FA Cup Action in Dorchester

The weekend of 19th-20th September saw 160 teams in action in FA Cup qualifying 2nd round fixtures.
My local club, Oxford City, had drawn a trip down south to Dorchester Town.  At first I didn't think this was a game I needed to go to...  Then I realised I could make a weekend of it and stay on Portland, have a beer in the Convivial Rabbit, and tick off a new non-league ground.  And suddenly it became essential.

I made my way through Weymouth on buses that were delayed by an Iron Man contest on the beach, eventually arriving in the county town at 12:30.
Time for a beer...

Dorchester Brewhouse & Kitchen (27 Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester, DT1 1QY)
I've meant to visit here on two previous trips to Dorchester, but never made it.  'Rain' was the most recent weak excuse.  Alighting the bus just across the road, I thought I really should pop in this time around.
The pub is a late '80s affair, constructed on the site of one-time railway buildings, turned into a Brewhouse & Kitchen in 2014.
As the name suggests, they brew on-site, providing me with September's shiny brewing equipment picture (copper edition)...

On a long bar counter there were multiple hand pumps, but just three in use, jam jar samples failing to influence my choice of 'Stationmasters Best Bitter'.

A very average beer that proved hard work.
Untappd check-ins of the Red Ale scored well, suggesting I picked wrong this time.
I sat by the brewing kit with a dubious soundtrack (Flamingosis 'Feel Yourself'???) in a pub that was far too quiet.  Tellingly the Brewhouse & Kitchen chain are down to 12 locations and looking to diversify to appeal to a wider audience.  Shame, because I do love a brew pub, but I can't recommend you rush here for the best bitter.

A walk through the redeveloped Brewery Square took me past the train station and the most recent residential additions, then out into more traditional Dorchester suburbs.

The Baker's Arms (140 Monmouth Road, Dorchester, DT1 2DH)
What a corker of a street-corner local.
Step inside and the pub is laid out over two levels, with a pleasing traditional bar at street level and a red-carpeted lounge located down a couple of stairs.  The whole pub is packed full of breweriana, with old bread ovens in the wall to one end a quirky feature.

There were three cask ales available: Bowman 'Strava', Courage 'Bombardier Golden Ale' and Ringwood 'Razor Back'.
Which was a let-down, as this is a Dorset Bass stronghold.
"Delivery issues," explained the landlord.  Not again! 
Oh well...the 'Strava' was a fine hoppy pale ale, served in great condition.  I was also given a generous taster - some would call it a third - of the golden bombardier.

The partition dividing the two levels of the pub is busily decorated...

The welcome was lovely in the Bakers - both halves of the couple in charge coming over to my table for a chat about beer, pubs and breweries and what on earth had brought me all the way here from Oxford.

Last time I was in Dorchester I missed out on the Blue Raddle with their less-than-generous opening hours.  
"You'll be lucky to find it open," my host Graham had said.
Saturday afternoon, no problem! I responded confidently.

Dammit!

I have enjoyed food and drink in the Raddle back in 2014, but seem destined never to see inside again.
The Kings Arms hotel on the High Street would have to make do as an alternative...

Kings Arms (High East Street, Dorchester, DT1 1HF)
Okay, so it's a hotel bar rather than a pub, but the Beatles and Rolling Stones have stayed here and it featured in Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge, two plus points in my book.

What do you get in a refurbished 300-year-old coaching inn?
Fine mosaic porchway flooring and magnificent corridors...

 

A gin menu.
A wedding party (who took one look at me and must've thought who let that scruffy bugger in?)
Clementine and Spearmint handwash.
Lost & Grounded lager...

A sole handpump dispensed Butcombe 'Original', but the uniform run of keg fonts had caught my eye and I fancied the Bristol brewer's Keller Pils.
Made with German pilsner malt and Magnum, Perle and Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops, it's a respectable light lager, supped from a comfy armchair in a bar that is a little smarter than PropUptheBar is generally used to.

Departing from the Kings Arms, my route took me past the Beer Guide-listed Convivial Rabbit.  

Convivial Rabbit (1 Trinity House, Trinity Street, Dorchester, DT1 1TT)
This micropub was opened in 2016 in premises which once housed the Dorset County Chronicle.  Situated down an alleyway, I'm convinced - after a couple to tries - that it's impossible to get a good exterior picture.
Inside it's more photogenic...

It's at the larger end of the 'micro' scale, the description referring more to the focus on ale and conversation with no distractions, rather than size.
Beers available on this visit came from Electric Bear, Oakham, Exeter, Dark Revolution and Hop Union.  All under a fiver except the 'Night Drive' apricot stout at a hefty 'better be good' price of £8.90 a pint.
The hazy pale 'Regional Manager' for me.  Great pump clip...

I was clock-watching on this visit, checking how long it would take to walk to the football ground.  Making for a rather rushed visit.

But later in the day Graham was on his way back from a Bridport beer festival or competing in the Weymouth Iron Man contest - one or the other - and I managed a more relaxed visit to the Convivial Rabbit when we made it our meeting point.

