The Lord Nelson, Poole

A characterful Hall & Woodhouse outlet on the quayside. The interior wraps round a central bar. Flagstone floor, duelling pistols above the bar, wood burning stove, comfy banquettes, inevitable maritime paraphernalia. Seems big on live music and there’s a pool table and darts to the rear. Plenty of seating out front for a nice prom view on a sunny day. Three Badger beers on and an interesting selection of First Call, Twilight Tawny (drank well) and Tanglefoot as well as Westons Rosie's Pig. As it’s an H&W place expect to be stung for prices. Sarcy but ostensibly friendly ROCK barman. I rather liked it in here, shame it was so quiet - seems more of an evening/weekend pub.

A fine Georgian sea-front pub on a busy promenade location. There is a seating area at the front with a limited view of the boats in the Town Quay, from which you enter a single long, L-shaped bar. The staff were quite pleasant, even though it was busy. Apparently there is often karaoke, but we were spared that torment during this visit. The food looked a bit ordinary but was fine for a convenient snack. The majority of the customers were mature motor cyclists, the atmosphere was convivial and the beer was decent – two ales on, both Hall and Woodhouse. My First Call was a good pint, although not the best I've had. Worth including on a crawl or stopping for refreshments while visiting the Quay.

One of many pubs along The Quay, this is perhaps a bit more of a traditional boozer than some of it’s neighbours but naturally makes the most of the views with plenty of outside seating. Inside it’s an L-shape bar with a somewhat run down feel, and like many of the nearby hostelries it has a vaguely nautical theme with dark blue and cream paintwork and various parts of ships on display such as an instrument cluster and a anchor chain reel. The flooring is mostly old flagstones with some carpet around the perimeter, and there is a small stage area in the corner. It would appear that live music is on most nights, and the Sunday evening we were there it was a 60’s Rock’n’Roll band, who probably weren’t too bad but were evidently trying to play at a somewhat higher volume than their PA equipment allows, with the resultant music being rather distorted. A free standing wood burning stove stood at the front of the pub surrounded by piles of logs and a railing. Off to one side was an old space invaders game, and a plasma was on a wall to the left. Around the corner at the rear there was a pool table, table football game and a darts board. Unusually besides the usual condom machine in the gents, there was also one dispensing vibrators – just £5 including batteries, but I didn’t try one myself. Beers on tap were all from the Hall & Woodhouse stable with their Badger, Tanglefoot and Hopping Hare. Ciders were Stowford Press and Weston’s Traditional Scrumpy.