The Red Lion, Southampton

The Red Lion (55 High Street, SO14 2NS - web).
This intriguing pub in Southampton's historic quarter appears on the CAMRA National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and was somewhere I'd been keen to visit.
According to an article in the Daily Echo it is the "second oldest pub in England".
I've recently visited a couple of pubs that lay some sort of claim to be the oldest in the land.  I'd planned to get around more of these with a view to writing my masterpiece in pub-blogging on the subject.
Hmmm...The Red Lion hadn't appeared previously in any of my 'oldest pub' searches, so I'm not so sure about that Daily Echo claim. There's some stiff competition out there and a lot of reinterpreting the rules when it comes to putting an age on your Olde Worlde Inn.
The cellars of the Red Lion are said to date back to 1148, whilst it was established as a pub in 1552 - the date when it's first licence was granted.

The Red Lion, Southampton 

Approaching down the High Street the Red Lions' facade stands out proudly - three storeys high with the upper two being 1920's Brewers Tudor.

Behind this frontage is a medieval hall house.
The bar lies immediately to the right as you walk into the pub.  Apparently this has a heated foot-rest - not something I'd deem strictly necessary.  Sadly I didn't investigate this further - no easy way to check foot-rests as I squeezed past the old boys nursing their pints of Fosters to get to the bar.
The ale choice on offer was 'Doom Bar' or Greene King 'Yardbird'.  We plumped for halves of the 'Yardbird', a 4% pale ale, which was absolutely fine in an average Greene King kinda way.

But the appeal of the pub isn't so much the beer: it's the remarkable interior.  Beyond the bar, the room opens out to the dramatic high ceiling of the hall, with flags, shields and suits of armour above a magnificent 16th century fireplace.

The legend associated with the pub and proudly displayed on a sign by the stairs to the gallery is that this hall was once used as Henry V's Court Room.

Legend

Back in 1415 Henry Scrope of Masham, Richard, Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton were suspected of conspiring to murder Henry V and duly arrested. The conspirators in what became known as the Southampton Plot were put on trial at this location, found guilty and subsequently relieved of their heads at the Bargate.
Spoiling the tale somewhat, historians believe it's more likely that a trial would have taken place at the castle where the trio were imprisoned, which would have had plenty of suitable rooms in which to host a trial.  
Thereby somewhat scuppering the ghost sightings of a procession of three mournful souls leaving the pub.  Yep, the Red Lion claims it's fair share of paranormal activity with somewhere in excess of 20 ghosts said to make appearances and cause mischief.

A good knight out at the Red Lion
.....I'll get me coat. 

Despite it's age and history, the Red Lion doesn't feel like a tourist attraction - it feels like a proper pub.  There's a bunch of young lads standing inches away from the small TV showing Euro football qualifiers, a handful of locals by the bar and a few folks eating lunches.  And a parrot, sitting in is cage, overseeing proceedings.

Roy Orbison's 'Penny Arcade' is playing as we arrive - have a listen to it...it isn't half an odd song to walk into a pub and hear blasting from the speakers.  Our soundtrack then veered into a bit of Ultravox and Abba.

Personally, I enjoyed the Red Lion, but then I am a bit of a geek when it comes to heritage pubs.  Okay, you'll find better ales nearby, but you've got to go quite some way to match sitting on the gallery underneath the old timbers in the hall, keeping an eye out for ghosts and humming along to 'Take a Chance on Me'. 
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Heritage Pub Listing
There's also a great old picture of the pub in 1953 here, sporting Watneys signage a vacant lot next door.