1st visit of Farnham and its environs: Almost full for our very early afternoon visit having met up with a fellow real ale enthusiast at a local café in Aldershot, Hampshire, and just five minutes by train before our next stop at Farnham in Surrey. The latter seemed to be somewhat lacking in traditional cafes with just one that came up and so a stop at Aldershot it was. Usual friendly, prompt service with four guest ales on to choose from. Wetherspoon rescued and restored this Grade-II listed hotel that was first licensed in 1857. They reopened it in April 2014 with a light and airy interior with a single marble-topped bar and an open plan area with exposed beams. Pictures of old Aldershot adorn the walls and there are even postcards set into the table tops. A real fire is well used in the colder months in the room overlooking Princes Gardens. Close to the cinema and the Princes Hall, a multi-purpose theatre and civic centre located in the heart of Aldershot, and owned and managed by Rushmoor Borough Council, The Queen Hotel has seven bedrooms. Now included in the January “London Beer Festival” as well as the bi-annual (March and October) Wetherspoon Beer Festivals, the Queen Hotel also hosts occasional local brewery “Tap Takeovers.” It is one of the oldest licensed buildings remaining in Aldershot and first licensed as the Queen’s Inn in 1857, overlooking the newly built West Cavalry Barracks gate on the corner of Grosvenor Road and the High Street. Other hotels and beer houses which joined it are all now closed, including Uncle Tom’s Cabin next door in the High Street, the Lord Nelson next door in Grosvenor Road and the Imperial Hotel on the opposite corner of Barrack Road. For directions from Aldershot rail station, follow Station Road down to the roundabout, then turn left into the High Street and The Queen Hotel is at the top of this street, opposite Princes Gardens.

Quiet in mid-afternoon on a rainy Tuesday.