How does Michel Hooper-Immins fare on his first ever trip to The Crown at Uploders? Clue: There’s Dorset Blue Vinny on the menu.
Posts tagged “pubs”
Michel Hooper-Immins enjoys a superb lunch at the Anchor Inn on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast
Christy Cornish, Tim Wilkes and Vivien Wilkes behind the bar at The Spyway, Askerswell, CAMRA’s West Dorset pub of the year 2011.
THE SPYWAY INN at Askerswell near Bridport has been named as the Campaign for Real Ale’s West Dorset Pub of the Year.
The free house has been owned for the last eight years by Kevin, Tim and Vivien Wilkes.
It’s now reckoned by local real ale drinkers to be the best of West Dorset’s 263 pubs. The Spyway is one of the very few pubs in Dorset to serve real ale by gravity – direct from the cask.
CAMRA's Rich Gabe, left, presents the West Dorset CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011 certificate to Kevin, Vivien and Tim Wilkes of The Spyway Inn at Askerswell.
The West Dorset 2011 Pub of the Year certificate was presented to the Wilkes by CAMRA’s Rich Gabe at the Dorchester Beer Festival.
The Spyway now goes into CAMRA’s Regional Pub of the Year competition, against ten other pubs from East Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands.
Vivien and Kevin Wilkes briefly ran a pub in Worcestershire; son Tim was a newspaper advert designer. Looking for a new career and a move south, they saw an advert for The Spyway and were charmed.
“We love living here, the Dorset people are great and it’s a splendid place to live,” said Tim.
The building dates from at least 1705, when it was a house with a blacksmith’s shop next door. It became a pub in 1745 and when the forge closed in 1905, that was incorporated into the public house. Some original flagstones are still in the entrance lobby and behind the bar.
The name of Spyway is attributed to the 18th century smuggler Isaac Gulliver, who would watch for revenue men coming up the road towards his farm further up Eggardon Hill.
Otter Brewery’s Otter Bitter and Otter Ale are served at The Spyway.
Patrick McCaig of Otter Brewery said: “We are delighted for Tim and his family at The Spyway for winning the CAMRA West Dorset Pub of the Year.
“The attention that Tim has paid to the quality of cask ale dispense is commendable and a great example to others who pride themselves on their beer quality.
“Otter are delighted to have been part of that process and wish them all the best in the Regional finals.”
“The Spyway Inn is in an idyllic country location,” said West Dorset CAMRA Chairman Dave Harris.
“It’s not on any main road, nor is it very close to town.
“Visitors are made to feel very welcome and given clear information on which gravity dispensed ales are available. On all our visits during the year we have been impressed with the consistent quality and condition of the real ale being served.”
“We were overwhelmed when we heard about our winning the Pub of the Year award,” said the Wilkes family. “We always strived to win the top pub award and now need to maintain the consistency. It’s good for our customers too, they give us tremendous support.”
Michel Hooper-Immins enjoys haddock topped by Welsh rarebit and a nice pint of Otter at The Sypway in Askerswell.
CAMRA hopes its West Dorset pub guide will encourage people to visit more pubs and help keep them in business. The cover shows The Boot in Weymouth, The Anchor at Seatown, The Anchor in Burton Bradstock, The Rose & Crown in Longburton, The Royal Oak in Dorchester, Shave Cross Inn in the Marshwood Vale, and The Three Horseshoes in Burton Bradstock.
YOU KNOW the scenario – you’ve arrived in a place you don’t know well and you need to find a fine pint of real ale – and a good lunch.
Here to help you around West Dorset is the new Campaign for Real Ale guide, listing all 273 pubs in the area roughly bounded by Lyme Regis, Sherborne and Lulworth.
Within the packed 64 pages are descriptions of all the pubs, their location, telephone numbers, facilities, opening hours and - most importantly- the real ales they serve.
The centre pages open out to a map of the west of the county, showing towns and villages where real ales are served, while other pages display maps of the principal towns. You won’t get lost with this guide!
One of my favourite West Dorset pubs is the very popular and traditional George Hotel in Bridport’s South Street, described in the guide as an “unspoiled oak-panelled pub at the centre of the town, attracting a mixed clientele. Can get very busy at weekends. Less than a mile from the brewery.” It serves all of Palmers’ outstanding real ales.
In Lyme Regis, the Royal Standard has a good atmosphere, another Palmers house. “Comfortable low-ceilinged 400 year old pub with beachside garden. The interior incorporates stained glass panels, depicting historic events in Lyme. Popular pub meals.”
Country pubs feature throughout, such as the wonderful Shave Cross Inn, described as a “rural thatched pub with small flagstone bar, separate restaurant and second bar in the skittle alley/function room. Caribbean flavoured food. Thatchers cider in summer.” One real ale is from the Dorset Brewing Co. [DBC] at its new Crossways home.
