Bournemouth short break

Some pics from a short break down in a very cold Bournemouth, Christchurch and Salisbury

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Really needed a thicker coat

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plenty boozers on show:eyebrows:

Great area to live, spent my 20’s in Poole and Bournemouth, lots of good memories

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Originally Posted by rmcin626

Great area to live, spent my 20’s in Poole and Bournemouth, lots of good memories

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only been in bournemouth once and it was just a flying visit from weston i think for day.

Bournemouth was looking a bit sorry for itself (like a lot of towns these days - all charity and vape shops) with a boarded up House of Fraser and one of the Wetherspoons closed :eek:

The barman at our hotel kept enthusing about Christchurch market so we duly took two buses to it, complete waste of time but I suspect the cold weather kept some stallholders at home.

Liked Salisbury a lot apart from the usual crop of charity shops there were some interesting antique and jewellery shops and it had character.

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Bournemouth was looking a bit sorry for itself (like a lot of towns these days - all charity and vape shops) with a boarded up House of Fraser and one of the Wetherspoons closed :eek:

The barman at our hotel kept enthusing about Christchurch market so we duly took two buses to it, complete waste of time but I suspect the cold weather kept some stallholders at home.

Liked Salisbury a lot apart from the usual crop of charity shops there were some interesting antique and jewellery shops and it had character.

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Bought my first effort of decent hifi from that House of Fraser store, following a Trio demonstration day

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Bournemouth was looking a bit sorry for itself (like a lot of towns these days - all charity and vape shops) with a boarded up House of Fraser and one of the Wetherspoons closed :eek:

The barman at our hotel kept enthusing about Christchurch market so we duly took two buses to it, complete waste of time but I suspect the cold weather kept some stallholders at home.

Liked Salisbury a lot apart from the usual crop of charity shops there were some interesting antique and jewellery shops and it had character.

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The closure of any Wetherspoons pub is something to be celebrated - but I can understand the 'desertification' of the town's high streets. As you say, all the once useful shops have gone only to be replaced by charity shops and cafés.

My parents used to go to Bournemouth when I was about 8 - 10 years old, and my mother went to a private girls school in Christchurch when she was a girl, so would go and visit the headmistress there. As a holiday destination it was not too bad, but I doubt if I would want to go back again.

Salisbury on the other hand is much more interesting place to visit.

Wetherspoons are great the first thing I do when we go on a day trip is to check if there's a local one to feed the family for lunch. I've tried local pubs before to give them trade but they never seem to offer the vegetarian options I need and kids meals.

I also like to read Tim Martin's page in their mag too he's usually got something true to say about the state of politics or media.

Tim Martin's biased rantings is the prime reason why I boycott Wetherspoons. A second reason is the indifferent attitude of the staff, the third is the poor range of ales on offer, and the fourth is that tables are too close together for comfort.

They're certainly opinionated but then so are most of the papers I read and he gives an alternative view often not in most of the mainstream media. I imagine his view chimes with most of his clientele too.

Agree about the staff but I don't think they're any worse than any other chain pub.

The tables can be close on the floors of some of the pubs but they're usually better spaced around the edges like the booths and I try and get one of those. Another thing I like is the pubs are often very nice historical buildings with a decent restoration. It's better than having then turned into flats.

Anywhere that does burger and chips and a pint of Guinness for seven quid is ok by me.

think with the cheap beer at one time it attracted the wrong sorts, but often the bigger ones in high footfall areas were fine during day at least .

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Anywhere that does burger and chips and a pint of Guinness for seven quid is ok by me.

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And the curry club. Although to be fair it couldn't match a proper curry house.

Their new pizzas are pretty good and great value.

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Originally Posted by Lawrence001

And the curry club. Although to be fair it couldn't match a proper curry house.
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Don’t bother with the curries, they taste ok but you don’t get enough actual curry sauce and meat to go with the rice, nann and poppadoms making the meal too dry.

Tried the pizza, a bit doughy but I don’t think it had been cooked for long enough.

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Don’t bother with the curries, they taste ok but you don’t get enough actual curry sauce and meat to go with the rice, nann and poppadoms making the meal too dry.

Tried the pizza, a bit doughy but I don’t think it had been cooked for long enough.

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i usually just settled on fish n chips, or the occasional steak pie.. the fish was always fine up here anyway. not been at one since covid tho

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Don’t bother with the curries, they taste ok but you don’t get enough actual curry sauce and meat to go with the rice, nann and poppadoms making the meal too dry.

Tried the pizza, a bit doughy but I don’t think it had been cooked for long enough.

