The Bull Hotel

About The Bull Hotel

The Bull has stood on East Street in Bridport since the 16th century, when it was a coaching inn on the route west. It is now a small boutique hotel that has kept the bones of the old building - beams, sloping floors, an arched carriage entrance - while the interiors have been reworked with bold colours, vintage furniture and a good deal of pattern. It functions as much as a local meeting place as a hotel, which gives it a busier, more sociable feel than a country house.

There are 19 bedrooms, ranging from compact doubles under the eaves to larger rooms with roll-top baths and four-posters. Rooms at the front look over the market street; those at the back are quieter. All are individually decorated, and while none are enormous, they are comfortable and well equipped. Some rooms take dogs.

Downstairs, the dining room serves modern British cooking with a Dorset accent - seasonal vegetables, local meat, fish from West Bay - alongside pub staples done properly. The Monmouth cocktail bar handles evenings, and there is a sheltered courtyard for eating outside in good weather, plus the Hay Loft for private events. Breakfast is generous and the coffee is taken seriously.

Bridport itself is one of the better small towns in the county, with a large street market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, a strong independent food scene and an arts centre. West Bay and the start of the Jurassic Coast cliffs are a mile and a half away, and the walk up Golden Cap is close. The Bull suits people who want to be in the middle of a working town rather than isolated in the countryside, and who like a hotel with some noise and character to it.