The Thomas Wolsey, Ipswich

This is a very popular match day pub thanks to it being one of the closest boozers to Ipswich Town’s Portman Road stadium. As such, the place was absolutely rammed on my visit an hour or so prior to kick-off, making it extremely difficult to properly explore the pub, which seems to comprise a simple rectangular room with the servery down the left-hand wall and a couple of rows of seating opposite. It’s set in an attractive timber framed building with lots of dark wood throughout and the servery is quite striking with its smart counter and high shelf bar back. It was so packed that I couldn’t even find anywhere to stand with my pint, so I had to take refuge upstairs in another timber framed room with lots of dark wood beams, pew, sofa and low stool seating, a modern servery for pizza orders and nice diamond patterned leaded windows, with a door to the rear giving you access to two more rooms, each with plenty of overspill seating in nice, traditional surrounds. The pub was decorated with a mix of traditional paintings and quirky modern bits such as animal portraits and a silver mounted deer head. Loud music was playing downstairs, but everything was a bit more civilised on the first floor and it was nice to get a bit of respite up there from the madness below. Upon exiting the pub, I found a side door, which save me from pushing through the mob on the ground floor, and this led into a side courtyard which had a few picnic benches in what looks like old coaching inn entrance. On the bar they had Green Jack Golden Best and Adnams Ghost Ship, both double clipped, and I had a pint of the Golden Best, which wasn’t in too bad nick, probably helped by the prodigious throughput the packed house generated. I thought the staff were very efficient and did a great job in keeping the wait times down in the face of fairly epic levels of demand. Whilst the pub is very clear on its ‘home fans only’ match day policy, they don’t check whether you have a ticket, so well-behaved away fans can get in as long as they’re not wearing colours. I wasn’t expecting too much from this place and nearly gave up when I saw how packed it was, but I’m glad I persevered, as it’s a decent enough pub set in an interesting building. A couple of passable cask ales add to the appeal and whilst this is far from being on a par with the town’s top ale houses, its proximity to the station makes it a reasonable wild card option if you’re enjoying a crawl around town. Date of visit - 8th December 2024

I echo Quinno's view that this pub was a disappointing end to our day in Ipswich. Signs in the windows stated that it was home fans only (there had been a football match on). As away fans, we were undeterred and managed to enter and get serve unchallenged. I find this a bit of a strange rule in towns with football teams and generally a sad indictment on the nature of the home fans. We overheard a guy who I took to be the landlord mentioning that one of his regulars had not come in because he also supported the away team - a strange state of affairs. The pub and the adjacent outdoor yard were busy with customers, but not uncomfortably so. The interior is dark and had no particular features I noted. There are 2 cask ales. Adnams Ghost Ship is the regular beer. The guest was Green Jack Golden Best, which was pretty ordinary.

A vast disappointment - looks lovely on the outside (and indeed has an amazing side passage smoking area surrounded by Tudor(?) buildings) but inside is a dull opened-out bar that has been defiled by multiple half-arsed modernisation over the years. Staffed by a bunch of gormless if well-meaning teenage girls it was no surprise that even with three ales on, the Lacons East Coast Pale was a watery flat mess (NBSS 2) - so much for its GBG21 listing. The main highlight was the ‘bouncer’ who looked like a Kenny Rogers tribute act. I suspect he’d struggle to bounce a basketball. Visited early August.

Back to being called the Thomas Wolsey by the looks. Nothing to write home about real ale wise but there was Goose Island IPA on keg at 6% ABV which was a decent drink.