please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Has been under new management since the end of June, and is better now than it was in the late 80s/early 90s.
Copper, Otter & Doombar with Ringwood coming soon.
Simple pub food done well & all reasonably priced.
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Just got back from a holiday at a cottage in the village. We found the staff very friendly, the food was really good a the 3 real ciders and 2 types of perry was extremely welcome.
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This is a lovely old country pub i have eaten here quite a few times over the last few month and everytime we good the food is fantastic and good value we even went there recently for mothersday and again flawless and an amazing deal with mothers eating for a fiver. As for the previous comments ref. mice this i believe was over a year ago uner old management all i can say on that is the place looked and smelt very clean and look like they had spent alot of time and money to get it right still has its character.
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I gave this pub an 8/10 a while back because I was pleasantly impressed. However, today I see on the BBC Dorset website that the former publicans were just fined �6,000 for a mice infestation: "Live and dead mice were observed along with vast amounts of droppings... The kitchen and bar area were found to be infested with mice. There was little regard for pest control in evidence."
It's now got new owners, the article says, but I don't think that I will be eating there again any time soon. And I withdraw my earlier rating.
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Not really a pub,more a place to eat, and the food is expensive, especially for what it is. My meal was very disappointing and probably the worst I have had in a pub fora few years.Beer okay,but very limited,just 3 pumps for a very big bar, Ringwood,Otter and Copper ales, some lagers.Staff very helpful and friendly, but all a bit chaotic and a bit noisy.Have been 3 or 4 times, but wouldn't visit again, especially to eat.
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The alarm bells started to ring after seeing the Egon Ronay approved sticker in the window. Now I know why their food prices are on the high side.
The usual type of main meals were over �11 (�3 to �4 cheaper elsewhere). Lighter bites were �6. Portions were generous, quality okay - but not value for money.
The beer quality was poor and, judging from previous reviewers over the years, the choice is always the same - Palmers Copper Ale and Ringwood Best.
Strangely the third hand-pump had the overrated Marstons Pedigree.
Unlike the 'good old days' when you paid for drinks/food with cash as you went along, these days one normally sets up a tab and settles by card after you have been fed and watered.
So, a tab was set up. It took nearly twenty minutes to settle it.
I waited ten minutes for the customer in front to settle his bill. There seemed to be a lot of disputing what he was being charged for. Then it was my turn.
My rough estimate for the bill was about �40 - �41. I was charged �56. Time for my disputing to start.
Instead of putting all your tab slips under your table number, they were mixing them with other peoples tabs. The bar staff then try to guess which ones are yours. Idiots.
Heaven forbid if you were in there one busy night.........you might end up treating the whole pub.
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Was staying in the village and have to say that the staff were all very friendly. Although I prefer to comment on the drinking aspect of pubs I have to say what a pleasant change it made to have decent individual cooking - the gravy accompanying the 'Game Parcel' was superb. Sweet Garlic and Nigella seed according to the chef on one of his sorties to mingle with the punters
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Attractive pub with a pretty good range of beer and a grumpy landlady who seemed pissed off at having to leave her fag outside to come in and serve me. Shame as I've always liked this pub in the past.
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Completely different experience from HenPen - the bar maid wasn't in the slightest bit interested in us or what we wanted & seemed to serve us very grudgingly. Definitely not friendly at all. Won't be rushing back.
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Hadn't been back for some time, but today was a good visit. Much better than it was a few years ago. Ringwood, Palmers and Otter all on tap, as well as Flack Manor, all well-kept. This is really good and worth the 7-mile walk I took to get here. Can't say anything about the food, though; however, the menu looks more manageable than it did a few years ago (when it would have had to have been a combination of freezer/microwave). A friendly place.
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New owners at the pub but it's still a cracking place; well worth a visit.
Nice range of beers; well kept. Nice choice of food; very tasty and reasonable.
One of my favourites(not just in Dorset)!
The staff are always really friendly too.
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I really like this pub, well worth the drive out to, often go for a birthday meal. Last time i went i had the Lamb and it was Amazing
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Back again last week. Still very friendly, good choice of well-kept beers and good food too! Nice relaxed atmosphere, dogs also welcomed. Recommended!
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My local for this week! Very friendly staff and well kept beers....very good Copper and Ringwood Best.......food also very tasty and decent portions.
New owners/managers....nice people!
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Visited in May, place was very quiet (it was about 3.30), found the staff and customers very friendly, with a good range of well kept real ales and the dog was allowed inside.
Didn't try the food tho'.
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Looks like we should've gone for the ploughmans as our pies were diabolical (and very overpriced). I think this is only the second time I've ever been driven to complain about the food. The beer wasn't great either, but then I didn't fancy hanging about to try the other ales, so I can't really comment.
It's a shame, as I really want to like this pub.
