Tom Browns, Dorchester

A terraced pub, eatery and music venue, in white render and brown, with small patio at the back. It is in the GBG 2010. It housed the former Goldfinch Brewery, but it is now, as JB says, a part of the Dorset Brewing Co - perhaps not to everyone's taste as DBC RIP was chalked up in the bogs. The interior has a couple of rooms. The front room has the serving bar and is in mushroom, pea green and patterned wallpaper, with wood panel and wood floor and has a piano, as well as a Chesterfield sofa, stools and old prints, cartoons and photos on the walls. The other room is a small games room in white and chocolate, with a dart board. The service was fine and other clientele somewhat absent. The music was 60s based and at a decent level. They do food, but i didn't eat, so i can't comment on that. Beer; tap stuff, with DBC's Durdle Door, Jurassic, Goldfich's Tom Browns and Pot Belly Crazy Daze on handpull. I tried a half of each and all were fine. The modern elements are perhaps not to my personal taste, but overall the beer was fine. I would go back, but wouldn't stay all night.

In the middle of historic Dorchester is Tom Browns, which, as the CAMRA Good Beer Guide correctly points out, has the feel of a town centre ale house. The main room at the front has bare boards and the usual mixture of sofas and wooden tables and chairs. It feels basically more like a room than a pub, but a piano and an old cash register, inter alia, add a bit of interest and character. The pub is the former home of the Goldfinch Brewery and, although the name has been retained, the beer is, so I understand, now brewed by Dorset Brewing Co in Weymouth. The former pub sign denoting Goldfinch Brewery now leans rather forlornly against a wall in the main bar. A longish corridor leads to a small basic room at the back of the building which houses a dartboard. The walls of this corridor are decorated with a number of Tom Brown's Schooldays framed caricature prints, including a rather tasteless one which depicts a large nude and bears the caption "Flashman's First XV Team Hooker". There's a large garden at the back which I didn't get to explore properly because it was persisting down. On my recent Monday afternoon visit, the pub was virtually deserted and lacked any kind of real atmosphere at all, but I stayed longer than I otherwise would have done until the rain relented. There were 5 beers on in total - Chesil and Jurassic from Dorset Brewing Co , Tom Brown's Goldfinch plus 2 beers from Potbelly in Kettering. The Chesil was rather uninspiring, but the Tom Brown's Goldfinch - £ 2.55p - was superb. The pub is listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2010. Perhaps my judgement was clouded by the heavy rain outside and the lack of atmosphere inside, but I was rather underwhelmed by the visit as a whole.

Very nice pub, looks like it brews it's own real ale. I usually drink Guinness, but I had a pint of their own brew and it was very good. If you are passing, try it.