This week we're taking the opportunity to look back at pictures of some old pubs in the west Dorset area.

As the weather warms up and our thoughts turn to enjoying a drink in a beer garden, here's a look at some pubs from the past.

Click on the photo above and scroll through the picture gallery to see all the photos

We have an old photo of a Palmers Brewery delivery lorry - a name synonymous with brewing in this area.

Another picture shows the Tigers Head in Rampisham, which was sadly destroyed by fire - in its place is a much larger building dated 1915 which remained as an inn until the early 1990s.

You can also see a picture of The Queen’s Arms in Charmouth, where Catherine of Aragon stayed in 1501. It is also where King Charles stayed on September 22, 1651. The king was trying to escape Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, and was given refuge by the landlady at the time, Margaret Ward.

The building is now known as The Abbots house and is the oldest building in Charmouth.

Brewing in West Dorset dates back as far as 1792 when the Gladwyn family established a brewery in Litton Cheney. According to Brewing in Dorset, malting was carried out nearby at Barge’s Farm.

Further west, Bridport’s Old Brewery was purchased in 1794 by Samuel Gundry & Co. The brewery added new ‘fashionable lighter Burton ales to the traditional range of table beer, porter and old vatted ales’.

The brewery passed from owner to owner until it was purchased in 1896 by J C & R H Palmer. Although Dorset suffered from a long depression in agriculture, their improvements to the brewery site and an introduction of a bottled range resulted in success and survival of the brewery through wars and recessions.

Several pubs in Bridport dabbled in brewing too. The Bull, established in the 1500s, brewed for centuries until the last brewing under the Knight family in 1920.