Eating out in Westbourne: cafés, bars and restaurants

Westbourne is the best place to eat on Bournemouth's west side: in a few streets around the Victorian arcade you get brunch cafés, Italian and Thai small plates, one of the town's best-known chippies and two very different pubs. It is a place for lunch and dinner rather than late nights, and it is an easy walk from the West Cliff.

Westbourne sits on the boundary between Bournemouth and Poole, about a mile west of the town centre along Poole Road. The Bournemouth Guide's Westbourne page says it "feeds people unusually well" for its size, and that matches our experience. Here is where to go, meal by meal.

Where should you have breakfast and brunch in Westbourne?

Start at the arcade end of Poole Road. Chines Coffee House and Circo Lounge cover most of the village's brunch trade between them, one small and independent, the other large with a terrace. Both serve vegetarian dishes, both welcome dogs, and both get busy from mid-morning on weekends, so arrive early.

Chines Coffee House is the neighbourhood café near the arcade, serving speciality coffee and all-day brunch from a seasonal menu, with free Wi-Fi if you need to work for an hour. Circo Lounge, opposite the arcade at 66 Poole Road, runs from all-day brunch into evening dining, with a hidden terrace at the back and vegan, gluten-free and children's menus. Its listing gives opening from 9am daily; groups of more than six should book.

For a cooked breakfast in a pub setting, The Libertine on Alumhurst Road serves breakfast on Monday to Saturday mornings. Our wider guide to brunch in Bournemouth compares Westbourne with Boscombe and the town centre.

Which Westbourne restaurants are worth booking for dinner?

Two small-plates restaurants on Poole Road are the ones to book: Gossip for Venetian-style Italian and Koh Thai Tapas for Thai. Both suit sharing, both fill on Friday and Saturday nights, and both are best reserved in advance. Opening hours have shifted over time, so check the day before.

Gossip at 109 Poole Road is a family-run Italian serving cicchetti, the Venetian small plates, alongside wood-fired pizza and fresh pasta. Its listing mentions arancini, burrata, crab ravioli and risotto, with vegan and gluten-free options, and warns that the small dining room fills early at weekends.

Koh Thai Tapas serves Thai cooking as small sharing plates with cocktails: satay, sweetcorn cakes, mussels, curries and tom yum, with gluten-free and vegan dishes marked on the menu. It opens for dinner daily, with lunch on selected days, and has a children's menu, which makes it a practical family dinner.

Where are the best fish and chips in Westbourne?

Chez Fred on Seamoor Road is the answer, and has been since 1989. It is a family-run fish and chip restaurant and takeaway with sustainably sourced cod and haddock, unlimited chips when you eat in, and a children's menu called the Sprat Pack. It does not take bookings.

The listing gives its hours as Tuesday to Saturday, 11.30am to 2pm and 4.30pm to 9pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays, with gluten-free frying on Tuesdays only. Check Chez Fred's own site before you go, as times can change. On a dry evening, take a portion down the chine to Alum Chine beach, under a mile away.

Where can you get a drink in Westbourne?

Westbourne has a pub for every mood: a gastropub, a traditional local, a sports pub and a micropub. None of them is a late-night venue, which is the point. For clubs and bars after midnight, the town centre is a taxi ride away.

• The Libertine, 1 Alumhurst Road: a Young's gastropub with seasonal British cooking, cask ales, a Sunday roast and an event space in a converted 1851 forge.
• The Porterhouse, 113 Poole Road: a wood-panelled one-bar local with Ringwood and Marston's cask ales, a Tuesday quiz and simple lunchtime food.
• The Westbourne, 45 Poole Road: a Greene King pub with pub-classic food, sport on the screens, pool, darts and a beer garden.
• All Hail Ale, 10 Queens Road: a micropub and bottle shop pouring cask and craft beer, real cider and English wine from independent British producers. There is no kitchen, but you can bring in pizza from the shop next door.

Renoufs, the cheese and wine bar in the arcade at 48 Poole Road, is the other evening option; Renoufs' own site lists its cheese, charcuterie and wine. For the pubs beyond the village, see our guide to the best pubs in Bournemouth.

Takeaway nights and the farmers' market

For a night in, Westbourne covers both the takeaway and the shopping. Hive Kitchens runs several food brands from one kitchen for delivery and collection, and once a month the farmers' market on Landseer Road brings local producers into the village. Both are useful if your stay has a kitchen.

Hive Kitchens lets you order burgers, gyros, curries and fried chicken in a single online order; its listing advises checking the collection point and hours on its own site. The Westbourne Farmers and Makers Market sets up on Landseer Road on the first Saturday of the month, from about 9am to 2pm, with bread, meat, vegetables, eggs, cheese and cakes. Our self-catering food shopping guide covers the supermarkets and delis nearby.

Getting to Westbourne from the West Cliff

Westbourne is walkable from every Flexiestays hotel on the West Cliff. Allow twenty to thirty minutes on foot along the clifftop or Poole Road, or take one of the frequent buses on Poole Road. The walk back uphill from Alum Chine beach is, in the guide's words, "a steady climb".

Several Westbourne venues welcome dogs, including Chines Coffee House, Circo Lounge, The Porterhouse and All Hail Ale. If you are travelling with one, read the Help Centre's page on pets and assistance dogs before you book. A short-term stay on the West Cliff puts the village, the chines and the town centre all within walking distance, and the Westbourne area guide covers the shops and the arcade.