Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Bournemouth

Bournemouth – The Parkstone and Heatherlands

I was en route to Bournemouth Airport and so I thought that I’d visit a JD Wetherspoon venue that I hadn’t been to before. This is the Parkstone and Heatherlands and I’ll use the chain’s history of the pub name:

“This building is better known to Winton’s older residents as the long-standing Co-op, the original of which (on this site) was a branch of the Parkstone and Heatherlands Society. Following a public meeting attended by 100 people, in May 1903, the society’s new store opened for business the following September. Molesworth House, as the store was then called, was replaced by a high, domed building, which became a familiar landmark. The dome was later removed and the building refaced.”

It’s a relatively small venue from JD Wetherspoon opened a large number of venues like this around twenty years ago.

This is from the other end of the pub, with the bar being located on the right hand side. I ordered at the bar and was served in turn by a friendly team member, so positive first impressions.

I only went for a coffee here, although they had around six real ales available at the chain’s usual low prices. The new signage telling people not to have multiple hot chocolates was in place, although not enforced.

As I like to have a little look for JD Wetherspoon venues, the online reviews for the pub are towards the lower end of the scale for the chain.

“Bad food cooked by unqualified people. Scruffy staff that need tidying up. Seems that certain staff dictate to the manager who they like & don’t like. Ban men for looking at the opposite sex, but when I’m not there men chat my girlfriend up & she doesn’t complain”

Hmmmm.

“Called in for a couple of pints on the Saturday evening. Bell rang for last orders, didn’t even make it to the bar within 60seconds to get my last drink of the night before being told no more serving. Was told within two minutes of that to drink up. Other obvious regulars given plenty more time to savour their last drinks of the evening. Will choose a better establishment to drink in with more patient staff from now on. Would rather pay more for my pint and enjoy it than pay cheaper and be rushed to empty my glass”

Julian the elder is the expert on this, it’s a shame he wasn’t there, but he seems to know exactly what to get and when to avoid annoying bar staff. Well, generally.

“Customers generally not adhering to social distancing with lots of handshakes.”

The venue gets a 1 out of 5 review for this. May these days never be repeated….

“The food and service was great. However within half an hour or so I thought I was in a kindergarten. There were no less than half a dozen women and screaming children who took the place over. Not somewhere I would go for a coffee and a chat, couldn’t hear myself think!!”

I’m very tolerant of course, but I can feel this person’s pain….

“Have just come in to the Parkstone and Heather lands with my 13 year old son one of the members of staff have told me my son can sit how he was. Which was lent over basically with his head in his phone like most teenagers. im absolutely fueming. Disgusting behaviour. Usually this pub if fine I’m literally shocked”

I’m not sure that I even understand what’s happened here.

“Terrible, table next to us ordered food and they gave it to us instead, we ate it as anyone would do and then said you either have to pay or leave! Your fault you ordered it to the wrong table.”

No, nearly nobody would eat the food that was put on the wrong table.

“It’s cheap and not chearful, only place I know where they make you pay up front.”

I feel that someone might be new here.

“Worst wheaterspoons pub ever”

Interesting spelling. But, I digress and in terms of the cost, the price point here was the same as their two more centrally located pubs in Bournemouth.

There are also about twenty reviews complaining that the chips are being microwaved and numerous photos of soggy chips. Seems a bit odd. Anyway, I rather liked the pub although it feels more old-school Wetherspoons in the way their smaller pubs outside central London used to feel. They were a bit more focused on serving regulars and more wet-led, but this pub seems to be an important part of the community.

And I got several coffees (and obviously no hot chocolates as I don’t want to break the law) for £1.81 so that was rather lovely.

October 23, 2025
Bournemouth – For Your Snacks, Cat Food and Tobacco Needs

I was quite intrigued by this shop as they had decided the things they wanted to promote were snacks, cat/dog food and tobacco. I’m not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with selling any of those three, but I’m not sure that it’s a combination that I’ve seen before in terms of a shop’s focus. The 248 relates to the street number, they must have been slightly disappointed that they weren’t at 247 though.

