I fear that if I fail to give you your daily instalment of “Half A Dozen Pubs...” before midnight then something dreadful will happen, so here’s Dorset.
A very lovely county, but not always a great one for pubs, particularly since the fall from grace of a certain pub in Wareham.
I’m sure there used to be more recommendable Palmers pubs in, say, 2007, but they seemed to go the way of Wadworths and Badger.
Sandford Orcas – Mitre (last visited in 2020)
Plenty of remote rural gems, and the Mitre was a surprise when I visited between lockdowns, mainly because it was operating an outside bar so the London plague wouldn’t infect the interior,
but I sneaked in for a wee after a half enjoyed at the top of the garden.
Portland – George Inn (last visited in 2022)
I could survive without anything from Bournemouth, or Dorchester, or even Weymouth, but there had to be a pub on the Isle of Portland. If only for the views.
But, as Simon will confirm, scruffy Portland has great pubs and clubs, the sort the 1975 GBG would describe as “workingmans local, Bitter (H)”.
I’m not sure the George is the very best, but Easton has the best views, the best Chinese takeaways,
and possibly the best cask.
Bridport – Pursuit of Hoppiness (last visited in 2019)
Palmers pubs never seemed to sell much cask, so in their home town I’ve picked the crafty bar to annoy you,
because the beer (Yeovil, NBSS 4.5) was sublime,
and the custom is incredibly varied, with the oddest hipsters outside Levenshulme and great banter.
“I blame the Egyptians”. Course you do.
And a soundtrack of Nick Drake and Tom Waits. But not the hits.
The chap who served me took a good look at the Gold card.
“It’s Life Membership“, I said, worried I’d lose out on the discount again.
“When does it expire though?” he might have asked.
Oh yes, random Bridport cat, too.
Farnham – The Museum (last visited 2023)
An upmarket dining pub on Cranborne Chase, picked because I walk the half hour here every year from my annual music festival at Larmer Tree and enjoy observing the subtle changes, the musicians staying at the hotel, and counting how many pints of Butcombe are served.
To be fair, a great walk.
It’s “traditional”, particularly now Butcombe run it,
but now that Butcombe do run it you can actually get lunch at 2:45.
And that’s a win.
Our fifth pub isn’t gastro, but it’s amazing how many folk seem to come for the pasties.
Worth Matravers – Square & Compasses (last visited in 2016)
Yes, it’s one of the Guide legends, one of the five ever-presents. (Which of those five will fall first ?).
Come for the views,
come for the pasties,
and come for the best Palmers I had in 2016. Though I doubt they sell it anymore.
Over to you for a sixth. I would have love, love, loved a pub in Cerne Abbas…
retiredmartin 
The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas
The Sailor’s Return, Chaldon Herring
And of course, the mighty Digby Tap, Sherborne
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I’d second the Digby Tap. You don’t really think of Sherborne and Shaftesbury as being in the same county as the Jurassic Coast.
I thought the Ropemakers in Bridport was a decent pub, but some way short of a classic. Likewise the Blue Raddle in Dorchester.
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I could agree with ‘decent’ but ‘not a classic’, my opinion of the Ropemakers having been boosted by far more time than I had expected on the Tally Ho there.
I only vaguely remember the Blue Raddle.
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I’d forgot about the Lady Bobwomble brownies in the Ropemakers, matched perfectly with Palmers 200.
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I think you’re right about the Digby Tap, certainly a couple of references to it in my blog recall it sentimentally. I thought it might have changed hands a little while ago, when it dropped out of the Guide. Ripe for revisit.
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Palmers should do an 8% version at the end of the year, call it ‘Tally Ho Ho Ho’ and have a flashing light on the pumpclip.
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I mainly know Dorset from family holidays in Charmouth when our daughter was young.
In Bridport I thought the Ropemakers was best.
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The Three Horseshoes in Billy Bragg’s Burton Bradstock has always been good for Palmer’s beers. Had their Tally Ho in there once
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Paul,
I’ve had a pint of Palmers in there, but I think only one as the menu didn’t appeal to us.
We went in the Ropemakers another day for me to have a pint but Mrs Mudgie liked the menu so we ate and then the pub quiz was soon so we were a team of three and that meant of few hours of me on the Tally Ho.
A few years ago I was most pleasantly surprised to find Tally Ho on in the Hen and Chickens we used last April.
Palmers was one of the best brewery tours I’ve known.
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It’s a great location but the Palmers Copper wasn’t great (though the food certainly was)
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“the beer (Yeovil, NBSS 4.5) was sublime”
Cling on to that memory cuz you’ll never have another: Yeovil Ales one of the many micro-breweries to go to the wall of rising ingredient prices, soaring energy costs and falling sales in the cost of living crisis following so soon after the hammering of the Covid years seeing it close down.
For a 6th, of course am going for the town grew up in, Sherborne’s Digby Tap.
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