The White Horse, Dorking

This is a vast hotel bar located in a grand building on Dorking's main drag. The place has a rambling, split-level interior with lots of bare boards, plain painted walls, plush furniture and ample dining spaces. The servery is hidden on entry, occupying a space to the front left which can only be reached by passing through a few different seating areas first. It has a smart, dark wood panelled counter with a modern, mirrored bar back and an attractive patterned tile strip along the floor. Seating areas fan out in all directions, offering comfy looking furniture in a modernised environment that perhaps sticks a little too closely to the hotel bar template. There are a few nice features here and there, including smart fireplaces and some lovely parquet flooring, whilst the decor incorporates plenty of old paintings on the walls, large potted plants across various surfaces plus a big, quirky map of the town with this pub at the centre. Fancy light fittings, large vases and urns and plenty of mixed partitioning screens round out the contemporary, if rather by-the-numbers, styling and a sappy lounge music soundtrack played in the background. I was a little taken aback to find four cask ales on the bar - Sharps Doom Bar, Taylors Landlord, St Austell Tribute and Surrey Hills Shere Drop. The Tribute was in pretty good shape, suggesting they might get enough turnover to make four ales a viable option. The barman was quite friendly and he topped up my pint without any prompting, which I always think is a good sign. This isn't a pub to set the pulse racing, having been styled to suit residents rather than with the aim of building a loyal, local customer base. The choice of ales is probably the pub's stand out feature and assuming quality can be maintained, this elevates it above many of the humdrum ale ranges in the town's other pubs. Not one I'm likely to return to, but it clearly serves a purpose and it's good that this fine building remains open to the public. Date of visit - 23rd July 2024

A traditional small town hotel which has been done up in a surprisingly pleasant way and still feels like an active venue rather than a museum piece. The bar area is in the middle of the front, with a restaurant to one side and an outdoor area behind. The ales were not over exciting, with Doom Bar and Tribute on and TT Landlord not, but were in fair condition and at £5 not overpriced for the area. Handy for buses also.

An impressive hotel bar ,you have to navigate some steep steps before entering a lobby,then the lounge with upmarket furniture and room around the bar for vertical drinking.There is modern tiling below the bar,there is decent wood panelling and then a far section set for diners. The vibe here is "pub with rooms" rather than a stuffy hotel so it's well used by drinkers.Three handpumps offered Doom Bar,TT Landlord and Surrey Hills Shere Drop (enjoyable,NBSS 3.5). Worth including on any real ale tour of town,a 6.5 kind of place.

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsedorking.com

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsedorking.com

Run by the Mercure chain hotel group, this may have been an historic coaching inn in days gone by but now it is an ale-free zone with a small (if very nice) bar. Which is a shame as it really could be something.