LYNN LOCKDOWN SPECIAL

Since Pubmeister’s seismic report last year, King’s Lynn has become THE Norfolk destination for #PubMen bored of Norfolk’s endless identikit backstreet free houses.

Even Kentish Paul braved the town recently; his report includes words like “Hanseatic”, “Bullards” and “Boondoggle” which may be of more interest to those of you interested in beer and history.

How appropriate that my final Norfolk tick for GBG21, squeezed in just before Lockdown 2,

Buoyed by praise from three top pub bloggers, (BRAPA gets to Norfolk in 2027), Lynn is on the up. Yesterday the Lynnets carried out one of few giant-killings in the FA Cup First Round, winning at Vale Park with their lone shot on target (see here).

But on Monday, the only cup pint glass fever in Lynn was at the entrance to the Fenman, opposite the station.

“Please Drink Responsibly” chaps.

The town looked quite busy, with a queue for fents outside the Fent Shop at PF Day. If you don’t know what fents are, it’s always best not to ask.

Lynn is a mixture of scruffy and sublime that I confess I largely missed on trips as a surly teenager.

Quieter in the Old Town than the TK Maxx and McDonalds and Spoons, but then it always was.

But the Quayside, home to my new tick at Marriot’s Warehouse, was normally busy with gentlefolk in 3 warm layers from Leverington and Little Massingham.

Sadly, not today. It was just me at 11am.

But the welcome was warm and smiling.

“Choose a table, any table !“.

I managed to choose the table that a minute later seemed to close to a regular Old Boy with a wheezing cough I felt oddly nervous about, popping in for his 11:15 Guinness.

Just in case Old Mudgie was concerned about Lynn getting too edgy musically, I can confirm the preferred soundtrack is “Keep On Loving You“, “Time After Time” and this classic;

I’d studied the Marriot’s website for all of 3 seconds before deciding on the Energy Breakfast (decent half of Moon Gazer extra).

The cheery waitress (“There you go my lovely“) was quite excited at my radical choice, it was the chef’s first attempt at the feast.

10/10 for service, 9/10 for service, 7/10 for the food itself. The honey was still on my fleece a day later.

I leave you, for now, now with a life lesson. If your own photo of Lynn Quayside is rubbish, nick one off Duncan.

Photo : The great Duncan Mackay

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

27 thoughts on “LYNN LOCKDOWN SPECIAL”

  1. I dropped your IOU for the last royalties payment in the mud while swimming across from West Lynn. Good work on another county completion. Norfolk always challenges me as the new ones are usually so spread out. The breakfast looks positively Danish.

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  4. As you may recall, I cancelled a trip to King’s Lynn in September as everywhere I wanted to visit was shut. Will next year be any better? Not holding out a great deal of hope, tbh šŸ˜¦

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    2. T’other Mudgie,
      You’ve reminded me that many many years ago I was in Kings Lynn’s London Porterhouse when it was “shut”.
      I entered not realising it hadn’t ‘opened’ but the licensee served me a pint of IPA for while I was waiting and on going to do some shopping asked me to tell anyone else that came in that he would only be a few minutes.
      Never have I known such a welcome in a pub.

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      3. Martin,
        Okay, it was my second pub on Saturday 16th January 1993.
        And the only other time I’ve used the London Porterhouse was much later in the day on Friday 22nd February 1991.

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    1. My dear Sir, but curiosity is the mother of discovery. Fents are surplus or waste pieces of material in the textile industry.

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  6. Matthew and I enjoyed our afternoon in King’s Lynn, and wouldn’t mind going back for another look around. The historic part of town, in the vicinity of the Minster, looks particularly interesting.

    The long break between Christmas and New Year would be a good time to go; that’s if Bumbling Boris ever lets us travel again!

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  7. “his report includes words like ā€œHanseaticā€, ā€œBullardsā€ and ā€œBoondoggleā€ which may be of more interest to those of you interested in beer and history.”

    I read ‘Bullards’ and ‘Boondoggle’ as a bifurcation of bollocks. šŸ˜‰

    “Yesterday the Lynnets carried out one of few giant-killings in the FA Cup First Round, winning at Vale Park with their lone shot on target (see here).”

    Yes, yes… but it’s not Rugby is it? šŸ™‚

    “with a queue for fents outside the Fent Shop at PF Day”

    Your definition of queue differs vastly from mine.

    “Quieter in the Old Town than the TK Maxx and McDonalds and Spoons, but then it always was.”

    Old Town vs…. Young Town? šŸ˜‰

    “home to my new tick at Marriotā€™s Warehouse”

    I thought that was a ‘large’ hotel. šŸ™‚

    ā€œChoose a table, any table !ā€œ.

    Could you walk around first to decide? šŸ˜‰

    “I managed to choose the table that a minute later seemed to close to a regular Old Boy with a wheezing cough I felt oddly nervous about”

    Sigh. I get that whenever I go for a drink (or even on the ferry!). Always pick the spot with some loud mouth on their phone or folks being overly… talkative!

    “The honey was still on my fleece a day later.”

    That rings a bell.

    “If your own photo of Lynn Quayside is rubbish, nick one off Duncan.”

    I’ll keep that in mind… should it ever come to that. šŸ˜‰

    Cheers

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