Lyndhurst has six pubs of its own and at least half a dozen more out in the forest within a few miles. Several sit on village greens or in clearings where ponies wander past the picnic tables. This guide to pubs in Lyndhurst starts with the ones you can walk to from the High Street and works outwards to the forest pubs worth a short drive. For each one we say what it’s like, who it suits and whether you’ll need to book.
All of these were trading when we checked in autumn 2026. Pubs change hands and hours change with the seasons, so check the pub’s own website before you set off, especially in winter.
Pubs in Lyndhurst village
The Fox & Hounds
Right in the middle of the High Street at number 22, the Fox & Hounds is a Fuller’s pub in an old coaching inn. It works as well for a quiet pint as for a big family lunch. The kitchen is built around a rotisserie, and in 2018 Fuller’s named it the best country and village pub in its estate. There’s a sun-trap terrace and baby changing, and dogs are welcome. Food is served all day from Friday to Sunday, with an afternoon break in the kitchen from Monday to Thursday.
The Mailmans
At 71 High Street, at the eastern end of the village. It calls itself a quirky, sociable pub, and its menu puts a potato at the heart of almost every dish. There’s a garden, B&B rooms, a 120-inch screen for sport, and pool and darts in the games room, which it calls the Dog House. The carvery has become a draw in its own right, and the pub strongly recommends booking it. Its own website gives opening hours of noon to 11pm from Monday to Saturday, but other listings show it closed early in the week, so check before you go.
The Stag
Next door at 69 High Street, the Stag is a nineteenth-century pub with eleven en suite rooms and a restaurant. Locally sourced food is served at lunch and dinner every day, with Sunday roasts offering a choice of meats and a vegetarian option, and there’s live music on some evenings. Its garden is billed as animal and child friendly, and recent guests describe the place as very dog friendly.
The Waterloo Arms
A seventeenth-century thatched pub on Pikes Hill, at the northern edge of the village. It’s about ten minutes’ walk from the High Street: head up the Romsey Road and turn left into Pikes Hill. Inside you’ll find low beams, stone floors, a piano and open fires, and the rooms open up as you go further back, ending in a garden with covered seating. Food is home-cooked and served all day, with fish, game and vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes. Children and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Book by phone, email or a Facebook message.
The White Rabbit
A few minutes’ walk up the Romsey Road from the High Street, the White Rabbit is a Chef & Brewer pub restaurant with 15 en-suite rooms (see our hotels and inns page). It opens early for breakfast and has a beer garden and its own car park. Well-behaved dogs are allowed in parts of the pub and the garden, and you can book a table online.
The Crown Stirrup
On Clay Hill, the A337 at the southern edge of the village, the Crown Stirrup is a country pub whose oldest parts go back to the fifteenth century. Inside you get low ceilings and a log fire, and outside there’s a large garden. Walkers, cyclists and dogs are welcome, it has been under new management since December 2024, and the 86 bus stops close by.
Forest pubs within a mile or two of Lyndhurst
The Swan, Swan Green
Half a mile west of the village on the A35 towards Christchurch, overlooking Swan Green, where ponies graze the grass in front of the cottages. The building has a long history: it went up in 1731 as a coaching inn, complete with a blacksmith’s forge, and was largely rebuilt after a fire in 2006. Since April 2025 it has been an independent free house, run by the Sainsbury family. The menu is traditional English comfort food with a long gluten-free list, and there are two open fires and a garden. Dogs are welcome in most areas of the inn and there’s even a canine menu. If you’d rather not eat next to a dog, ask for a table “up top”.
The New Forest Inn, Emery Down
A little further west, in the hamlet of Emery Down. This is an old country inn with rooms, food made on the premises from local produce where possible, and a back garden with a gate that opens onto forest paths. That makes it a natural start or finish for a walk; our Emery Down and Swan Green walk takes you right past. Dogs are welcome in the bar and the restaurant. Sunday roasts come with at least three meats and a vegetarian option, and there’s a children’s menu.
The Oak Inn, Bank
About a mile south-west of the village, on Pinkney Lane in the tiny hamlet of Bank, well away from the A35 traffic. It’s a Fuller’s pub with low ceilings, a real fire and covered seating outside. The food is British pub cooking using New Forest and Hampshire produce. Families are welcome (there’s baby changing and a children’s menu) and so are dogs. Food stops earlier on Sundays and, in some seasons, isn’t served on Mondays, so check before a late lunch. Book through the pub’s website, particularly for Sunday lunch.
