The Kings Arms, Great Yarmouth

The Kings Arms has a stool lined staple-shaped serving counter that faces the central front entrance that is flanked by an L-shaped banquette and a high table to the left and a carpeted raised area to the right where a dartboard is found. There’s a wooden floor all around the bar area and in the left rear corner is a small carpeted seating area that felt like it is used for dining or maybe overspill when the pub is busy. TNT Sport and Sky Sports are both advertised, the latter being muted on the televisions while a Smiths album played in the background. Standard and premium keg products were available and the three hand pumps were drawing Lacons Brewery’s Brewer’s Series, Encore and Legacy. I thought the service was friendly and this was certainly the busiest and most atmospheric pub I visited during a Tuesday evening crawl of the area, so I’d have no issue revisiting for another pint or two.

This was a new pub for me. It can be found in the latest Good Beer Guide. The pub is certainly much older and more traditional in its features than most buildings in Great Yarmouth. The single bar has a fair amount of character. There is also a large garden at the rear, where loud music was being played. It seems to have a food orientation. We were asked if we'd booked when we walked in, as all tables were booked for food on our Sunday evening visit. We were only there for a drink. Adnams Broadside is a regular beer here. I opted for the guest beer, which was Humpty Dumpty Little Sharpie. This wasn't really up my street, but was in a good condition.

The Kings Arms is an old hostelry set in the conservation area of lower Northgate Street situated close to the Market Place and adjacent to St Nicholas Church. The original building is estimated to date back to the sixteenth century and allegedly once had a significant amount of stables out the back. It looks like it was formerly a multi roomed pub, but it is now one internal space with two main sections either side of the central bar area. The left hand side and behind the bar is an area mainly set to tables for dining and then the right hand side is more pub lounge with a large screen TV, Wurlitzer Jukebox and some comfy leather seating Then outback is a large beer garden with a sheltered patio area. There are three handpumps on the bar and it is extensively an outlet for Woodforde’s ales with Wherry and Nelsons Revenge on when we visited and is included on the Woodfordes Ale Trail. But the third pump now provides a regularly rotating guest beer according to the landlord, which was one of the Elgood brews on our visit. The beers we tried were well kept and this is overall a nice pub for a decent pint.

Official site of the Kings Arms - www.thekingsarmsgreatyarmouth.co.uk

Official site of the Kings Arms - www.thekingsarmsgreatyarmouth.co.uk