The George Tapps, Bournemouth

A large Stonegate town pub housed in former retail premises, it was previously The Litten Tree. It occupies the ground floor of several adjacent shops. Sharkey's Pool Bar used to be on the floor above, but that closed earlier this year after a fire. The cavernous single bar has a wealth of entertainment – plenty of gaming machines, pool, table football, TV and projector screens showing Sky Sports and news channels. There is a small paved garden at the back which serves as a smoking area. There are no barstools, presumably because they end up being used as weapons, but there is plenty of space for vertical drinking around the entrance area, while the rest of the floorplan is taken up by dining tables. Food consists of burgers, pies and standard pub fare, all from frozen packets ready for microwaving. There were 4 ales and a cider on draft. Two St Austell's beers, Doombar and DBC's Durdle Dor were all kept a little too chilled but were otherwise fine. I would come back for a beer, maybe to start a crawl or take advantage of the late night opening to round off, but it's not the place to stay if you want a quiet, civilised beer.

Official site of The George Tapps - www.georgetappsbournemouth.co.uk

Official site of The George Tapps - www.georgetappsbournemouth.co.uk

A fairly charmless Litter Tray on a street that felt pretty dodgy (we observed a rather shady character doing business over the road). Large open-plan place (split level) including bouncers, a pool table, live TV sports, greasy food and (wait for it) a soft toy ‘grabber’ machine like you get in a tacky amusement arcade. Surprisingly there were three ales on; TT Landlord, GK IPA and a local one in Jurassic Durdledoor, which even more surprisingly was quite drinkable. Could be worse, on balance.