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True you have to buy the large one with the naan and poppadom just to get barely enough to eat.
Yes pizzas can be variable probably depends on the kitchen staff and how busy they are.

I always enjoy the 3 bean chili and baked potato though.

Wetherspoons I cannot remember when I last went in one, and I won't be looking for one in a hurry, plastic pubs with food out of plastic bags from a freezer and un-real ale. To be honest a lot of franchise and chain pubs have gone down the same model, luckily we have a few individual pubs not to far away to choose from.

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Originally Posted by Lawrence001

I always enjoy the 3 bean chili and baked potato though.

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Yes, other half usually has a jacket and they always look good.

I’ve been having the smaller burgers with chips, prefer something snackier with a pint.


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Enjoying my £1.25 latte with free refills as I type [emoji16]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1d97f55902.jpg

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Originally Posted by struth

think with the cheap beer at one time it attracted the wrong sorts, but often the bigger ones in high footfall areas were fine during day at least .

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At one time Weatherspoons were notorious for 'jail bait': under-age girls who's presence went unchallenged by the bar staff.

And yes, Wetherspoons do seem to have taken over some historic traditional pubs and saved them from closure; but I wish it had been done by another chain.

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Originally Posted by Roy S

Yes, other half usually has a jacket and they always look good.

I’ve been having the smaller burgers with chips, prefer something snackier with a pint.

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Now't wrong with a filled baked potato and a pint. :)

When I visited Wetherspoons' establishment in Bridport the tables were greasy and the carpet festooned with ketchup and gawd knows what else.

So, it's the last time I will use them. Yuck.:rolleyes:

I agree they're not for everyone, I'd like to support local pubs when I can but as I said above I've always had issues, even with quite upmarket ones.

Most either don't do kids meals or if they do they always come with chips.

And the (often single) vegetarian option is pasta, risotto or a vegetable or mushroom burger (ie literally crushed vegetables like peas and carrots in breadcrumbs, or an actual portebello mushroom, in a bun) for the same price or £1 less than a freshly made quarter pounder beef burger.

If it's breakfast they will also just give you the meat breakfast without the locally sourced fancy meat with an extra egg and/or tomato again for the same or £1 less.

If a pub doesn't offer high protein meat substitutes - and I include beans (not of the baked variety!) and lentils in that, but plant protein is better) then they won't get my business.

Wetherspoons has a very good choice of vegetarian food and you can have mash and baked potato instead of chips in the kids meals.

Of course if I'm going out for a beer with my mates none of the above applies!

I occasionally go for a ‘pub crawl’ in Brentwood (only place locally where there are enough pubs within walking distance of each other to warrant being described as a ‘crawl’) and generally the drink prices in the independent pubs are almost twice that in Spoons, dunno why we just don’t go straight there to be honest but we like to mix with all classes [emoji18]

Yeah I think after a few drinks you get less picky about where you are and some of the smarter pubs can feel a bit boring once you start to feel like having a bit more fun as well.

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I could never see the point of pub crawls. Just get yourself settled in a decent pub and get 'slewed' in comfort.

And the reason Wetherspoons prices are cheaper than most, is because the beer is crap.

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Originally Posted by Barry

And the reason Wetherspoons prices are cheaper than most, is because the beer is crap.

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They can’t f**k up Guinness can they? Doesn’t it have to be looked after a certain way?

Never bothered much with ‘real’ ales, most taste like stagnant ditch water to me (not that I’ve ever tasted that, just gives me that impression)

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Originally Posted by Barry

I could never see the point of pub crawls. Just get yourself settled in a decent pub and get 'slewed' in comfort.

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You meet a variety of interesting people and, in the case of Brentwood, encounter some very inventive prices in some of the more trendy establishments.


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Originally Posted by Roy S

Never bothered much with ‘real’ ales, most taste like stagnant ditch water to me (not that I’ve ever tasted that, just gives me that impression)

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That's my opinion too, I think it's a snobbery thing and drinkers of brown muck think they are in some sort of implied exclusive club. I've always described 'real ales' as being fit only for washing out paint brushes! And anyway, there's no such thing as Unreal Ale, so other beers (whatever they might be?) are equally valid choices.

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Originally Posted by walpurgis

That's my opinion too, I think it's a snobbery thing and drinkers of brown muck think they are in some sort of implied exclusive club. I've always described 'real ales' as being fit only for washing out paint brushes! And anyway, there's no such thing as Unreal Ale, so other beers (whatever they might be?) are equally valid choices.