October 23, 2025
Ryanair (Bournemouth to Wrocław)

I’ve already written about the excitement of Bournemouth Airport, but it was clean and organised so that was all to the good. It’s rare that I get to fly with Ryanair now given my new loyalty to Wizz Air, but this was a convenient departure location. The boarding process was efficiency, clear and the staff members were friendly.

Boarding on time. The aircraft was SP-RSU, a Boeing 737 which has been in use since 2017. It’s technically operated by Buzz, a fully owned subsidiary of Ryanair.

It’s not a very clear photo, but I liked this boarding arrangement which makes it easier for those with accessibility needs.

This Ryanair flight boarded immediately before our flight and was also off to Poland, to the rather lovely city of Krakow.

I hadn’t paid for seat selection and the seating Gods gave me a middle seat, which didn’t feel entirely optimal. However, fortunately, the person in the aisle seat of what was a fairly full flight, didn’t turn up and so I got the aisle seat.

The flight was uneventful and Ryanair didn’t appear on this occasion to try and annoy passengers as much as they used to by selling them all manner of things. It was a comfortable flight and I was rather impressed.

The only area where Ryanair couldn’t match Wizz Air was the cleanliness of their aircraft. The seat trays on the aircraft were sticky (well, mine wasn’t, but I could see three others were), there was litter on the floor and it was evident the crew just hadn’t had time to do what was needed.

Safely in Wrocław.

They put us in a bus to go all of 100 metres to the airport terminal. They’ve had us walk further distances before at this airport and it probably took longer to get there by the bus.

I have a shiny new passport now and didn’t experience the delays that I’ve had before whilst the border control staff have to sit and count the stamps. The airport hasn’t yet introduced the full new EES system for arriving passengers, but I doubt it’s far away.

I nearly never get taxis as they’re too decadent, but on this occasion I decided to get a cheaper Accor hotel (one of my favourite Ibis Budgets) and rather than take two hours to get there by public transport, I was there within thirty minutes. And, fortunately, taxis in Poland are very cheap, although I don’t really like using them as I like the excitement of public transport.

The flight was £15 and I was surprised and delighted by Ryanair, although they perhaps need to clean their aircraft a little more…

October 20, 2025
Bournemouth – Ibis Styles

This was a cheap hotel to stay at on a Sunday night but was convenient for my planned flight from Bournemouth Airport. I genuinely have no idea why they’re trying to be part of Accor though, they need to leave or they’re perhaps likely to be thrown out soon enough.

There was a lot of noise from neighbouring rooms even at check-in, which reception could hear. I should have really upgraded as Platinum Accor and I say that not out of privilege, but because they didn’t really seem to care about anything. I’m also not sure why they’re trying to be part of Ibis Styles, there’s not really much here that fits into that brand.

There was a welcome drink which they didn’t pro-actively mention but I claimed anyway. There was no welcome gift, but I could be asked about does it matter? Well, it sort of does, because most hotels in the Accor chain are complying with the standards they request and the Polish hotels operated by Orbis are offering ridiculously high standards. They’re upgrading, giving welcome gifts and almost going too far in meeting their obligations. It must be galling to the decent hotels to know that some other locations are not interested in committing in the way that they should.

There was no-one else in the bar area, which is actually reasonably pleasant. They don’t offer food, but the bar is open throughout the evening. This feels sub-optimal really, some considerable money has evidently been spent here in providing a decent and nice environment, although the marketing is all over the place.

I like this, it feels like a better way to contact the hotel.

In what might sound illogical, I’ll rate the breakfast as a disgrace to Accor even though I liked it. There was no hot food other than bacon, sausage and mozzarella rolls. I had the very last sausage roll and it was terrible, just junk food. Other guests didn’t get anything hot.

The reason I mention that I might not be being fair is that I liked the breakfast as I didn’t want any hot options. I had a lot of chorizo, indeed, I had all of it. The muffins were OK, but the fruit was absolutely fine. The yoghurts were adequate and the juices, when they refilled them, were generic but OK.

My complaint is that integrity is important. Don’t advertise a hot breakfast when there isn’t a hot breakfast. The reality that the hotel happened to stray into what I wanted isn’t perhaps the point. The online reviews are also very poor, there are clearly substantial issues here where guests continue to be disappointed.

