The Worlds End, Blandford Forum

Official site of The Worlds End - worldsendalmer.co.uk

Official site of The Worlds End - worldsendalmer.co.uk

Large thatched pub situated just off the A31, but which is well advertised from the road to lure passing motorists in. The welcome was warm and whilst this is primarily a diners' pub, I was welcomed as a drinker. No longer a Hall & Woodhouse pub, it does still appear to be part of a different chain of pubs. You enter into the main bar area with a stone floor. There is a fireplace to the right-hand side with a Royal Enfield motorbike in front of it. Off to the left is the dining area with a mixture of floor boards and further stone flooring. Staff were promoting a new menu to all other customers, as I was the only drinker. The bar has 6 handpulls. Lyme Regis Cobb appears the be the regular beer. Guest beers were from Fuller's - London Pride & Red Fox, whilst there were 3 unclipped handpulls. I contemplated ordering the Cobb, but happened to ask about what ciders they had. Amongst the keg ciders were West Milton Dorset Moonlight & Stumbler. But I happened to ask if they had any still ciders. At which point the bar manager disappeared off and came back with a full bag-in-the-box cider. She told me the name of the man who produced it and mentioned that he owned the pub too. I eventually concluded that it was West Milton Medium. Other craft beer options on the bar were Lyme Regis Long Shore & Steady Habits, Meantime Prime Pale & Otter OPA. Free wifi was available here. Dogs are also welcome. Whilst I didn't see any TVs, elevator-type music was playing rather annoyingly in the background. There are outdoor tables to the front if the weather is suitable too. I quite liked this pub. Staff were very friendly, it is an attractive building and the presence of a real cider was a bonus.

This roadside pub claims to be Dorset's best known, but it is by no means the most enjoyable. It is currently operated by Hall and Woodhouse and caters primarily for passing tourist trade. The large 17th Century longhouse sits on its own plot, isolated on the old main road by the re-routing of the new A31 about 100 yards to the North. It has a huge car park, a seating area at the front and a terrace garden at the rear with a rural feel. There is also a children's play area. Inside there are flagstones and oak timbers, some original. The ground floor has been knocked through and extended to form a single long bar which is primarily furnished with small dining tables, many of them marked 'reserved' but unoccupied during the busy period. There is no local spirit or family atmosphere here. The management is distant and unengaging, while the waiting staff look miserable and overworked. They claim to employ a team of professional chefs, but the Romanian slop-jockey was unable or unwilling to meet simple requests from diners. There were three ales on – I had Tanglefoot, which was in very good condition. This isn't currently somewhere I'd make an effort to visit, but it wouldn't be the End of the World to drop in for a few beers and a formulaic snack if convenient.

An atmospheric pub, serving excellent First Gold, Fursty Ferret and Tanglefoot. If you like your food served on a block of wood, your peas in a toy colander and your chips in an empty bean tin, this is the pub for you! Apart from this silly way of serving food and the fact that my scampi & chips only contained nine pieces of scampi, we all enjoyed our meals. Certainly worth a visit.

Stopped in here at around 4pm for a very late lunch one weekday afternoon just after Christmas. Waited 45 minutes for food to be served, despite a complete lack of other diners. Thankfully the food was, on the whole, pretty good. Two Badger beers on offer at the bar. I tried the 'Pickled Partridge' which was very good, whilst the 'First Gold' was also available. The interior of the pub has been revamped since I last visited several years ago, and thankfully the main bar looks a lot more welcoming as a result, even if it is now unashamedly in the gastro-pub territory its location suggests it is best suited to. This is exactly the same sort of Hall and Woodhouse outfit as the St Peter's Finger and several other local pubs, but it's still worth a look if your focus is food rather than drink.