Hotel Du Vin, Poole

The hotel, one of a chain, is currently owned by the Malmaison Group. The hotel was previously run by Best Western and was known as The Mansion House, having originally been built for local entrepreneur Isaac Lester in the 18th Century. The layout and function remain very much as described so well by Blackthorn, below. The Dorset Gold is still available through a gravity fed cask on the bar, an incongruous feature in this setting, but it was in good condition. The main thing that let the hotel down this time was the young barman who spoke utter nonsense and was rather annoying. Prices remain high – the Palmers was £4.40 a pint, about a pound more expensive than other nearby pubs. It's atmospheric and comfortable, worth coming for a meal or a wine tasting, but I wouldn't include it on a crawl.

As it’s name suggests, this is the bar for the adjacent hotel rather than a pub in the traditional sense, but if you’re after something a bit more refined than many of the brasher bars nearby, this might be a good bet and it’s only a couple of minutes walk from The Quay and the High Street. The main bar area is a good size with slate tiles on the floor grey paintwork. Lighting is subdued with candles on all the tables which creates a cosy ambience but may not suit everyone and there are several pictures of sailing boats dotted around the walls. Three French windows lead out on to some decking and there is a further patio area around the corner although the only outlook is the car park. A glass display case highlighted many of the cigar options that were for sale. I’m no expert, but some of these were £38 each which struck me as a lot, plus another £50 if you needed to buy a lighter. Down a couple of steps at the rear is a smaller room which has the air of a traditional and upmarket hotel drawing room or gentleman’s club with rows of bookshelves, leather arm chairs, standard lamps and a globe of the world. There were also a few beams on the ceiling and a brick fireplace at the back. Off to one side is a viewing window draped in hops in to the tasting room which consists of brick built wine racks all around the perimeter and a glass table in the middle with a number of basins and taps. Drinks wise, the focus here is very much on cocktails and spirits rather than pints, although they did have a barrel of Palmer’s Dorset Gold racked up on the end of the bar which was a pleasant surprise in a venue such as this. In addition to this the bottled selection was Proper Job along with Orchard Pig and Aspall’s Premier Cru ciders. The cocktail list was extensive and offered a more unusual selection than your run of the mill Screaming Orgasm’s and Sex on the Beach’s. These were mostly priced somewhere around the £9 mark, which is perhaps a little more than average, although we enjoyed what we had. There was also a “specials menu” consisting of three Cocktails of the Week. The pub also does accommodation and this is where we stayed on our visit to Poole. It offers a convenient location and is actually very quiet being in a dead end road, but it’s certainly not cheap and you will need to budget an extra £40 a night on top of the room price just for the privilege of being able to park and eat a couple of breakfasts.