The breakfast room was large and clean, this is clearly what the hotel used to have as a restaurant area. Again, someone has pumped money in here and so an effort has been made at some staff.

The rooms next to me came back at around 03:00 banging about. I’m oblivious to noise generally, but there should have been someone at reception dealing with this.

If this wasn’t an Accor hotel and I stayed here, I would have been content for the money. But, they’ve signed up to certain standards by being part of Accor and they’re playing fast and loose with it as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s important that managed hotels understand that they represent their brand they’ve signed up to and not just their own venue.

October 19, 2025
Bournemouth Airport

I’ve already complained about how unnecessarily difficult it is to get to Bournemouth Airport unless you’re wealthy or like walking (I went with the latter). The airport is owned by the same people as who operate Norwich Airport, but at least that one is accessible. Although Bournemouth Airport doesn’t charge the ridiculous £10 per passenger surcharge in the way that Norwich Airport does (unless you’re flying Ryanair from Norwich which feels an unfair exemption).

No expense has been spared here with the security area.

There were three flights, mine was the 20:55 one to Wrocław.

Can travel get any more decadent? I didn’t take any photos in the security area as I imagine they wouldn’t like that, but the security area itself was actually inside and the staff were friendly and helpful.

Inside the terminal which had a bar, a coffee shop, a duty free and an expensive WH Smiths. There were plenty of seating, although an absence of power points other than in the bar for their customers.

It was spacious and warm, so I didn’t have any complaints. I was only flying from Bournemouth Airport as I was already in Bournemouth and there was a cheap flight to Poland. It was also all mostly clean and tidy, with all of the gates visible from where I was sitting.

Bournemouth Airport began life in 1941 as RAF Hurn, one of many wartime airfields that sprang up across the country during the Second World War. It was used by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces, mainly as a transport and fighter base, and it played its part in operations leading up to D-Day.

As the war started to come to an end, Hurn was quickly repurposed for civil aviation. In 1944 it became the temporary base for British Overseas Airways Corporation, which used it as London’s main airport until Heathrow was ready, which I think is quite a claim to fame. For a brief period between 1945 and 1946, Bournemouth and not London was the country’s principal gateway for transatlantic flights.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the airfield evolved into a proper commercial airport, with charter routes opening to holiday destinations such as Majorca. It changed hands several times, from local authority control under Bournemouth Corporation and Dorset County Council, to National Express in the mid-1990s, and then to Manchester Airports Group in 2001. The 1990s also saw the runway extended to 2,271 metres, capable of taking larger aircraft, and Concorde even made a glamorous visit to mark the occasion. Ryanair arrived shortly afterwards which must have been the icing on the cake for the locals after Concorde.

Ownership passed again in 2017 to the Rigby Group, whose Regional & City Airports division continues to run the site. The new terminal was completed around 15 years ago and if the expansion that is planned takes place then they might well need a terminal extension. However, perhaps their priority really should be actually getting public transport to the airport and sorting out the pedestrian access.

October 17, 2025
Bournemouth Airport – Hostile to Pedestrians

This is the main road entrance to Bournemouth Airport and I personally think this is entirely sub-optimal. Making this worse is that there is no routine bus service to the airport and so passengers are forced into getting a taxi or having someone drive them (or drive themselves). Those options aren’t cheap and the airport seems to be resistant to doing anything useful here.

It is of course just coincidence that the airport has a £5 drop-off fee and really doesn’t want people being dropped off at the exit to the airport approach road.

They’ve been busy putting these photos along the road, just in case anyone missed the previous three. And, other than for a short stretch, there is actually a pavement.

No safe pedestrian access? There’s a pedestrian crossing here and a wide pavement.

The council wrote to the coroner (here’s the letter), after someone died (yes, quite), saying that they didn’t have the power to add a pavement to the short missing section of the road that didn’t have one (in the top photo) but they would support the airport to make this safe.

Anyway, for anyone with a backpack (or at least, not something they have to wheel along), it’s relatively easy (if they like walking….) to walk into the airport across the nearby fields (and I’ll likely post about that soon).

October 13, 2025
Bournemouth – Sixty Million Postcards

This looked like an interesting and quirky venue, although it wasn’t initially clear to me whether it was primarily a food venue or more of a bar.

