Portsmouth pub The Sally Port Inn gets new lease of life with 10,000 antiques - including Hitler's wedding gift

A PUB in Old Portsmouth is set to be the only one in the world where you can enjoy a pint while buying a wedding gift given to Adolf Hitler.

By Richard Lemmer

Published 20th Jan 2021, 11:00 BST

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The unique offer comes as The Sally Port Inn, in 58 High Street, welcomes Sally Antiques – formerly Portsmouth’s Antique Storehouse – as its new tenant to share the historic building.

The antiques emporium will allow pub-patrons, drinks in hand, to browse the 10,000 items on display, ranging from firearms crafted for King George III to Eva Braun’s wedding gift to Adolf Hitler.

All of the items are for sale, with the green vase given to the Nazi leader setting a potential buyer back more than £27,000.

Razvan Ionascu, deputy manager at Sally Antiques and historian, with an 18th century musket used by the French Royal Liegois regiment, a precursor of the French Foreign Legion, available for purchase. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1228)

Razvan Ionascu, deputy manager at Sally Antiques and historian, with an 18th century musket used by the French Royal Liegois regiment, a precursor of the French Foreign Legion, available for purchase. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1228)

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Landlord Mark Smith, who has owned the site for more than five years, said: ‘It’s something different.

‘It’s effectively run as two separate businesses – so they are responsible for their own rules.

‘Pre-Covid, we had arranged for them to occupy the majority of the building, keeping the bar on one side, keeping its public house image.

Sally Antiques has on display a green Art Deco vase - a wedding gift from Eva Braun to her husband and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1213)

Sally Antiques has on display a green Art Deco vase - a wedding gift from Eva Braun to her husband and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1213)

‘In terms of a historical areas of Portsmouth, this has to be one of the best places to have a major tourist attraction.

‘There are hundreds of years of maritime history within the building.’

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The building – which dates back to the 16th century – has housed historical figures from Admiral Nelson to Buster Crabb, a Second World War hero who was the inspiration of James Bond – and whose ghost is said to haunt the site.

Pictured is: (l-r) Razvan Ionascu, deputy manager of Sally Antiques and historian, with Mark Smith, owner of The Sally Port Inn. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1348)

Pictured is: (l-r) Razvan Ionascu, deputy manager of Sally Antiques and historian, with Mark Smith, owner of The Sally Port Inn. Picture: Sarah Standing (190121-1348)

Assistant manager of Sally Antiques, Razvan Ionascu, said: ‘I have not heard any ghostly noises – but maybe we haven’t been here long enough to hear them.

‘The building just happened to be available when were were looking for it.

‘It is absolutely brilliant that it has so much history.’

The shop’s five staff members have spent the last seven months carefully moving its Aladdin’s cave of artifacts from its old home in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The pub and antique store plan to reopen once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, with a full catalogue of antiques available at sallyantiques.co.uk.

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