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meetings:pub

Pub meetings

We currently hold monthly pub meetings to chat about Linux, computing, and anything else interesting that crops up. The odd netbook or laptop often makes an appearance too, although quiet venues with parking and wi-fi can be hard to find. If you have a suggestion for a venue, raise it on the mailing list.

We've varied locations in the past, Dorchester, Blandford Forum, and Bournemouth, but we now seem settled on Bournemouth due to it giving the highest turn-out. The meeting is normally the first Tuesday of the month unless that's awkward, e.g. New Year's Day.

Our next meetings and their venues are:

Town Time Venue
Bournemouth Tuesday 2025-01-07 20:00 Online Jitsi room, see mailing-list archive

If you're thinking of attending for the first time, be sure to pop up on the mailing list in advance so you stand a chance of identifying others and they can look out for you. There's often a 3 inch high stuffed penguin in the centre of a table or just look out for a bloat of friendly hippies of various ages.

Venues

Bournemouth Electric

The red pin marks the building: Bournemouth Electric Club, Broadway Lane, Bournemouth, BH8 0AA. Telephone 01202 515440. Entrance to the car park is off Diamond Place: after taking the NE exit of the roundabout, turn left and left again. Pedestrians can enter the car park just opposite the entrance to The Broadway car park.

LUG attendees that are not paid-up members of the Bournemouth Electric Club will be guests of those LUG members that are BEC members, e.g. Terry Coles.

The Broadway

The red pin marks the building: 241 Castle Lane West, Bournemouth, BH8 9TG. Telephone 01202 512708.

It has tucked-away area at the end of the bar we can use to escape from those watching sports on TV (from the main entrance head to the pool tables and look to the left). Free Wi-Fi is available through The Cloud if you register with them, and that can be done in advance.

There is a car park.

The Broadway is reachable by Yellow Buses 2a, 2b and 3, and by Wilts & Dorset bus M1. Buses 3 and M1 run regularly in the evening. The last number 3 back into town is at 23.39 and the last M1 back into town is a few minutes after midnight.

Crown Hotel

Crown Hotel, West Street, Blandford Forum, DT11 7AJ. Part of the building is where this green arrow's pointing. Parking is available in barrier-controlled pub car park at the start of River Mews. A token must be obtained from the hotel to raise the barrier for exit, although they seem to leave the barrier up late at night.

We've now had several meetings here and depending on how busy they are we grab a corner or ocassionally the large table in the centre of the furthermost bar area (with a glass roof).

The hotel has free Wi-Fi which can be accessed by asking for login details at reception. These are throw away codes, so a new set is needed for each visit. However, they will usually provide a handful if asked, so one of us can get codes for everyone.

The King's Arms

Often the first Wednesday evening of even months at The King's Arms, 252 Wallisdown Road, Wallisdown, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH10 4HZ. Telephone 01202 513191.

The pub is to the north-east of the roundabout where the A3049, Wallisdown Road, crosses the A3040, Alder Road, and Kinson Road. Map of The King's Arms. We tend to sit in the lounge bar which is on the left-hand side of the pub if viewed from Wallisdown Road.

The pub has its own decent sized car park at the back of the pub. There's a driveway into it from Wallisdown Road but be aware that this is one-way so you can't exit this way later. The other easier access to the car park is at the end of Old Mulberry Close. This is the first road on the right if you're heading north up Kinson Road from the roundabout, before Alton Road. (Some streetmaps can't fit the long name into the small space.)

Alternatively, you can catch the number 15 bus, terminating at Bournemouth Hospital, from Stand D at Poole Bus Station, to Wallisdown Roundabout which is then about a 30 second walk to the Kings Arms pub. Be warned, however, that the last bus leaves Poole at 18:50, meaning you'll get to the pub 45 minutes early. Also be prepared to either get a taxi home or buy a drink for someone with a car because the last bus for the journey back is at 19:30.

If you aren't sure where the stop is, either ask the driver to give you a yell or watch the LED ticker for the above mentioned stop. If you are familiar with the area, the bus approaches Wallisdown roundabout from Alder Hills Road with the stop being outside the supermarket, so push the 'stop' button as you are going around the roundabout.

The King's Head

Somewhere we've considered for meetings in Wimborne but haven't used yet. King's Head Hotel, The Square, Wimborne, BH21 1JG. It has a car park but it's quite small. Public car parks include one accessed off King Street; from there, walk through Pye Lane onto West Street and turn right.

The Royal Oak

The Royal Oak, 20-21 High West Street, Dorchester, DT1 1UW. Telephone 01305 755910.

As of 2008-02-14, the pub offers free wi-fi. On attempting to use it, you'll see a page with a “sponsor code” at the top. Entering that code gives you free access. This replaces the old “buy a drink, get a 30-minute coupon” scheme. The access point is part of the “trivia quiz” machine in the corner at the far left of the bar. Consequently, the further you are from it the harder it can be to pick up its signal. Some bits of the pub are without access because of this.

The pub is on the south side of the street, almost opposite Glyde Path Road. We tend to sit in the main bar area, or out on the patio is the weather is clement.

The pub is a J. D. Wetherspoon's and tends to have an ale or two on offer. It also serves food all day if you're thinking of turning up early for a bite to eat.

Parking is available at the nearby Top of Town car park, on the north side of Bridport Road between Poundbury Road and The Grove. From 18:00 it seems it's free. A smaller car park is off Glyde Path Road. It's possible to park on High West Street itself, but spaces are rare and the council have recent installed parking ticket machines. Many of the surrounding streets have double yellow lines. Council information on car parks. Parkopedia.

The Royal Oak

J. D. Wetherspoon's information on The Royal Oak.

And here's a Google Map.

Meeting summaries

As and when people want to, they post a summary of the meeting to the mailing list. The list's archives are only accessible by subscribers, so here are copies for ease of access. If you want to add a summary it may be worth appending your initials to the page name in case someone else has a write-up of the same meeting. Have a look at the page names below to get the idea.

2001

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Administrivia

Here's a list of what needs doing when the date of the next meeting is to be set.

meetings/pub.txt · Last modified: 2024/12/05 21:22 by ralph