But right now, a march to the football.  With a quick pause to look at the Maumbury Rings, a neolithic henge which was repurposed by the Romans for use as an amphitheatre.

The onward walk down the length of Weymouth Road took me to the southern edge of town and the Avenue Stadium.

You know you're on the edge of town when the terrace is named the Bypass End.

What a cracking ground Dorchester FC have.
It was opened in 1990, built in conjunction with landowners the Duchy of Cornwall, Tesco lending a hand in a deal that saw them get to redevelope the site of the club's original ground for the neighbouring superstore.
Beneath the impressive main stand I found my way to the club bar.

The appearance of a polypin of Glastonbury 'Arthur's Ale' on the bar counter was a welcome sight.  Bright beer, I would suspect, to enable them to heft it into place and serve it straight away.

£5.50 brought me a pint of bitter in a plastic cup.  Half downed in the posher end of the bar with the odd mix of wood panelling and suspended ceiling.  The second half taken out onto the terrace behind the goal as the game kicked off.

The tie finished 2-0 to Oxford City, the Hoops enjoying a relatively comfortable afternoon, although Dorchester didn't allow them to completely run away with it.

After making the walk back into the town centre in the drizzle, I opted to call into the Junction. 

The Junction (42 Great Western Road, Dorchester, DT1 1UF)
Built sometime in the 1700s, this large one-time coaching inn would have been part of Eldridge Pope's estate, the old brewery located just across the road.  It's a Marston's house these days, with a familiar cask line-up of Ringwood, Wychwood and Courage ales.
I ordered myself a Courage 'Directors' - not in bad condition, but not a patch on the exquisite Directors in Tutbury earlier this year. 

Later on, I'd end up back in the Convivial Rabbit, then drinking fine ale in the Copper Street Brewhouse, before sharing the bus back to Weymouth with cowboy hat wearing Dolly Parton fans from the Country in the Square event.

A football road trip that I'm glad to have made.
Hopefully my reports on visits to these lower league grounds will come in handy for Martin when Man City are demoted to this level 😉.

Keep Portland Weird

A trip to the southernmost tip of Dorset in which I spend two nights on Portland and live to tell the tale.

With an early round FA Cup fixture to watch in Dorchester the following day, I made my way down to the Isle of Portland on a Friday lunchtime, where Oxford ex-pat Graham had kindly offered to shift some of his giant record collection out the way to make space for me in his spare room.

Cup of tea; admire the views; then devise a plan for a few local pub visits plus a trip over to Weymouth.
Starting in the Royal Portland... 

Royal Portland Inn (40 Fortuneswell, Portland, DT5 1LZ)
We bowled in through the front door with it's Covid-era directional signage still in place, narrowly avoided a collision with the rampaging pub dog, then strolled to the bar to find a choice of two cask ales.  A Somerset duo of Cheddar Ales 'Crown and Glory' and Fine Tuned 'Misty Mountain Hop'.

There were six or seven folks in besides us, Friday mid-afternoon, just enough to make for a pleasant atmosphere and allow the landlady's Alsatian and local's Staffie ample room for their epic scrap. 

I thought my own dog had no respect for personal space, but this pair were something else.  Legs got bashed, furniture toppled, shins were barged into as the duo set out on the rampage.
The Royal Portland consists of one single room and no more than half-a-dozen tables, plenty of clutter - a 'lived-in' feel.  

The toilets are an experience - no pristine porcelain or posh handwash and moisturiser here.
"You're not local!" exclaimed a fella that I was politely holding the door open for on the way back from the facilities.
But to prove they're not an unfriendly bunch, the fellas at the next table got chatting about music after commenting on my t-shirt, one telling us how he'd seen Hendrix for £1 in Bridport, then proving he had the dodgy hearing to show for it.

My 'Misty Mountain Hop', a smooth 4% single hop golden ale was lovely.
If only we'd have stayed into the evening and knocked back half-a-dozen pints of it, I could have quoted the Led Zep lyrics...
 "I didn't notice, but it had got very dark,
and I was really really out of my mind."
...but it wasn't dark yet and I was quite coherent, setting off on a route downhill to the Cove House.

Cove House Inn (Chesil Beach, Chiswell, Portland, DT5 1AW)
Two months without a cloud in the sky, then I visit on the greyest glummest day of September.  With a bit of good weather the picnic tables in front of the Cove, with their views of the sea and Chesil Beach, would be packed.  As it was, the staff member behind the bar was warning folk they had to give the door a really good push to counter the gusts of wind.  There's a reason the front door is tucked inside a stone porch and all the windows have shutters.  Past vicious storms had seen waves crash into the pub and caused pebbles to be hurled against it.

Sea Fury would be apt, with the sea getting rougher, but I picked the Dorset Brewing Co. 'Origin' on this occasion.  On decent form.

The Cove is very foodie with a good-looking menu and 'booking advisable' signs. Safe to say this is one of Portland's more touristy pubs and no-one's likely to point out you're not local on your walk back from the gents.

