. Now, although Hop Back still owns the pub, brewing has long since moved to a bigger site and, apart from the Hop Back beers (five on tap plus a guest) what remains is a friendly, but basic, street corner boozer. As its still regarded as the brewery tap, quality is, as expected, very good. There’s a no smoking room that accepts children. No food to speak of. Convivial atmosphere. Architecturally its nothing to shout about but it does have a homely feel. In fact, going up the carpeted stairs to the toilets does actually feel like going into someones house. Definitely worth a visit. Pay attention to the variable opening hours. In fact, Salisbury is particularly well supplied with decent pubs that don’t open at lunchtime during the week. Which is very frustrating if that’s when you happen to be there.