YOU might think Basingstoke is blessed with plenty of pubs to enjoy a drink, but website closedpubs.co.uk has been logging the closure of the town's watering holes.
We've found nine pubs that have closed in Basingstoke over the years, some of which you might just remember...
The Angel Inn
The Angel Inn was in Market Place at the Top of Town. Now demolished, a branch of Barclays Bank took over the site.
The Basingstoke Assembly rooms were over the stable/outbuildings belonging to The Angel.
The Angel was also used by the owner of Basingstoke's first post office, in Winchester Street, which opened in 1808. Run by Robert Cottle in his general store, he fitted a postal aperture in the wall of the shop where people could put their mail when the shop was closed.
Until 1850, this mail was put into a postbag every night at 10pm and taken along to The Angel Inn, in the Market Place, for the stagecoach driver to sort out for the different towns he was passing through.
Novelist Jane Austen, who was born in a nearby village, attended dances at The Angel in the late 1700s. When it closed in the 1860s, a new Angel Inn was built soon after on the corner of Wote Street and Potters Lane.
The Barge Inn
The Barge Inn was in Wote Street at the Top of Town. This pub closed in the 1960s for area redevelopment, by which time it was known as The Goat & Barge.
The Castle
The Castle was in Old Reading Road near the town centre. In 2009 it became known as Poison. The pub was demolished in 2014.
The George
The George Hotel was in London Street at the Top of Town. This pub was previously known as The Hole In The Wall and is now occupied by Italian restaurant Zizzi.
The Hammer and Tongs
The Hammer & Tongs was in Old Worting Road, South Ham. This pub closed in 2012.
The Hop Leaf
The Hop Leaf, photographed above in 1978, was in Upper Church Street at the Top of Town. Previously known as The Black Boy, this timber-framed building was host to an inn by the early 18th Century. Since then, the road name has changed to Church Street and the building has been a hotel, tavern and bar with a succession of names.
The Black Boy name apparently referred to King Charles I, to whom people said "You have blacked your reputation, boy" after his defeat at the battle of Naseby in 1645.
In the 1950s the name was deemed racist so The Black Boy Hotel became the Hop Leaf. During the 1970s it was occasionally home to the Basingstoke Folk Club.
By the mid 2000s it was McCarthy's Bar and in the early 2010s it was a bar known as Censo, which closed in January 2013.
The Litten Tree
The Litten Tree was at 29-33 Winchester Street. This pub was later used as a Chinese restaurant Dragon Palace, which is now closed.
As previously reported, mystery surrounds what is moving into the empty unit after refurbishment work appears to have started inside the vacant premises in November.
READ MORE: Former Dragon Palace restaurant unit could be taken over by new venture
The Three Barrels
The Three Barrels was at the Winklebury Centre but has been closed for more than 10 years.
As reported in September 2023, residents and shop owners raised concerns over the safety of the derelict pub after a child was electrocuted.
READ MORE: Residents concerned over safety of derelict pub site
Are there any others that you remember that are not on this list? Let us know by commenting below.
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