Is The Grove Arms Still Open? The Hotel Inspector Update (Ludwell, UK)

The Hotel Inspector (Channel 5) episode "The Grove Arms, Ludwell" aired July 10, 2018. According to TheTVDB's episode entry, the show centered on a dog-friendly local pub in the countryside, owned by a former city professional who had long wanted to run one. The entry says the venture had gone off the rails without giving specifics, and shows the Hotel Inspector stepping in to help fix it. The entry names no owner.

The pub's own website, checked October 19, 2026, describes The Grove Arms as a Grade II listed 16th-century country inn in Ludwell, near Shaftesbury, licensed since the 17th century. It lists a telephone number, a book-a-table option and a link to stay at the inn, along with hours of 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. The page does not show a year.

Hall & Woodhouse lists The Grove Arms among the pubs on its own website, as a thatched pub in Ludwell within Cranborne Chase with six en-suite bedrooms and dogs welcome in the bedrooms and dining areas. That page also shows no dates.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) database entry for the pub, last updated September 12, 2025, lists the Grove Arms on the A30 at Ludwell as a Grade II listed inn with daily hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., food service, accommodation, and two St Austell cask beers. Its phone number and web address differ from those on the pub's current website, so the sources do not agree on contact details, and none of them says who runs the pub today or when it changed hands.