The Horse & Groom, Wareham

Located just off the High Street in a small square near the church, this is a traditional looking pub, and whilst t didn’t quite have the cosy olde worlde charm that I had expected, it was still nonetheless very pleasant. Décor wise it’s quite traditional with red patterned carpet on much of the floor, as well as some sort of wood laminate in places. Paintwork is mostly pale green, with some darker green, maroon or blue in places. The ceiling had an couple of black beams, but was largely just plain white, whilst one room had a wall made from old wooden wine boxes, which was something of a feature. A number of pictures were dotted around the walls, including various animals dressed up to look human, and old black and white pictures of the locale. A TV was mounted up on the wall, but fortunately this was not in use, whilst a couple of notice boards were covered with a selection of old beer mats, hinting at a regularly changing selection. The beers on this occasion were St Austell Proper Job, Salcombe Island Street Porter, Butcombe Gold, Langport Bitter and Palmer’s Copper. Ciders meanwhile were Aspall’s and Dorset Orchard Gold. Overall, pretty decent and worth popping in.

Facebook page of The Horse & Groom - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Horse & Groom - www.facebook.com

This is an old, traditional pub just off the main road through the centre of Wareham, recently reopened after a period of closure, with a smartened up interior. I drank inhere a few times in my teenage years and am sure that the pub used to have various separate rooms, but it has been opened out quite a bit now, with the entrance leading you down a short central passageway of sorts before emerging at the bar, with seating areas to either side in spaces that could well have been partitioned off in the past. The servery runs along the rear wall and has a nice traditional looking counter and plain white bar back lined with a few pump clips. The two seating areas have been carpeted and offer limited banquettes and quite a few regular tables and chairs under walls lined with typical photos of the local area, horse brasses and rural themed items. A couple of large TV screens were showing a test cricket match with the commentary audible but quite quiet. A door to the rear leads out to a two-tier patio garden with a few nice flowerboxes, several tables and sturdy garden chairs and access to the toilet block. The new owners have installed a real ale presence, with five handpulls on the bar, three of which were operational on our recent visit, offering St Austell HSD and Proper Job and Butcombe Original. My pint of Proper Job was in good nick and the pub has made the latest edition of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. My parents have visited a couple of times and said the food was very good but the menu was very limited and the service wasn’t always the friendliest – something I can sympathise with, having encountered a particularly miserable barman on this visit. I’m pleased to see this place open again and doing its best for the town’s beer scene and I thought the place was quite well presented, even if the TV screens were a bit overwhelming and the welcome was lukewarm. There are better pubs in town but this place has jumped up the pecking order and should be considered for a visit when in the area.