The Quay Inn, Wareham

Well described by Maldenman below, this listed Georgian building is an excellent example of a traditional Dorset town pub. Food is the standard pub fare plus they do steak nights on Tuesdays, plus they sell locally caught crab specials. The TV screens were showing BBC News. Three ales on were Landlord, Ringwood Best and Purbeck IPA, all in very good condition. Well worth a visit and an essential part of a town crawl.

An attractive pub in an attractive setting, two rooms connected via an arched doorway, lowish beamed ceilings, the front room has a large exposed brick fireplace, patterned carpet and regular seating. Décor has the usual framed stuff, of particular note was a picture of an enormous 203lb sturgeon which was apparently caught nearby in the River Frome to the front of the pub. The side room has rather cheap looking laminate flooring, another smaller fireplace, chunky tables with flowers in small vases. Menus suggest this is now the preferred dining area, a couple of smaller tables were without. Décor here includes old pictures of the pub in it's days under Strong & Co of Romsey. There are two banks of handpumps, beers repeated, Ringwood BB, Timothy Taylor Landlord and Purbeck Jurassic Joule (£3.10). Boxes of cider, Joe's cider, Dorset Dabinett, Fiery Fox and Broad Oak. Food looked fairly priced with steaks from £12.95, F&C £10.95. Garden to the rear, the outdoor seating to the front would be a great spot with views of the river apart from that view being obscured by parked cars. A nice pub however, friendly service and amusingly so dog friendly that at one point group after group entered seeking lunch towing a hound that virtual bedlam ensued, especially when one was brought in off lead which was so giddy as to be hilarious. I don't however suggest this happens most days.

A simple two room pub set in a prime location on the Square at Wareham Quay. The main room has some large tables and is set up for diners whilst the side room is cosier, with smaller tables for those just wanting a drink. Our visit coincided with the Wareham Music Festival, so it was pretty busy inside and the tables on the pavement outside were all taken up as well. There were three ales on offer - Ringwood Best, Purbeck IPA and Sharp's Doom Bar. I had a half of the Purbeck IPA, which was well kept and served by a friendly enough barman. The staff in general were pretty friendly, with the landlady having some good banter with her customers and one of the barmaids was very helpful in finding extra seating for our group. Food was being served and on the whole it looked very nice, but they had some dishes brought out on sizzling hot plates, which filled the room with smoke. The decor was fairly basic, but there were a few nice old photos of the pub here and there. I think there are better pubs in Wareham, but this place still does enough to make it worth a look. It's perhaps best experienced on a warm summer day on one of the tables outside looking over the river.