The Square & Compass — Restaurant in England

Considering I'm lucky enough to say my local pub is so good it regularly wins the Camra Greater London Pub of the year on an almost yearly basis I can say because I have been spoilt rotten by my local my standards for a pub are probably a smidge hirer than most other folks. That said I have no problem saying that the Square and Compass is without doubt The Best Pub in Britain. As you walk up to this incredible pub you are greeted by the biggest table you will ever see outside a pub which is the perfect place to sit and enjoy the sea veiws, when you enter the Square mind your head old buildings where not built for tall people if there isn't a que you will find yourself looking down a long dark wood corridor towards a hatch in the wall ahead of you this is in fact the bar where you will be able to buy yourself a pint of one of the local breweries best tipples thry always have an excellent selection of drinks for you to enjoy. If your hungry they have a selection of standard pub fare crisps, pasties sausage rolls but they are not your standard snacks and savourys by any stretch of the imagination thier Sausage Rolls will genuinely blow your mind they are massive heavily filled and untterly delicious The regular one is excellent but if yiu fancy something a bit different try their Chorizo Sausage Roll they are incredible be warned they do sell out of them on a regular basis but if your lucky enhance then they do also have a pizza shack put the back and the pizzas from here are equally delicious. Once you have your pasty and your pint and you don't fancy sitting outside you have two options turn right and walk into the old Mason's Lodge from which the pub takes its name or turn left and wlak down past the booths on the left and into the museum where you will be able to sit down enjoy your pint and sit amongst the fossils of dinosaurs that have been found locally to the pub don't be surprised if you turn around and find a bite has been taken out of your sausage roll, there is also a large box of toy dinosaurs in here ro feel free to recreate your favourite scenes from the Jurassic Park films with friends. I said at the start this is the best pub in Britain and I meant it whenever I am anywhere near to the Swanage Area I will go out of my way to swing by the Square and Compass for a pint a sausage roll and a chill out and you should too.

And while your at it have a walk out the back of the pub across the carpark on the lane behind it and have a look at the wood henge that has...

An unusual pub with a ( free) mini fossil museum attached with regular live gigs squeezed into the biggest of 2 rooms. The view out to sea is superb on a warm sunny day as is sitting at any of the large and unique tables outside at the front. There is also a beer garden to one side. Selling a large variety of ales, beers and ciders....many of them local....especially the ciders is what draws people to this little pub in Worth Matravers. The catering is basic.....they have no pretentions of being a gastropub.....serving pasties/pies ( Inc recently...vegan ones) and cakes /puddings....something to take note of if expecting a large menu!. There are 2 "sheds" out front, seating about 7 comfortably in the dry if it rains or try your luck inside. The bar(s) are not conventional.....more like 2 serving hatches though service is quite quick if you don't get stuck behind someone who dithers over making a choice from the many, many to choose from. Nevertheless the queue is often long at peak times, stretching well out of the single entrance door. There is a large and "free" carpark (£2 donation is suggested) 200yards up the road from the pub. Well worth a visit if you're in the area ( many walkers do) or even a diversion if...

This pub is so obviously trading on the fact that it’s the only pub in the village! I’ve never seen such slapdash service from such “don’t give a damn” staff. It was a very wet and windy night (in May, but awful weather) and there was no fire. Everyone was arriving cold and wet and hoping for a fire, but nobody bothered to make one. We looked at the list of food (about 4 pasties, and sausage rolls) but were told that in fact there were no sausage rolls, so we ordered a couple of pasties. They are obviously microwaved because they appeared within a couple of minutes, served on PAPER PLATES. (I say “served” - they were handed through a hatch and we were told we could find sauces and cutlery over there.) They had a few outdated awards for cider on the wall but had no interest in serving soft drinks. Only sodas were from a pump, and there were J2Os, served at room temperature (ice was provided on request). The staff stand in front of a sort of bleak warehouse of boxes of crisps piled up in a shambolic way behind a serving hatch. You have to go outside to get to the toilets, too. How this pub has a name for being anything other than a dark and dingy hole that you go to out of desperation, I...