The Westbourne, Westbourne, Bournemouth

This is a large Greene King pub with a spacious, opened out interior, in the heart of Westbourne’s gyratory system. You enter past some pleasant outdoor seating located behind a fence around two sides of the pub, emerging into a sizable room with the bar midway down the right-hand side. The room is bare boarded throughout and has dark painted walls that contrast the white ceiling lintels and pillar capitals. High tables and benches run along the front wall under large windows, with comfy button backed banquettes, regular tables and chairs and a few high tables and stools occupying the rest of the space. The bar has an attractive wood panelled counter with the pub’s name written across some of the panels, plus a matching bar back with some grand, etched glass mirrors and a checkerboard tiled strip along the floor. Décor includes a few modern bits of breweriana, some corporate posters and promotional bits and several TV screens which were showing muted Olympics footage. It has been the best part of twenty years since I last visited here, coincidentally, also on a Saturday afternoon, but the contrast couldn’t be more marked, with just a small handful of customers in attendance this time, compared to the standing room only experience I had last time around. One thing that hasn’t changed all that much is the uninspiring cask range, with just Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale available on the handpulls. I couldn’t face either of these, so opted instead for their surprisingly palatable Level Head IPA on keg, served by a very cheery barman. We also stopped for some food, which came from the usual Greene King menu and was mostly underwhelming. I quite enjoyed revisiting this pub after so many years, but it was a bit sad to see it struggling along with so little custom. I don’t recall the pub having a great deal of character twenty years ago, but whatever it may have had seems to have been eroded away even further, leaving a fairly dispiriting pub with a couple of dull ale options. The service was good though and there are definitely worse places to spend your time, but I can see it being another good twenty years or so before I’m inclined to give it another try. Date of visit – 4th August 2024