Lulworth Cove Inn, Wareham

Knowing that the Lulworth Cove Inn is a Hall and Woodhouse establishment I wasn’t surprised to see Tanglefoot and Badger Beer on the bar. It was a shame that the other two hand pumps were unused, but there is more variety of draught than most H&W pubs. Food is served during the day and it was very busy in here during a lunchtime visit on a recent sunny weekday afternoon. The food served is pub fayre and all of the mains I read through were all under £10. The pub area is to the right of the entrance and the rest of this large building is taken up by 16 en suite hotel rooms. The bar runs up the left hand wall and patio doors are found along the right hand wall which leads to a patio garden. There is also some outside balcony seating but I’m not sure if this is for hotel guests only. A lone plasma screen was showing muted Olympics and there was no background music. I didn’t note any upcoming events advertised and I left with the feeling that this place exists to serve food to passing tourists.

This is a large, detached Hall & Woodhouse pub and eatery, which also does accommodation. The exterior is pretty much all in white, with dormer windows and a nice beer garden area. I believe it was voted Devon Pub of the Year in 2009. The interior is open plan-ish on a couple of levels, with a cream, salmon and French mustard colours on the walls. The place is foody orientated - it is not really a drinkers or locals pub, as it is basically full of holiday makers and so they cater for that market. I retreated to have my beers in the beer garden as it was a nice day. There is nautical and sailing ephemera and pictures/photos on the walls and blinds on the windows. I didn't eat, so couldn't comment on that. The service i found to be fine, though as PSM points out, it was difficult for the staff to keep up with clearing the tables. There was a TV, though it wasn't on and there was a pool table. There was no background music. Beer; tap stuff with three Hall and Woodhouse handpulls; Tanglefoot, Fursty Ferret and Badger. All three i found to be pretty decent at my visit. Being naturally miserable, i tend to avoid places like this as they are too busy, but i found this place to be a far better experience than i anticipated mainly because i went outside, i think.

This place was, unsurprisingly, packed when we popped in for food on a damp Bank Holiday Sunday. The pub has one large, semi-partitioned room plus a patio and garden at the rear. The place was filthy when we arrived, with staff racing around trying to clean things up, but we managed to grab a table and ordered food from the standard Hall and Woodhouse menu. There were only two ales available at the bar, Tanglefoot and Badger First Gold, but as I was driving, I didn't try either of them. The bar had various display cases on it, full of muffins and cookies, as well as a small heating cabinet with what looked like pies and sausage rolls. The staff were all young and, with the exception of one very cheerful barmaid, completely uninterested in doing any work. A TV near the bar was showing live football, but was muted. The food turned out to be okay, if nothing out of the ordinary. The weather thankfully cleared up as we finished and we were able to enjoy a nice stroll around the cove, which is one of the highlights of the area. A typical example of a pub in a tourist destination being lazy because they know they have a captive audience. A visit to Lulworth won't be enhanced by a visit to this pub.

A perfect example of how not to do it. Enter through a couple of narrow doors (you'll need to unlock the second door without help if you have a wheelchair or pram) into a large open plan nautical themed bar. Long bar to your left as soon as you walk in, with 4 handpumps offering Tanglefoot (x2), Lemony Cricket and another - Champion I think). The lighting I believe was trying to be atmospheric but in effect was dark and dingy. Service was appauling - a girl whose english wasn't very good was stuggling to understand the order (half Tanglefoot, half coke no ice half squash no ice). That's not a complaint about her but about the management - putting staff on that don't speak English. The beer quality was awful, especially given that the pub is owned by Halls and Woodhouse. I've actually sent a letter to them, as the bar staff were so uninterested complaining to them would have fallen on deaf ears. As we were leaving I said goodbye to the two men behind the bar. They stopped larking about, looked at me, said nothing, and carried on larking about. Lulworth cove is beautiful, well worth visiting, and this pub, whilst in a prime location, is an insult to pubs as a whole. Walk on past - 10 minutes up the road is the Castle.

Official site of the Lulworth Cove Inn - www.lulworth-cove.co.uk

Official site of the Lulworth Cove Inn - www.lulworth-cove.co.uk