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most real ales sold draught are to me revolting; even look bad..lol give me a good lager any day. at least it has some life about it

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Originally Posted by Roy S

They can’t f**k up Guinness can they? Doesn’t it have to be looked after a certain way?

Never bothered much with ‘real’ ales, most taste like stagnant ditch water to me (not that I’ve ever tasted that, just gives me that impression)

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Wetherspoons has a very good range of beers that always changes but I agree that the quality is variable between sites and I suspect it depends on the priorities of the manager. Being a profit driven low margin business they are undoubtedly set high revenue targets and may let the quality slip if they compete on price alone.

I also agree you can't beat a standalone pub with a good landlord for ale quality but as ever price has to be considered these days.

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Originally Posted by struth

most real ales sold draught are to me revolting; even look bad..lol give me a good lager any day. at least it has some life about it

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Real Ale, hand pulled, is to beer dispensed under pressure, as a single malt is to a blend.

wonderful . used to live in Christchurch and cycle out to college in sopley , when the fields flooded it was like the lake district ... fab and happy memories

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Originally Posted by Roy S

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Oi! Go back and flush that log, you manky bint!

We only used to use Wetherspoons for meeting up. As I suspect many others did. Now at our one (in Preston) there was no music playing. I don't know if this was company policy, but someone told me it was so people could have a conversation without shouting over the music. Thing is, everyone was talking louder than everyone else, so it was still deafening. And the clientele/competent staff ratio was all wrong.

Ok for cheap grub and drink in the daytime though.

We once went for breakfast at a Wetherspoons in Poole, and as it was nice weather we sat outside. Unfortunately next to a family who's young kids had everything on the menu, with no chance of finishing it all.

The staff clearly couldn't be arsed clearing up after the family had left, so it was left to the local seagull population. It was like a scene from "The Birds", and by the time they'd finished the floor was strewn with broken plates and cups. Better that I suppose than having the same lazy staff cleaning the bird shit off those plates and putting the next customers' meals on them.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Oi! Go back and flush that log, you manky bint!

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I suspect this newish strategy of putting the bogs upstairs is to give your esteemed clientele a quick sobriety self test on the way down.... If you end up doing one of those running type falls you've failed and they cart you off to a&e after rescuing your severed extremities which were removed by the plate glass door you just went through.

Been to Bournemouth a few times, last time around 2015 I think, remember thinking how nice it was. Liked the general layout of the town, big wide avenues and palm trees, nice green areas. When I walk past my local Weatherspoons its always packed with pensioners, no matter how early in the day! I haven't been to a pub in ages, not really keen on cold beer on a cold day.

May have changed my mind a little about real ale after a visit to a new local ‘Brewdog’ bar. The welcome was cordial, being greeted on arrival and given advice on which of their beers I might like. I plumped for a pint of ‘Jet Black Heart’ which was delicious (4.7 percent) a Guinness like stout with liquorice notes, eminently drinkable, such a shame I had to drive later or I’d probably still have been there. Your allowed unlimited free tasters as well.

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Originally Posted by Roy S

May have changed my mind a little about real ale after a visit to a new local ‘Brewdog’ bar. The welcome was cordial, being greeted on arrival and given advice on which of their beers I might like. I plumped for a pint of ‘Jet Black Heart’ which was delicious (4.7 percent) a Guinness like stout with liquorice notes, eminently drinkable, such a shame I had to drive later or I’d probably still have been there. You’re allowed unlimited free tasters as well.

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If you did that up here you would be well over the drink driving limit.

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Originally Posted by Roy S

May have changed my mind a little about real ale after a visit to a new local ‘Brewdog’ bar. The welcome was cordial, being greeted on arrival and given advice on which of their beers I might like. I plumped for a pint of ‘Jet Black Heart’ which was delicious (4.7 percent) a Guinness like stout with liquorice notes, eminently drinkable, such a shame I had to drive later or I’d probably still have been there. Your allowed unlimited free tasters as well.

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I think they'd say something if you tried 20 tasters and said "actually I'm not sure I want anything thanks".

Thinking about it, how many Brewdogs are there now? If you could try that once in each one, you could probably get quite a few cheap nights out.

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Originally Posted by Lawrence001

I think they'd say something if you tried 20 tasters and said "actually I'm not sure I want anything thanks".

Thinking about it, how many Brewdogs are there now? If you could try that once in each one, you could probably get quite a few cheap nights out.

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Fella seemed quite amenable when I said I’ll have a pint of tasters then but didn’t rush back to the bar to get it for me.