The Snakecatcher, Brockenhurst

Official site of The Snakecatcher - www.thesnakecatcher.co.uk

Official site of The Snakecatcher - www.thesnakecatcher.co.uk

Popular food-led pub located close to the railway station. The brick exterior looks quite plain, but it has been significantly refurbished inside and features a mix of traditional and modern elements in the 'L'-shaped arrangement of various seating / dining areas. There is also a reasonable beer garden on one side. We found a 'house' Best Bitter and three other Ringwood beers on handpump - Razor Back, Boon Doggle and Forty Niner - plus Romsey Gold from Flack Manor and Hobgoblin on gravity from fake barrels set into the bar-back (presumably with casks in the room behind).

This large, split level pub close to Brockenhurst station, was formerly known as the Railway Inn, before adopting its present name in honour of local character and pub regular Harry 'Brusher' Mills. This colourful character, depicted in the pub's sign and on an information board next to the bar, lived in Hollands Wood, just outside Brockenhurst, and was famed for his ability to catch snakes, with estimates suggesting he caught over 30,000 serpents as a means of pest control and to pass on to research facilities, zoos etc... In 1905 he died whilst leaving the pub, so the renaming seems a fitting tribute for an interesting local character. The pub today has no doubt changed beyond recognition from Brusher Mills' days, setting itself up somewhere between the Foresters Arms' traditional local's boozer feel and the Rose and Crown's food-led gastro look. You enter into a smart main bar, stripped back somewhat with lots of bare wood on show. The L shaped servery runs along the back wall and around too the left, whilst an simple seating area can be found to the right, where a couple of people were eating. Moving past the left hand end of the bar, more seating can be found in a cosier rear space which leads don a few steps to a rear room which was packed on this visit with people watching a World Cup fixture on a large TV screen in one corner. This part of the pub was darker than the well lit front bar, but I felt this gave it a bit more of a homely feel and we would've settled down here had seats been free. Instead, we made our way out to the ample garden which runs to the rear and right hand side of the building. There is a vast amount of seating out here as well as a handy smoker's shelter. The pub arguably has the best beer range in Brockenhurst, allowing us to chose from Ringwood Best (re-branded as Snakecatcher Ale), Boondoggle and Fortyniner, Marstons Final Whistle and Wychwood Full Brazilian. The Boondoggle, Final Whistle and Full Brazilian were all served directly from the cask on the bar back, so you'll need to keep your eyes peeled to spot all the options. The barman was pretty surly but dished out passable pints of the Best and a very tasty Full Brazilian. This is a decent place that should have a wider appeal than the other two pubs in town. We enjoyed some decent beer here and had we been able to watch the football, would've probably stayed for longer. Worth a look if you're in the area.