Commodore Hotel by Greene King Inns

The Commodore is a seafront pub-with-rooms on Overcliffe Drive in Southbourne, at the quieter eastern end of Bournemouth's cliff top, and the location is what makes it work for dog owners. The cliff lift sits directly opposite, so you can be down on the sand in a couple of minutes rather than walking the long zig-zag, and the Southbourne and Boscombe stretch below is dog-friendly outside the summer restriction period. There is a large free car park, which matters when you arrive with a dog and a boot full of kit.

The property publishes no formal pet policy, so the fee, the room restrictions and the number of dogs allowed are all worth confirming when you book. What guests do report is that dogs are handled easily and without fuss: parties arriving with two dogs describe being accommodated without difficulty, and the hotel keeps designated areas so that dog owners and other guests are not on top of each other at busy times. Staff come up again and again as the strongest part of the stay, and the kitchen draws consistent praise for both breakfast and evening meals.

It is a chain pub-with-rooms rather than a boutique hotel, and the reviews reflect that. Decor is dated in places, carpets and paintwork are wearing thin, and rooms above the bar catch music and road noise. The dog arrangements are not universally popular either: guests without dogs have questioned whether dogs belong in the bar at all, and there are complaints about dogs barking in the restaurant without staff stepping in. If a quiet, dog-free dining room matters to you, this is not the place.

For dog owners the balance still comes out well, at a 4.6/5 paw rating, because what the Commodore offers is hard to find at the price: a cliff-top position above a dog-friendly beach, free parking, a kitchen happy to feed you, and staff who treat a dog as normal rather than an exception. It suits people who want a straightforward seaside base with the dog and can live with tired decor and pub noise.