They use beach huts as external seating to add some character to proceedings.

The food menu and the chicken schnitzel looked tempting…. But I had already eaten (not that this always stops me) and decided not to.

It was a pleasant interior and it transpired that it was a bar as well as a restaurant, although it wasn’t overly busy when we were there.

The postcard theme is evident here.

They had the Follow the Green Line from Round Corner Brewing and I was pleased to see something a little different on keg. It ran out near the top and the helpful team member said that they were changing the keg, although I was slightly doubtful that they’d have another as it’s not a mainstream beer. It transpired that they didn’t, so usually this beer would be discarded and another choice offered. But, I wanted this beer as I hadn’t had it and I’m happy with the end of a keg line, although not at the end of a cask line….. So, I asked to keep this and they could just pour some Asahi in another glass to make it up. I was glad that I did, it was a decent limey beer, citrusy and smooth.

It probably didn’t help their stock control, but there’s the Asahi which tasted as expected.

Some more postcards.

The venue had a welcoming atmosphere, the team members were friendly and I liked their beer selection as it made an effort to be wide-ranging. I hadn’t visited this bar when I’ve been in Bournemouth before, but they’ve been going for over a decade. All rather lovely.

October 12, 2025
Bournemouth – Barbara’s Bier Haus

We hadn’t intended on going in here, but it looked intriguing and so we popped in en route to the railway station to get to Christchurch. It’s part of a small chain of four bars, the others being in Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff.

I rather like the decor and general theme, it’s suitably quirky and informal.

The food seemed affordable, here’s the hot dog menu.

And the pizza menu.

The beer list and that’s quite an impressive beer tower with the seven pint option.

There was a singer, but he wasn’t deafeningly loud so that was rather lovely.

I think it’s aimed primarily at students, but it seemed welcoming to everyone.

The bier lift is a nice touch.

I might have ordered half a pint of Hooch, which is sweet, delicious and I accept not a craft beer. Well, actually, I think it comes close.

The online reviews were very positive and the team members were friendly, welcoming and personable. Although I felt that this review seemed a little sinister, there should be no excuse for exclusion.

I was on holiday in Bournemouth for a few days and wanted to pop in for a pint on a Sunday night. I was told by the door staff that the company policy was that no individuals may enter. This was because it took them ‘over capacity’. As a 52 year old man travelling alone, on a Sunday evening and with no more than 30 people inside this seemed ridiculous. I did send a message via the website as yet I have got no reply. Shame really, dismissive door staff and a poor service, could do and should do better.

I can’t find any other similar reviews, so hopefully it was the case that they were at the capacity that they wanted. Anyway, I thought that this was an informal and well managed venue, with the food and drink prices seeming reasonable. I like pub chains with an interesting theme or concept, it adds a little something to the whole arrangement.

October 12, 2025
Bournemouth – Thomas Shelley

The Thomas Shelley is the second JD Wetherspoon venue in Bournemouth, located nearby to the Moon in the Square. They used to operate the Christopher Creeke on Holdenhurst Road, but that’s now closed, although I did visit it when I was in Bournemouth in 2018.

As usual, I’ll take the history of the pub name from JD Wetherspoon:

“St Peter’s churchyard contains the grave of Mary Shelley and her husband, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary, author of the novel Frankenstein, died in London in 1851. Her body was interred in the family vault at St Peter’s by her son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, who lived at nearby Boscombe Manor (which later became part of Bournemouth and Poole College).”

I’ve written about this situation already and I’m still marginally annoyed.

The pub was busy, this is one of the few tables that was briefly unoccupied. It’s a large venue and there are numerous different seating areas, with the bar in the centre of the whole arrangement. There were about eight real ales available and the drinks, as usual, were keenly priced. I ordered at the bar and it was all efficient and organised, with only a minimal wait.

Working through a little more of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival, this is the JDW Young Henrys Newtowner which isn’t particularly well reviewed on Untappd. I rather liked it though, it was light and citrusy.

Ross ordered Coors and I’m not judgemental at all about beer, but I know others in the pub might be, so I hid it in case anyone said anything.

The next half pint was the Root and Branch from Oakham Ales, which is a black IPA. It has an interesting flavour, roasty and quite complex.

The carpet.

