March 2026. Long Sutton. Lincolnshire.
A couple of nights down in Waterbeach seeing Dad, eating Nepalese mixed grill at the White Horse,
and trying to fathom out the new post box on The Gault.
and then, like Supertramp, the long way home via Curry Charles and Dereham Spoons. Charles is in splendid form, though he made the amateur mistake of ordering the grilled sticky chicken bowl rather than the fried.
I assumed the arrival of a new GBG entry on the A47 at Long Sutton was a mistake by Fenland CAMRA, with the vast expanse between Holbeach, King’s Lynn and the Wash being such a beer desert.
But apparently not, Palmers Ale House & Kitchen (& Hotel) fully warrants its debut. Hoorah ! for CAMRA branches.
I’d only mentioned Long Sutton (pop. 4,821, less than Waterbeach) once on this blog, and that was a derogatory comparison with a flat village in County Down.
The most exciting thing about Long Sutton is its Wikipedia entry, “it belonged historically to the wapentake of Elloe in the Parts of Holland“. Wapentakes, “parts of Holland”, the Wash, South Kesteven, names to enchant.
Alfred Piccaver was born here. Alfred who ?
One of our great operatic tenors, that’s who. Whether he sang in St Mary’s is open to extreme scholarly dispute.
Nice lead covered wooden spire (see also : Chesterfield), opinion splitting pink pub.
The smart interior is aimed at the ladies of Long Sutton, I wager,
but the cask range targets the CAMRAs with its indie beers.
It’s not my style, Mudgie would have found it problematic, but the Moongazer was a cool, chewy NBSS 3.5+, and that’s as good as Lincolnshire gets.
Arctic Monkeys soundtrack, shelves full of “Tractor Monthly” board games, and excellent coffee.
I wouldn’t live here, but if Palmers opened up a sister pub on the A1, somewhere near Great Ponton, I would be a happy traveller.
retiredmartin 
Genuine question here. If we’re all sitting at high tops, what is the value of high tops? SUV drivers always said they like to be higher up. Now a huge percentage of cars are SUVs. Advantage gone? Are low tables uncomfortable for taller people?
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Genuinely, no idea, often wondered. Is it better for the pub ? Does it use up less space. Never ever liked them.
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Dave, impaired balance since suffering a stroke seventeen years ago means that a seat at a proper height is more important to me than to most people.
In pubs that includes traditional banquette seating but not “sitting at high tops” which is increasingly common and all I found last year in Charing Cross’s Lemon Tree, a pub I don’t intend returning to.
In motor cars that means higher than in most British cars ( and much higher than some sports cars ) hence my wife’s car, though not one, having front seats equivalent to an SUV.
High seating must be trendy now and in Stafford’s Davenports’s pub four days ago I was told that it was “head office” who instigated the removal of comfortable seating from by the front windows, not that I can blame them as high street pedestrians noticing an old git like me sat inside can’t have been good for trade.
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Well, I’ll still go in any pub I see Paul Mudge sitting in, high tables or bench seats.
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One big advantage: no dog snouts in the gusset.
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Didn’t Tractor Monthly cause some trouble for a MP.
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