17/04/23 - Good Beer Guide Pubs of Bridport

Why don't the locals (and cockneys) drink in Palmers Pubs? 

4 Good Beer Guide Pubs in Bridport - a town hosting the Palmers Brewery. Their beer synonymous with the region.

If you want to try the range, you could do a lot worse than The Ropemakers. A pub where there is usually some form of entertainment on - live music and mainly Jazz

Ropemakers, Bridport

In the three days we have been down, I have managed to sample the IPA and the Dorset Gold but mainly I have stuck to the ESB, 200. This pub is the first chance to sample its stronger brother, Tally Ho! found on cask for the first time.

Meet the Palmers Gang!

Superb beer - dark, nutty and 5.5% - the sort of strength that makes it impossible to work out how much it is a pint when the round with one other drink came to £17.

I know that gin is expensive, but this seems OTT. I'm in Dorset, not that London. Although, if you keep your eyes shut and listen to the majority of pub punters, you could be mistaken for thinking so.

No problems with calculating finance at the next place, where I fly solo. Mrs M and the Guide Dog in Training Ivy are settled and both are optimistic for when the kitchen opens at 6pm.

I head over the road for a quick check out of the Pursuit of Hoppiness.  A more perfect micro you couldn't hope to find, right down to its single room and quirky name. They seem to concentrate more on cask than keg here - with six lines on. Oakham Green Devil always a treat. £6, budget-fans.

In the Pursuit of Hoppiness

Alas, no unreserved tables at the Ropemakers. There is just enough time before the last bus (6.30pm!) to check out the Woodman. An honest drinkers freehouse on the edge of town, complete with Skittle Alley.

I get into a conversation with a gasper outside, keen to know where I am from and what I think of his town. I tell him I like the pubs and he replies that no locals use the Ropemakers. He does the thing with his fingers to indicate mucho mullah and insists that it's only tourists who drink in Palmers pubs.  Locals priced out.

He might be right but I'll continue to make the most of them.  

Who knows when I will be next in Dorset?

Saltaire Bitter contained within

PS - A footnote.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the Tiger Inn also needed ticking. I am nothing if not a completist, so 2 days later we were back in Bridport.

Another sturdy back street local, with an unusual array of cask.

Would be happy to call the Tiger Inn my local

A day of dialects... the barman couldn't translate my brummie twang and I failed to get the question "is Butcombe Cotswold Ram the new name for Rare Breed?" answered. Untappd offering no further information. A better beer was the Parkway Brewery Norwegian Blue. The pump clip offering no clue as to the style - just that it was named after one of Monty Pythons more famous sketches. 

Sometimes, you need to dive in and take a risk.

A taster confirmed it was a very good session Bitter

And on the subject of accents - I've never heard so many cockneys. And I have drank in the Pride of Spitalfields. All our fellow drinkers sounded like they had been born within ear-shot of the Bow Bells.

I thought if you wanted to find a cockney, you needed to go to Essex.