The Boot, Chapelhay, Weymouth

A really good drinking pub. The review by John Bonser describes the pub very well. A good choice of Ringwood beers were available on my visit. The Boondoggle was very good. The pub is hard to find - you won't walk past it accidentally, but it is quite close to the harbour area and is well worth seeking out.

The Boot is the oldest pub in Weymouth and is close to the harbour but hidden from most people visiting Weymouth. Once inside the pub has an olde worlde feel to it with a beamed ceiling and bare boards,this was a Ringwood tied house and had three of their beers on the bar i had a drink of Ringwood Forty Niner which was very nice there was also Ringwood best and Old Thumper. I thought this was a really decent pub but unlike most pubs in Weymouth it does'nt let children in. Pub visited 25 August 1999.

Proudly announcing itself as Weymouth's oldest inn and dating back to the 17th century, The Boot is situated slightly away from the main central area of Weymouth, somewhat incongruously past the local Council Offices and on the fringes of a major town roundabout with a large ASDA supermarket. Its location means it's very much a locals pub with, seemingly, little passing trade. It's certainly not where the first time visitor to Weymouth would automatically expect the oldest inn in town to be found, although a small plaque high up on the pub wall tells us that the pub is "fronting the former busy High Street of Old Weymouth". Perhaps inevitably, it's where local ghost tours of the nearby harbour start - every Wednesday evening at 7 pm. The pub consists of a low beamed bare boarded bar with a split level interior and additional drinking areas at each end. Leaded coloured windows denoting "public bar" and "saloon bar" tell us that it was formerly a multi roomed pub. Some hanging wellingtons and other types of boot and old photographs of the pub add character to the interior, although the colour scheme, which features a lot of greenish painted wood panelling, does jar somewhat. Note also the carved wood plaque with "The Boot" engraved on it above the fireplace in the lounge bar. The absence of music, fruit machines etc give the pub a rather basic old fashioned ale house feel to it, although live music ( guitarists ) feature occasionally. A former Devenish & Co house, it's now a Ringwood Brewery pub which, on my recent Sunday evening visit, was serving Ringwood Best, Fortyniner,Old Thumper and Boondoggle ( a summer seasonal beer ). Jennings Cocker Hoop was on as a so called guest, although it is debatable whether this can be regarded as a true "guest beer" in a Marstons owned pub. The Ringwood Best - £ 2.85p - was in good condition. The pub has been a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular in recent years. This pub is well worth seeking out when in Weymouth

Great pub and probably the best in Weymouth. Never a bad pint of Ringwood here