Our next destination was a fair trek to a pub with the island's only 3-pint-pot top score on the CAMRA website.  Plus, I reckon I'm the first person to include the Green Shutters in a blog.
Heading around the north end of Portland towards the castle and marina, we passed the imposing Atlantic House...

Then found ourselves on Castletown's main drag, with one-time hotels and the boarded-up Jolly Sailor pub.  This is an area that I guess would have been quite different when the naval base and docks were still functioning.

There are a couple of café/bars in the vicinity catering for the visitors to the marina and D-Day museum, but the Green Shutters is the only place that calls itself a pub.
Lovely Eldridge Pope badge on the frontage, but the original name, The Albert' included in the uppermost masonry...

Green Shutters (12 Castletown, Castletown, Portland, DT5 1BD)
...although most will agree that the ground floor aesthetics leave a little to be desired. 
I loved it - a single room with trad carpet, suspended ceiling, pool table, and a splendid wooden counter, the crests of various naval vessels adorning the canopy above the bar.

We received a friendly welcome, ordering the Sharp's Solar Wave', the sole cask option.  A pint of this was pulled through before filling our own glasses which showed a bit of care taken for the ale and it did indeed turn out to be in decent condition and thoroughly enjoyable.

These three pubs had been a nice introduction to Portland, but Weymouth was calling.

We caught Bus No.1 to take us across the causeway, through Wyke Regis and into the coastal town of Weymouth.
On the southern side of the River Wey, we climbed the Chapelhay steps to a pub of the same name...

Chapelhay Tavern (Franchise Street, Weymouth, DT4 8JU)
A little off the regular tourist trail, this is a gem of pub.
It's been a pub since 1864 when it was converted from a couple of cottages, owned by Eldridge, Mason and Co. which later became Dorset brewing giants Eldridge Pope.  In more recent years the only other pub in Chapelhay has been closed and demolished, leading the locals teamed up to purchase the lease of the Tavern to ensure it doesn't go the same way.

The naval decorations were superb, the place packed full of pictures, maps, flags, seafaring signage, and old compasses, horns and bits of boats long gone.

Ales on the bar were Butcombe 'Original' or Sharp's 'Sea Fury', with a cask cider on the third hand pull.
Sea Fury for us this time - in good condition, even if it isn't one of my favourite beers.

Here's my host and guide for the day in a corner of the pub that looks like those 'dress up' bits of museums.

Busy signage on the gents...

What a cracking pub - somewhere I'm really glad we climbed the steps to get to.
Back down at sea level, we called in to the Good Beer Guide-listed Kings Arms on the quayside.

Kings Arms (15 Trinity Road, Weymouth, DT4 8TJ)
Named after King George III, who made Weymouth his favoured location for a spot of sea air and bathing, the Kings Arms traces its history back to the 16th century when it would have served the sailors, dock workers and maritime folk on this bustling harbour.
Nowadays you'll find more tourists that sea captains.

The beer line-up was a familiar one with Sharp's, St Austell and Dartmoor alongside Tim Taylors.  We opted for the St Austell 'Proper Job' - on 'acceptable' form, which was a let-down as I know this pub usually serves a much better pint.

Last time Graham brought me here in the dead of winter we doubled the numbers.  This time was thriving and full of life, ABBA playing in the background over a cacophony of chatter.
Too busy to really be prancing around taking pictures, although I needed a shot of the fireplace..

I would have expected the Kings Arms to be rushing out plates of food to customers, but it's actually a wet led pub.  Several customers were returned with bags from the neighbouring chip shop, but we decided to partake in the traditional seaside pursuit of eating ours on the bench outside and pretending it wasn't actually a little bit chilly.

Not a single seagull coveted our chips.
In fact they were noticeable by their absence all weekend - has avian flu devastated the gull population on the south coast?

Next stop, as darkness descended, was the Weymouth micro...

Dog House Micro (2 Great George Street, Weymouth, DT4 8NN)
Tucked away in a side street, the Dog House opened in 2018 in premises that used to house a second-hand domestic appliance shop.  It's a single room with a decent number of tables, narrowing to the back where the bar is, creating a pinch point which several drinkers delight in standing at.

There was a fine choice of ales here from Hop Back and Dark Revolution (Wiltshire), Bowman (Hampshire), and Neptune (the big traveller all the way from Merseyside).
I opted for the oatmeal stout 'Abyss' from Neptune - a glorious full-bodied dark brew.
My neighbour on the bench looked like he could do with one too...

After a quick diversion for a half in Wetherspoon's , we caught the bus back to Portland in time for a nightcap back in the Royal Portland Inn.
No rollicking dogs this time, but we did get The Breakout Band covering Teenage Dirtbag ("I can see a lot of dirtbags out there...not so many teenagers").

A great day out.
Sadly I got the windy grey version of Portland, so didn't go and stand on the tip of the island.  As long as I'm invited back, I'll do that next time along with a few more pubs in this cracking bit of Dorset.