Reviews The Barley Mow

I first visited this pub in the late 1960's. It was much smaller then, didn't serve much food, and catered mainly for locals and small amount of passing trade. However it served excellent beer and was a most pleasant place to spend a winter's evening in front of the public (now village) bar's open fire, or on summer's evening, sat in the beer garden, watching the sun go down. Times may well have changed and although the brewers (Hall & Woodhouse) have probably trebled the size of the floorplan over the years, the extensions for the most part have been made sympathetically, to what is a quintessentially old English pub. My wife & I last visited on a weekday lunchtime in mid July 2023, and I was pleased to see that the beer and service (Imogen, extremely helpful & polite), was as good as ever and that the menu was very extensive for vegetarians & meat eaters alike. The prices were very reasonable (certainly for the area). It was sad to see so few (4) tables occupied, compared with how I remembered as both, a cyclist & motorcyclist in the 1970's & 1980's. The Ferndown bye pass has a lot to answer for as it is now more difficult to access the pub from the Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole conurbation. In this respect all 3 of the closest pubs to the Barley Mow, are easier to reach, but to my mind, not so pleasant. At least there's plenty of room, for your dogs to accompany you for a drink and a meal and afterwards you can always enjoy a pleasant walk over the heathland, from the National Trust, White Sheet Car Park. All in all, probably one of the best country pubs on the Dorset/Hampshire border. John G.

Excellent food. Thought the lady serving (boss?) was a bit abrupt. She accused one of our number of not mentioning gluten free. Yes, he did, as he always does when eating out. Showed obvious irritation when someone was slow to give order. Took all orders from end of table (8 people) instead of individually meaning you had to yell your order. Otherwise a delightful venue with superb food.

The food is always very good and fairly priced. Nice atmosphere and friendly service. I would highly recommend this country pub 🍻

Very warm welcome as we walked in, area reserved for our meeting was well set out. Food service was swift and totally scrumptious. Felt very comfortable in there, will definitely return. 😋 👌

Always good service here and good beer didn't eat this time but would have, the food is always good Well priced