Main Road
West Lulworth
Dorset
BH20 5RN
01929 400311
The Castle is a 16th century thatched pub close to the famous natural harbour of Lulworth Cove which you might remember from school geography lessons. It has a fine low-beamed interior and offers accommodation in 15 guest bedrooms. The thatched roof was renewed in the past couple of years and is now a striking golden colour (photo 1).
The Castle was once owned by the Devenish Brewery company of Weymouth which closed in 1993 but the pub hung on to a few signs from that era until very recently. Photo 2 is a close-up from the late noughties and shows how different the thatch was before it was replaced, and also shows a nice Devenish plaque on the wall. The inn sign dates from the same period and is a painted image of a castle with the Devenish logo (photo 3).
The pub is now owned by Butcombe Brewery of Somerset, one of the very first of the new wave of breweries, opening in 1978. It took advantage of the real ale revival inspired by Camra and has grown from a small operation with 3 or 4 pubs to a big player, now running about 80 pubs in the south west.
