The Porterhouse Jazz and Blues Bar, Bournemouth

Final pub of an epic day out, so notes pretty sparse. Bit of a trek from Bournemouth, best get a taxi back to the hotel like I did! Basic but fairly homely place with some full-length wood panelling and knick-knacks. Eight pumps, predominantly Marston stable ales. Ringwood Porter a pleasing sight and drank well. Liked it, overall.

Situated in the Westbourne area of Bournemouth, to the west of the town, in the middle of a shopping parade, is The Porterhouse. It’s a small single bar pub with wooden flooring and tables and a rather contrived ale house feel to the place. The walls are partly wood panelled, but the overall feel is reasonably light and airy. The premises, apparently, previously housed a wine bar. As a pub, it had a spell as The Old Thumper before becoming The Porterhouse. This is the only Ringwood tied house in Bournemouth. A small L shaped bar in one corner of the room serves the full range of Ringwood beers plus the occasional guest which, on my recent Saturday evening visit, was Sunbeam Bitter. Marstons Old Empire was available in bottles, but no draught beers from other companies in the Marstons group ( eg – Jennings, Banks ) were available. Both the Ringwood Best and the 49er were in good condition at £ 3.00p and £ 3.10p respectively. The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular and has been East Dorset CAMRA Pub of the Year on several occasions. There’s no fruit machines to spoil the atmosphere, in which beer and conversation rule. The lack of soft furnishings did lead to a rather noisy echoey atmosphere and, mainly because of that, I didn’t particularly warm to the place. The pub is approx 10-15 minutes walk away out of town in a westerly direction from The Goat and Tricycle ( see my previous posting ), but, unless you’ve a particular penchant for Ringwood beers, I’d be inclined to stay in The Goat.