St Leonards Hotel, Ringwood

The St Leonards Hotel is a large Greene King Old English Inn found adjacent to the A31. Seating runs under the front windows and to the right is a snug and a pool table. Towards the rear to the left is a large L-shaped bar counter that faces a high ceiling bright and airy open plan seating area painted duck egg blue with a mix of high and standard tables. In here were a mix of business people on lunch and hotel guests, it wasn’t very busy. The bar supports premium keg and I counted four hand pumps that were drawing Greene King’s IPA and London Glory alongside TT Landlord and Butcombe’s Chris Moose. This pub’s location dictates that it is dry led, the burgers are priced at £13. My visit was just after lunch on a recent week day so I decided to have a Pastrami wrap from the limited sandwich list. This wasn’t my favourite thing. The service was polite in a corporate way so I think next time I’m driving this route I will try one of the other pubs.

A Greene King-owned roadside hotel next to the main road into the Bournemouth-Poole conurbation. It has a pub and restaurant as an integral part of the building, and there is a small garden at the back, while the car park at the front and side is big enough for the busiest holiday period. The main bar area is large enough for an establishment of this nature and leads to the hotel reception. The bar is wood-floored with a carpet flanking it, there is a nice looking fireplace and there is a selection of comfy chairs and tables. There is another, smaller, bar area near the main door, also comfortable and pleasant. The restaurant is at the back, less agreeable due in part to the presence of screaming children letting off steam after long incarceration in their parents’ cars on the journey from wherever. The staff are friendly and tolerant of their itinerant customers’ foibles. The pub also holds occasional theme nights for its few regulars. Free WiFi is available, there are a couple of gaming machines around and there is a cash dispenser near the reception. Three ales on, 2 from GK and a guest. This week’s guest was Landlord which was in very good condition and quite an enjoyable pint. The food was less impressive, though. Worth breaking a journey with a swift half here, and it’s probably quite a reasonable B&B given its convenient location.