As usual, I feel the need to look through the reviews as it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue and it’s quite well reviewed online.

“Popped in to get a quick whiskey and to see if I could get some ice to take away. Not a problem but had to pay a pound for the coffee cup to take it away in. Was interestingly informed by the barman serving me that it was good ice cos it’s hard and lasts ages. Information for barman, ice is ice and it lasted no longer than any other ice.”

Wetherspoon does have good ice I suppose, but seems a bit harsh to charge £1 for a takeaway cup….

“I came on steak Tuesday order a sirloin steak chips. The steak did not taste right like a sirloin. Also asked for normal peppercorn sauce and they don’t have it, ask them to make it they don’t make the sauce fresh its in a bag!”

I like the idea of the team member in the kitchen quickly making some fresh peppercorn sauce….

“During my Son’s Stag we ordered food & did not receive what we paid for. The upset member of staff took it away. He later returns and said that it was paid for anyway and dropped the 2 plates onto the bar and when I called the manager / team leader to explain and complain about he’s action I was told that she will not deal with it as I was being rude. They then refused to sale any drinks to the party of 22 people. I was told we can stay but can’t order.”

You can stay, but don’t order anything probably isn’t what a stag group wants to hear….

“Was appalled to see England supporters being told to cover up their shirts. Thought this was an English pub in an English Town in an English County where democracy exists.”

In a democracy, pubs can ask customers not to wear football shirts. Although the chain has changed their mind on this numerous times, it probably is a bit unfair on customers to work out what their current policy is.

“Didn’t stay for a drink as the men’s toilets were so far away downstairs it was like a punishment! Might be a good pub but I don’t want a marathon to the toilet”

They’re down one flight of stairs…. Anyway, the exercise is good for the soul.

“Most of the staff here are horrible.”

They’re probably not….

“Still trying to uphold some vague restrictions . Doesn’t suit virtue signalers or those that want normality . Just the usual really, pretend to be doing something for some woke points and inconvenience everyone whilst actually doing nothing of use…”

Perhaps it’s that woke Tim Martin.

Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. All seemed in order at the pub, it was clean, organised and the team members seemed friendly. It was useful to tick a couple more beers off from the real ale festival that they’re having nationally and Ross was pleased with his pizza.

October 12, 2025
Bournemouth – Brewdog

I did have a plan to visit every Brewdog in the country, although they feel like they’ve lost their way recently and the whole chain has become somewhat less appealing to me. However, I thought I’d visit their Bournemouth outlet as I’d never been.

It’s a little frustrating as Brewdog pays to be listed on Untappd, but this is another one of their venues that doesn’t keep it up-to-date. So the Vault City beer that I was hoping they had, they actually didn’t have as it hadn’t been updated in a few days. The beer selection is OK, although there’s little that’s new and exciting and I’d had most of the guest beers before. The service was though friendly, warm and engaging.

For a Friday evening, the venue was much quieter than I had anticipated. I was meeting my friend Ross here, otherwise they had a grand total of five customers. Their pricing, especially for food, has kept pushing towards the higher end of the scale. As a bar though, it’s beautifully designed. I do actually also like their food, especially the chicken wings, but unless there’s some offer on, it is a little out of sync with other venues.

This is the Pupa from Vibrant Forest Brewery, a light, tropical, refreshing, hoppy and juicy beer that I rather liked. It’s from a local brewery, as Vibrant Forest are from Hardley and I’ve had a few of their beers before. One thing that Brewdog manage, unlike some other chains, is that their glasses are nearly always spotlessly clean.

There’s a sign on the top of the fridge noting that it’s a bit broken, but they have cold cans elsewhere so all is not lost. It’s a well curated beer fridge, I was tempted to have a couple in the bar rather than taking away, but there’s a £2 uplift for that and although that’s not unreasonable, it made it all just a bit expensive.

This Bournemouth location opened in 2022, so it’s one of their newer ones, and it has survived the recent cull of ten venues and so it must be doing reasonably well. I thought it felt well managed, it was spotlessly clean, the team members were friendly and it had a welcoming vibe. There’s still definitely some mileage in the brand, but it’s a shame that some of their pricing couldn’t be a little lower in places.

October 11, 2025