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Thought that this was ok.Nice pint of ale. As someone who usually baulks at food in pubs i have to admit that the ploughmans were indeed exceptional.
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People seem to rave about this place, but I have visited it on four occasions and thought that the food was expensive and very poor. The ploughmans are very good, though.
The beer is well kept, however.
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Lovely peaceful setting, good range of beers. The ploughmans was very good as well. Recommended.
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Nice pub in a lovely setting. Decent range of local beers from Palmers etc.Extensive and slightly confusing menu. Maybe a little over-priced as well. Had a hot baguette which was huge, but mostly bread rather than filling. Hardley touched the chips and salad that came with it.
anonymous - 25 Nov 2007 13:24 |
We visited twice whilst we were on holiday in Weymouth during August Bank Holiday week. The first visit was on the Bank Holiday Sunday and whilst it was very busy a table was found for us and the food whilst average arrived quickly. On our second visit we were served by a very disinterested member of staff who rolled her eyes if we asked for anything that was even slightly outside the meal descriptions (i.e. beans instead of peas!) Also I was served a very cloudy and sour pint of real ale even though this pub is in the Good Beer Guide. On requesting a change I wasn't offered an apology and they did not even take the offending beer off sale!
Overall, could do better. Lovely location though.
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Sad to say, the pub changed hands some years amd became thoroughly modern. The original pub was just a few small rooms with the beers on stollage and a bar which was a small hatch at the end of a corridor. Now it's just very average - typical of the change in so many Dorset pubs.
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Lovely comfortable country pub and the beer was spot on. Was impressed by the menu but didn't eat there as it was the wrong time of day. Given some of the other comments posted here, it could have been a lucky escape! They let dogs in though, which is always a plus in my book.
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We visited this pub by chance over athe bank holiday, very busy with a beer festival going on.. the food was excellent cannot fault one bit,it makes a change to actually see a variety of dishes on a blackboard rather than the same old boring stuff. beer was great too!!
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I was disappointed with this one. It's in a lovely setting but the food wasn't great and somehow, although busy, it lacked any real character.
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I have to disagree with the majority of reviewers here and say whilst the pub and drinks are fine, the food here was awful. Warning bells rang when I saw an advert stating 'massive portions' - further bells rang when I saw the huge menu of 30+ dishes.
Had a whitebait starter - not too bad, but the mains were abysmal. Sausage and mash - cheap economy sausages, overcooked on a bed of re-heated mash with stodgy packet gravy, and badly cooked starchy peas (how can you mess up peas???).
A rib and rump was equally badly cooked, plate piled high with chips (about the only edible item on the plate) and a horrid packet barbeque sauce, and why-oh-why a slice of orange in the salad garnish?(!).
The crowning moment was when the waitress grumpily cleared the table with a 'these finished?' rather than 'how was the meal?' - am sure even she realised how bad it was.
Sad to say this pub is as bad as any I have been to regarding food quality (pile 'em high with rubbish mentality) - am sure even the 'Sailors' would not wish to return here.
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Idyllic-looking country pub with characterful interior (though not a "Square & Compasses" !). Beer was onl average and very expensive.
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Hidden away in the glorious Dorset countryside, this Pub is a gem serving excellent food with an emphasis on spicy, oriental fare and steaks. Also serves 3-4 Real ales and Thatchers Cider. My only quibble would be that the beer is served a little too warm in temperature,but the glorious quiet of the surrounding hills makes up for that. Highly recommended and well worth stopping on your way back from Lulworth Cove or Durdle Door.
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what a lovely out of the way pub. thatched roof. plenty of car park space and real ales. and the food is fantastic too. just wish there was a bus running past this place so i didnt have to have a coke or just a half-pint (or maybe a pint) when i go here.
garden is nice and enclosed - in the sun you could spend the whole of the day here. and maybe the next
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Fantastic range of choices of food. Well worth the travelling distance to it.
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An absolute gem of a country pub. It's well out of the way, but worth taking the time to find - look out for the sign on the A352 - that's how we found it.
The building is an old thatched effort and there are plenty of tables inside and out. We visited on a lovely sunny day and sat outside enjoying the views of the surrounding countryside.
When we were there, there were four real ales on tap and a local scrumpy as well. I went with five others and everyone's food was excellent (massive portions too).
I probably sound like the landlord the way I'm going on, but we just found this pub on the way home from a camping trip. It's too far away from me to make a return trip likely anytime soon, but if you're passing then try it out.
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Visited this pub with my wife for a meal the place was a mess with no effort to clear previous persons
'chimps tea party' at our table and it was still not cleared twenty minutes later so we left - was this a one off?
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Excellent country pub with fine food and amiable atmosphere. Somewhat surprisingly there are a group of Bournemouth fans who use this place for a few pre-match scoops.
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