Forest pubs worth a short drive
The Trusty Servant, Minstead
About two miles north-west of Lyndhurst in Minstead, a village with a green and an old church where Arthur Conan Doyle is buried. The pub overlooks the green. The odd figure on its sign, part man, part pig, part donkey and part deer, is the Trusty Servant of a sixteenth-century painting at Winchester College, and a board outside tells the story. It’s an inn with five rooms. The food is homemade and seasonal, with breakfast served in the morning, and dogs are welcome in the bar, the restaurant and the bedrooms. The pub car park is small, but there’s a public car park opposite. Combine it with our Minstead and Rufus Stone walk or read about Conan Doyle’s grave first.
The Sir Walter Tyrrell, Brook
Three or four miles north-west, near the Rufus Stone that marks the spot where William Rufus was said to have been killed by an arrow in 1100. The pub is named after the man who supposedly fired it. It’s a big 1930s building with wood-panelled rooms, a large garden and a wooden adventure playground, which makes it a favourite for families. The cooking is traditional English, portions are generous, and you can book online. There’s a little history of the stone on our Rufus Stone page.
The Royal Oak, Fritham
Five or six miles north-west, at the end of a lane in Fritham. This is the one that people who know the forest talk about. It’s thatched, with three small rooms, beams and two big fireplaces. A row of real ales and ciders comes mostly from local brewers, and it has been in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for more than fifty years. Food is lunch only and mostly ploughman’s lunches, pork pies and quiche, and it’s all the better for keeping things simple. The garden is huge, children play on the grass at the front, and dogs are very welcome. At the time of writing it’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The pub has no car park of its own, so you park on the roadside or in a nearby Forestry England car park (charges apply), and on a fine weekend it pays to arrive early. Bikes go in a fenced bike park in the garden.
The Drift, near Beaulieu Road
On the open road between Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, about three and a half miles south-east. The Drift is a pub and restaurant attached to a hotel. It serves food from breakfast to dinner, with classic pub dishes, afternoon teas and roasts on locally sourced menus, and dogs and families are welcome. There are gardens to sit out in during the summer.
Booking and Sunday lunch at New Forest pubs
From Easter to September, and on any sunny weekend, the forest pubs near Lyndhurst get busy at lunchtime. For Sunday lunch, book at least a few days ahead, and further ahead for groups. Most take bookings online. The Waterloo Arms takes them by phone or email, and the Royal Oak at Fritham is worth a call first. In winter you can usually walk in midweek, and there’s a fire to sit beside.
Pubs for families and dogs
With children, the Sir Walter Tyrrell’s playground and the Royal Oak’s grass make life easy. The Oak Inn and the Fox & Hounds have baby changing. Most of these pubs welcome dogs. The New Forest Inn and the Trusty Servant let them into the restaurant as well as the bar, and the Swan has a dog menu. See where to eat with your dog for the details, and our dog walks for a route to work up an appetite.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best pub near Lyndhurst?
It depends what you want. For a proper old country pub with local beer, the Royal Oak at Fritham. For a meal in the village, the Fox & Hounds. For a forest garden with walks from the gate, the New Forest Inn at Emery Down. For families, the Sir Walter Tyrrell.
Can you walk to a pub from Lyndhurst?
Yes. The Fox & Hounds, the Mailmans and the Stag are on the High Street, and the Waterloo Arms, the White Rabbit and the Crown Stirrup are a short walk from it. The Swan is about half a mile west, and the New Forest Inn and the Oak Inn are each about a mile or so.
Which Lyndhurst pubs have rooms?
The Mailmans, the Stag, the White Rabbit, the New Forest Inn and the Trusty Servant all have bedrooms, and the Royal Oak at Fritham has three shepherd’s bothies to stay in. See our places to stay for more.
Do New Forest pubs serve food all day?
Some do. The Waterloo Arms, the Swan and the Trusty Servant serve through the afternoon, but the Royal Oak at Fritham does lunch only, and others close the kitchen between lunch and dinner on weekdays.
