retiredmartin

After my last “Half A Dozen” from Staffs Andy was excitedly anticipating the next post;

Brace brace brace for the Surrey half dozen

— Andy Collins (@Barlow31) January 30, 2024

So I dutifully knocked out Surrey. But it wasn’t next, was it ? SUF definitely comes before SUR. I think.

How does this happen ? Which of you is responsible for checking my alphabet ? I blame CAMRA for changing the order of the Beer Guide.

Anyway, Suffolk, UK centre of wiggly lanes.

You’ll have been expecting Southwold, and Brent Eleigh, and Laxfield. Possible even Stowmarket. But you’re not getting them here.

It’s a great county, though, particularly for fans of old churches, pretty cottages and tractor parts. Oh, and wiggly lanes. Here’s five pubs spread across the county. Not necessarily the best, but a good mix.

Let’s start with the county town. Everyone raves about Norwich, but Ipswich has a better waterfront, and some real characters,

and some Proper Paregetting;

Ipswich – The Grand Old Duke of York

A newish GBG entry just east of town, and a little corker. “Music venue at night, easy going beer house by day afternoon, with a soundtrack of Parliament deep cuts (“Flash Light”) to boot.”

“Oscar Wilde Mild, a gorgeously rich pint in lovely condition (NBSS 3.5+), and to be fair nearly all the beer I’ve had in Ipswich over the last two decades has been worth the trip.”

Suffolk, like Staffs, has a high number of remote, unspoilt boozers.

Finningham – White Horse

 “A no nonsense village pub where conversation and good beer are the order of the day. Bare floorboards, quarry tiles and stripped pine panelling, and and I explored a warren of rooms comprising pianos, chess boards“.

“I remember the description of the Adnams Broadside in Colchester’s Hospital Arms as having claws, and this was a pint with claws NBSS 3.5), which you can add to “chewy” as a beer description.”

Next up another recent new entry, over in the scary part of the county.

Beccles for a puritan,
Bungay for the poor,
Halesworth for a drunkard,
And Blythburgh for a whore.  old verse

Westhall – Racehorse Inn

The Racehorse is in Halesworth, I guess. St Andrews makes an essential post-pint visit,

and I suggest a Summer visit to the Racehorse,

“I’d phoned the pub to check they’d serve me a beer if I tipped up at 1.45, with 2pm closing setting a challenge you’re bound to fail if you get lost, and the lady on the other end of the line was just SO cheery. “Of course we will ! And we’ll feed you !”.

“And although ham salad with new potatoes sounds a bit worthy, it was as good a pub lunch (NHS&NPSS 5) as I’ve had in years. Who knew beetroot was edible ?“

Great beer from Green Jack, friendly staff, nice visitors. No-one drunk, at all.

Our 4th pub is a place where folk get a bit drunk, I sensed.

Great Cornard – Brook

Ah, Sudbury, the cloth town famous for Constable and wheelbarrows.

An instant classic on entering the GBG as recently as 2020, with perhaps the best pub sign that year.

It’s odd looking back on these pictures from Covid times. The most basic pubs were often the most fastidious with their compliance with those safety rules which we’ll probably remember fondly in a few years (we won’t).

So table service, no standing, singing or asking for tasters.

“And then it started. A half hour of the irreverent, vibrant, life you get from pubs like the Dove up the road in Bury St Edmunds.

OK, I didn’t have pork scratchings in a half pint mug, and perhaps the Dove wouldn’t stretch to the pint of Tiny Rebel murk in that top photo, but these two could have otherwise been separated at birth.

Locals chatted about Covid, and the strange case of streets in the village of Bures, just down the road, in different tiers. I felt safe in the Brook.“

Quite a few “ale houses” in this set, and perhaps the best of the lot to end my five. Of course, no trip to Suffolk is complete without a day in t’other Bury.

Bury St Edmunds – Dove

I say perhaps, as it’s quite a while since I last popped in the Dove, on a night when Moongazer Pale from the jug was NBSS 4.5 and I declared the pub one of the Top 3 in the world.

Is it still ?

I really ought to cough up to park the campervan in Ram Meadow and find out.

Over to you for a sixth. Votes for the Spoons in Newmarket only score half a point.

Should I have picked Stowmarket’s Walnut ?

Probably, the beer was nectar. But it was OH so quiet on my visit.