There is a stretch of sand between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers that turns into a beach club for the summer, and El Murrino Beach Bar & Restaurant is the place at the centre of it. It sits at 374 Undercliff Drive in Boscombe, right on the sand of East Cliff Beach, and it only opens while the weather holds: the doors opened on 1 May and it runs through to the end of September, so there are only a few weeks left before it packs up for the year.
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The food leans Italian, with pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven, gourmet burgers, smoked salmon, avocado salads and cheesecakes to finish. It is not a fine-dining spot, and the prices reflect that, with most people spending somewhere between £10 and £30. To drink there are cocktails, mocktails, prosecco, beer and decent coffee, and the whole place is built for a long, slow lunch or an early dinner as the sun goes down. If you want to make a bit more of an occasion of it, there is a VIP option at £85 for groups, which covers two mains and four drinks, or a bottle of wine or prosecco, with a round table for up to six, a cabana for up to ten or a mini cabana for two to four.
What makes it work is how much it leans into the beach setting. The place is filled with picnic tables, round tables, cabanas, fake palm trees, wisteria and parasols for when the sun gets hot, and there is a small play area for children, so it is easy to bring the whole family. It is dog-friendly too, right down to a treat for the pets, and it is accessible for wheelchairs, with Wi-Fi if you need to stay connected. There is no delivery, but you can order takeaway or book a table in advance, and it takes credit cards and contactless payments.
It helps that the beach itself is one of the best on the south coast. East Cliff is one of Bournemouth's two main beaches, tucked between the two piers, and it is known as one of the cleanest stretches of sand in Dorset, with a microclimate that keeps the sea warmer than most of the UK. The Environment Agency rates the water as Excellent, so it is a place you can actually swim at.
If you are heading down, it is worth knowing the piers on either end. Bournemouth Pier dates back to 1856, with the current version designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1880 after storms and pests had taken its predecessors; Boscombe Pier opened in 1888, added its pier head in 1926 and reopened in 1962 after the Second World War. Both stay open seven days a week from 9am to 11pm, so they make easy bookends to a day on the sand. And if you would rather not walk the distance between them, the Seafront Land Train runs along the promenade from 1 April to 31 October, which is a handy way to get from one end of the bay to the other without breaking a sweat.
