10 Places Where Locals Love to Eat in Bournemouth

Arbor Restaurant at Bournemouth’s The Green House is a chilled diner where you can enjoy innovative British cuisine that uses locally and ethically sourced produce. The award-winning restaurant rotates its seafood menu daily and greatly depends on the catch of the day, meaning that your next experience won’t be the same as your last. Aside from seafood, their duck wellington is a must-try.

Be sure to book ahead for a spot at their coveted terrace, especially in the summer. You can expect afternoon happy hour deals on cocktails through 6 pm on Fridays.

Drop by Little Pickle Deli Café for a quick and hearty bite in friendly and cosy vibes while in Boscombe. The light and airy spot is a local go-to for homemade breakfasts and strong coffee. Treats range from egg salad sandwiches to scrumpy scotch eggs and even vegan breakfasts with a good selection of local chutneys and jams.

For a filling lunch, go for their speciality burgers, such as the Little Pickle beef burger that uses a 6 oz local beef patty with coastal cheddar and sweet pickles and is served with a homemade maple coleslaw. If they’re in season, go for their Mudeford crab sandwiches, prepared with lemon juice and mayonnaise and simply to die for.

Head to Chez Fred on Seamoor Road in the heart of Westbourne district for good traditional local food and especially some of the best fish and chips in town. The elegant but humble joint has been welcoming locals and visitors with comfort food since 1989.

The most popular fish used is none other than top-quality cod and line-caught haddock. Cod is most popular thanks to its succulence, though haddock is meatier and sweeter, hand-prepared and cut by their skilled chefs. Other selections include hake, plaice, and red gurnard. Family-friendly, Chez Fred offers kids a sprat pack that’s full of fun, marine-related puzzles to crack while they dine.

WestBeach is an all-day restaurant and a seafront dining institution on Bournemouth Beach. It makes good use of its location, close to the promenade, where you can enjoy great seafood with gentle sea breezes while overlooking Bournemouth Pier.

The menu here is big on British seafood dishes – enjoy haddock casserole and baked hake, 2 among many of the top offerings at WestBeach. Other must-tries are their seabass and mussels as well as their Poole Bay lobster. Come here on the last Thursday of the month and you’re in for a livened-up atmosphere with live music.

Wesley's Cafe is a hidden gem on the High Street, smack-dab in the heart of Poole, where you can sit down with a wonderful slice of one of their many homemade cakes. A good variety of sandwiches, paninis, as well as freshly brewed coffee, hot chocolate and teas in big mugs are also among its other offerings.

The café is good for families – you can take your kids and let them play to their heart’s content in the dedicated play area while you dine and browse using their free Wi-Fi. No trip to Bournemouth or Poole should miss trying out Dorset apple cake and Wesley’s own doesn’t disappoint.

Piggies is a petite family-run café in Westbourne where locals and daytrippers stop by for great coffee and traditional homecooked British fare. You can drop in for a quick sit-down with a slice of cake from their display while meals like mac and cheese, tender roast beef, and cottage pie also grace their simple all-day breakfast menu.

Family-friendly, they’re also a hit with kids thanks to their wide selection of Purbeck ice cream – opt for the Dig-A-Saurus, soft-whipped vanilla topped with a chocolate dinosaur, if you have trouble choosing.

Hungry Husky, as its name suggests, is a go-to greasy spoon in Southbourne where you can fill up with a generously portioned all-day English breakfast. Many regulars also keep a tab on their daily specials for offerings of steak breakfasts and sarnies.

For a typical morning at Hungry Husky, however, you can expect your steaming-hot orders of sausages, eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes, granary toast and mushrooms to be served on pre-warmed plates. And don't forget the big mug of coffee or tea to wash it all down.

South Coast Roast is an indie café in Bournemouth that draws coffee lovers to its great selection of roasts and homemade treats. Their setup in Richmond Hill is cosy and laidback, and their menu isn’t limited to just good old British fare. This is shown by some of the unique takes they offer for their all-day brunches.

Their Aussie-inspired Bondi Breakfast is loaded with avocado on toast, grilled tomato, gherkins, and poached eggs on a bed of rocket or chilli jam. If you have a hard time choosing from the menu, you can’t go wrong with their brunch special, which comprises smashed butternut squash, maple-caramelised onions, homemade vegan cashew cream cheese, and toasted sunflower seeds that are all sat on a thick slice of sourdough.

Bournemouth Pies is a small bakery in Pokesdown that has become a favourite local source for freshly baked pies and savouries. They cater to all dietary requirements, as shown on their menu. You can order them ready to eat on the spot, or frozen so that you can bring them home and heat them when you’re ready to enjoy.

The choice of pies ranges from beef and stilton and London-style pie – with ground beef, minced onion and black pepper – as well as wild rabbit and garlic snack pasties to free-range Dorset pork pies. Their vegan sausage rolls and vegan pork-less pies have also become popular picks.

Cafe Boscanova is a hip joint in Boscombe where you can enjoy all-day breakfasts and great coffee in a Bohemian vibe. The coastal café is a short walk from the beach and features bare brick walls and wooden furnishings, as well as a menu that lists acai bowls, meat burritos, and fat pancake stacks among its highlights.

The burritos come in vegan and vegetarian options, using halloumi, flat mushroom, potato hash and crushed avocado, as do the teriyaki ‘super salads’ that use jackfruit glazed in the sauce. Kids can also join in on mum and dad’s stacked pancake cravings with mini pancakes doused in maple butter or dusted in powdered sugar.