Near the Somerset frontier is the Squirrel Inn at Laymore, on the Beaminster to Chard road, one of those isolated pubs you would never know about, but for guides like this. ”Unexpected red brick single bar pub in the middle of nowhere, with good local trade. Reincarnation of an earlier stone-built pub. Well prepared pub food – popular steak night on Wednesdays. August beer festival and ‘Ashen Faggot’ festival in January. Garden has play area.” Those like me who like Otter Bitter should find it at The Squirrel and also a Branscombe Vale beer, with occasional guests from Yeovil and Cottage Breweries.
In many cases, pubs will serve a predictable range of real ales- often from local breweries- but sometimes from faraway places. The new updated guide gives an indication of what brands are served at which pubs- although of course that is always likely to change. You will need the West Dorset CAMRA Pub Guide as an essential companion to any future pub outings.
Buy Pub Guide by post
Buy the updated 2011 West Dorset Pub Guide by post from West Dorset CAMRA at 32 Mellstock Avenue, Dorchester DT1 2BQ.
Send a cheque for £5 [including post and packing] made payable to West Dorset CAMRA.
CAMRA members pay only £4; quote your CAMRA membership number to qualify.
Dorset stockists
Alternatively, buy a copy over the bar for only £3.99 from the following outlets:
Bridport – Palmers Wine Store and selected pubs;
Dorchester – The Blue Raddle, 9 Church Street;
Lyme Regis – Tourist Information Centre, Town Mill Brewery and selected pubs;
Portland – Royal Portland Arms, Fortuneswell;
Weymouth – Bradburys, St Edmund Street; Londis, Westham Road and the Railway Station news kiosk.
Michel Hooper-Immins belongs to the British Guild of Beer Writers, whose members share “a love of beer and a desire to see its virtues communicated more effectively.” He is a leading member of CAMRA’s Wessex Region, and his name can often be found in The Good Pub Guide.
The editor of this website also works for Watershed PR, one of whose clients is Palmers Brewery. Please note, however, that Michel Hooper-Immins is an experienced journalist who writes about all pubs and brewers in Dorset as he sees fit.
The CAMRA guide is noticed here because it is a very useful book, worth knowing about and buying. And pubs across West Dorset always do need customers!
Just this month The Bottle Inn at Marshwood closed, though it may reopen near Easter.
It’s good when it comes, but Michel Hooper-Immins has to wait for his beef and his beer.
TEN YEARS after the closure of The Old Swan pub in Toller Porcorum there are signs that it could possibly be reopened.
Palmers Brewery has offered the village’s SOS campaign group five years rent-free tenancy to help make the venture more viable to begin with.
SOS members have asked a consultant to prepare a business case, and Toller Porcorum Parish Council has applied to West Dorset District Council for a grant of £3,000 towards the costs of the consultant’s labours.
There is a precedent for what might happen at Toller. The New Inn at Shipton Gorge was shut for several months, then leased to villagers by Palmers. It reopened in August 2006 and – as you can see from its website – it is an important part of local life.
Thoughts about stripping-out and strippers
The New Inn was extensively stripped-out inside, remodelled and redecorated. A lot of work was done for nothing (and the fun of it!) by villagers.
One of the problems with re-opening The Old Swan might be that it has been shut for so much longer and so might require much more work.
It is difficult to remember what it was like inside. It worked best as a pub (in my experience) in the days when it was run by an oldish chap called Ben Pick, whose preferred way of life simply seemed to be running a basic country pub. It didn’t seem to bother him greatly if he didn’t have lots of customers; he would just do what had to be done to keep the place ticking over.
I used to walk over there in the morning, spend the lunchtime session drinking beer and eating crisps, then get the bus home again and stare with dreamy contentment out of the window as it bobbed up to Mount Pleasant then down past Wytherstone…
After Mr Pick retired, there were some unsuccessful/unsuitable landlords. I can’t remember how many.
There was one man who may been from the West Midlands (Wolverhampton or Dudley way? or was it actually Yorkshire?) who put strippers on at least once.
I’m pretty sure he did, because I remember speculating about who on earth would go along. I don’t think many people did. It was a bad idea. Toller Porcorum has never appreciated that kind of thing.
I remember John Slater, when he was news editor of the Bridport News about 15 years ago, telling me a story about a fete he’d covered in Toller in the 1970s or early 1980s. One of the fete organisers thought it might be a good idea to solicit some goods for auction from Fiona Richmond, the glamour model and actress who was the daughter of a Toller Porcorum vicar. Ms Richmond sent a pair of knickers. But no one bid for them, as no one dared to be seen doing so… John Slater said the whole affair was farcically, scandalously, funny.