King Alfred

I agree with everything Jennie C. wrote about the pub. Our motivation to stay here was that everything else was booked. We are glad in the end we chose this pub to stay over. The room was small! But, it is what we needed with a shower, no bath. There is a large outside seating area that is covered and picnic tables under some trees. There are four separate seating areas with a wide screen TV in one of them. We had the King Alfred beer which was quite nice and ate elsewhere for dinner. A full English breakfast is what we ordered. It was quiet on Tuesday night, but all the rooms were booked. We only saw one other couple in addition to our friends staying in another room. Five total rooms I believe and a friendly wire-​haried terrier to greet you in the morning.

We had the great good fortune to see the wonderful Laura Marling play at Winchester Cathedral a couple of weekends ago. As Winchester is such a lovely spot, with plenty of good places to go for a Sunday stroll, we decided to make a mini break of it and find a B&B for the Saturday night. After a bit of research and a couple of false leads we managed to book a double room at the King Alfred for £80.00.
We arrived by train from London shortly after noon on a lovely sunny Autumnal day and had a short 10 minute walk from the station to the pub. The early check in time was much appreciated and we had a quick look at our reasonably spacious, well equipped room (number 1). Comfy bed, small flat screen TV on the wall and a very nice walk in shower, which is big enough for two.
The pub itself is situated in a quiet residential area and is no more than 10 minutes walk from the centre of town. It has a nice old school look to it; lots of dark wood and a cosy almost clubby vibe. There are two separate bars at the front and a dining area out back which is where you take your breakfast in the morning. There is also a covered terrace and a lovely large garden where we had a quick pint of King Alfred before heading into town for a wander. I would think that this is a very popular place to soak up a few rays in the summer it also looked to be very ankle biter friendly.
All great so far and things continued to go well until the morning. I had noticed a big extractor fan at the side of the pub, and heard its rumblings when we checked in. Sure enough it kicked into life at around 8 in the morning. In our room it was loud enough to wake you up and then become an annoyance if you were hoping for a lie in on a Sunday morning. I would advise on taking a good pair of ear plugs if you plan to stay here. No worries though as it was a lovely sunny morning and we had planned on doing a round walk via Twyford so an early start was all to the good.
We wandered down to breakfast around nine and as the room was empty apart from another couple we had our choice of where to sit. As is usual in most B&B’s there was a table with a self-​serve selection of cereals and juice. After a short wait our waitress appeared and asked if we wanted the full English and tea or coffee; somewhat taken aback as we were expecting a menu or perhaps a verbal run down of what was available, we both replied eh yes please. With no mention of how we would like our eggs cooked B gave me the quizzical eye and I gave the oh dear here we go shrug.
Coffee, from a smart looking machine, soon arrived and I have to be honest and say that I have had much better from Nescafe out of the jar. My cup was bland beyond belief and would best be described as warm milk.
Our breakfast arrived hot on the tails of the so called coffee which was not a good sign. Now I know that we don’t have a great range of culinary traditions in this country but the English breakfast should surely be one of the jewels in our crown. Not at the King Alfred I’m afraid. This breakfast was a real car crash; over cooked, almost stewed, mushrooms, a soggy hash brown, iffy sausage and bacon which was barely cooked at all. Not one bit of care or attention had been paid to this plate of food and it was left largely uneaten. I was surprised that this did not raise a comment from our waitress or an enquiry about how we had enjoyed our breakfast but perhaps that tells its own tale.
I’m more than willing to accept that we might have been unlucky and caught the King Alfred on a one off bad day and there is much to like about the pub. However, given the choice on offer in Winchester this is not somewhere I would ever consider hanging my hat in again.

Ein Pub zum übernachten? Warum nicht. Hier gibt ein ein paar schön renovierte Zimmer, die für eine Nacht völlig ok sind. Eher weniger toll ist dann das Frühstück im Pub einzunehmen. Das Personal ist nett.

It also features a hotel/​inn. The room was basic, modern, and spacious. It’s located in a quiet residential neighborhood of Winchester.
Wifi access required a passcode, which was easy to remember at the time. There is a back entrance to the inn should the pub be closed while you’re out after hours.
The pub serves up lots of beer and good food! Their menu was more than just typical pub fare although they do have bangers and mash. i highly recommend the pork belly!
For breakfast, there wasn’t a formal menu. The cook was happy to whip up whatever we liked. Cereals, yogurt, juice, teas, and coffees were also available.
Parking was available on the street and required a voucher they provided for guests. We were lucky to find a space right outside the King Alfred Pub.
A spacious, modern, no frills double room was £75 GBP per night, with whatever you like for breakfast! Great value!