Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by peter crosby
Submitted on Monday, 19th July 2010
With picture contributions to 1759 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures
Detail Pages
The Black Bear, Wareham
Wool
Postal town: Wareham
BH20 6BP
Served areas
Reviews of The Black Bear (Average Rating: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Black Bear
Just a short walk from the station this is a smart two room pub, formerly run by Hall & Woodhouse, but now mercifully operating free of tie. Entering to the front room, you find yourself in a carpeted main bar area with the servery to the rear and some basic seating options around the perimeter, including some tables that had lost their battle with a tide of encroaching Christmas decorations. The room seems to have been given a fairly recent makeover, with plain newly painted walls, decent carpet and some typical pub décor including paintings, black and white photos and a good pump clip collection, although the curtains in the front windows were very old-fashioned and quite incongruous compared to the rest of the room. The bar has a plain counter front and simple mirrored bar back, also suggestive of a refit at some point. A door to one side of the bar leads you through to a smaller rear dining room, also carpeted and with grey low wood panelling beneath an off-white upper section. Simple table and chair formations fill much of the space, ideal for anyone wanting to eat, and there’s a decent brick fireplace on the rear wall with a modern surround. The walls have been decorated with landscape photos, mirrors and clocks, plus a specials board to complement the classic pub grub menu. A nice stained glass rose pattern screen partitions the area from what was presumably once the servery for this room, but now appears to be the space where hot drinks are prepared. Out the front there’s a small shelter for smokers and a couple of seats in front of the small layby-style car park.
Since becoming a freehouse, the ale range has improved significantly, as evidenced by the aforementioned pump clip collection. On our visit, there were three handpulls in operation, dispensing Langport Bitter, Flack Manor Double Drop and Robinsons Mr Scrooge. A friendly old school landlord served up a pint of the Bitter, which I thought was in good shape and a huge improvement on the uninspiring Badger beers that used to be the order of the day here.
This is a popular local’s pub that offers a warm welcome to strange faces and serves up some well-kept beer, making it a bit of a no brainer to check out if you find yourself in Wool. The refurb has seen the pub lose a bit of its character, but it remains an unpretentious pub and restaurant and I’m very happy that I made the effort to check it out.
On 28th January 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about Black Bear Inn
A former coaching inn and later on a hotel, on the outskirts of Wool, this pub is now a freehouse which serves its locals well and is noted for its ale quality. A single large L-shaped bar bar forms the ground floor, while outside is a garden with one side marked off as a no smoking area. The pub stands in its own grounds and has a reasonable car park. In the bar is a selection of seating styles, and there is a gaming machine. The staff were very friendly, offering treats for the dogs, while the locals were civilised. They have an active pub cricket team and host a lot of fund raising and social events. Tasters of the beers were offered, the beers being Flack Manor's Flack Bear (the house ale), Old Nutty Hen and Betty Brown's Moonlight. All were in excellent condition and most enjoyable. This is one of the better pubs in the area, worth stopping off for its beer quality alone and well deserving of its recent award from CAMRA as Pub of the Season 2016.
On 2nd December 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3281 recommendations about 3246 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Melanie Westwood left this review about Black Bear Inn
A perfectly situated venue in the countryside of Wool, Dorset. great Homemade food & Traditional Ales. A must visit.
On 3rd October 2008
- rating: 10
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]
No known official website for this pub.
- Facebook - The Black Bear, Wool. Dorset
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Black Bear - whatpub.com
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Car Park : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Darts : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Jukebox : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Karaoke : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Live Music : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Micropub : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Pinball : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Pool Table : No last updated 28 January 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Quiz Night : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- Real Cider : No last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
- WiFi : Yes last updated 05 January 2022 by ROB Camra
