The Salt Pig is opening its largest café and restaurant yet at Lighthouse Poole, serving locally sourced Dorset food from 1 September.
26th August 2026
Poole’s food scene is about to welcome another rather delicious arrival - and this one brings together two much-loved Dorset names.
The Salt Pig is taking over the café and restaurant at Lighthouse Poole, transforming it into The Artful Salt Pig at Lighthouse. Opening on Tuesday 1 September, it will become the group’s largest venue to date.
It is an exciting new chapter for the independent Dorset food business, which began in Wareham 18 years ago and has since become known for championing produce from Purbeck’s farmers, fishermen and growers.
The new café and restaurant will offer relaxed dining throughout the day, welcoming everyone from shoppers and coffee catch-ups to lunchtime diners and audiences arriving for an evening performance.
Its central location within Lighthouse should make it a particularly useful meeting place, too. You won’t need a theatre ticket to visit, meaning locals can pop in for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee or a drink at the bar.
For Lighthouse regulars, there will still be plenty of familiar faces. The existing restaurant and café team has transferred to The Salt Pig and will work alongside executive chef Simon Lane.
As you would expect from The Salt Pig, local provenance will sit firmly at the heart of the menu.
The restaurant will showcase fresh ingredients from Dorset producers, including meat from The Salt Pig’s own outdoor-reared animals in Purbeck. Diners can also expect a changing Cuts & Catches board, celebrating what is available from local farms and fishermen, alongside a Sunday carvery built around Dorset produce.
The wider offer will run from breakfast and daytime dishes through to evening dining, giving the venue a life beyond pre-show drinks and interval snacks.
Owners James and Becky Warren describe provenance as a responsibility rather than a marketing term, with the business continuing to work with producers who operate with conservation and nature in mind.
The Artful Salt Pig joins an expanding family of Dorset venues that includes locations in Wareham, Swanage, Studland, Chesil Beach and Poole Old Town, as well as The Salt Pig’s farm at Putlake near Langton Matravers.
Its arrival at one of the UK’s largest regional arts centres feels like a natural fit. Both businesses place local community, sustainability and distinctly Dorset experiences at the heart of what they do.
Lighthouse chief executive Elspeth McBain said the partnership would allow the arts centre to continue developing its creative and community work while improving the food offer available in the town.
For Poole, it means a new independent place to eat in the town centre - whether you are heading to a show, meeting friends, working over coffee or simply curious to see what The Salt Pig has brought to its biggest venue yet.
The Artful Salt Pig at Lighthouse opens on Tuesday 1 September at Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG.
The venue will open from 9am to 4pm on Sundays and Mondays, with extended café hours when evening performances are taking place, and from 9am to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday.
Bookings and walk ins are allowed
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