The Woolpack, Ipswich

Official site of The Woolpack - www.woolpack-ipswich.co.uk

Official site of The Woolpack - www.woolpack-ipswich.co.uk

Reputedly one of Ipswich's oldest pubs, believed to date back to the 16th Century, the Woolpack is a well kept gastro style pub, just outside the town centre, next to Christchurch Park. Entering up the steps to the main front door, you turn right into a small snug with padded rests on the walls to lean against, but no room for any tables and chairs. A large map of Suffolk dominates the walls and there is a nice door bearing the pub's name. All of the hand pumps can be viewed in this snug, so it's worth squeezing in if you want to be sure of exactly what is on. To the front left there is a lounge style room, which I eventually had to repair to, in order to get a seat. The room is bare boarded, but with a few large rugs to dampen down the noise. The furniture includes a number of chunky tables served by a mix of chairs, plus a few comfy armchairs in the front corner. There is a huge fireplace on the back wall underneath an equally impressive sized mirror. An upright piano stands in the far corner and has a big collection of board games on top of it. To the right, you move into a dining room, set up for those wanting food, but there were a few customers sat in here clearly just enjoying a drink. It's a comfortable and cosy room with plenty of standard tables and chairs, with each table having an unusual bottle of unknown provenance set in the middle and filled with fresh daffodils. Outside the pub there is a nice front seating area which has plenty of benches overlooking the entrance to the park and the two roads which pass either side of the building. The ale range was pretty good, if perhaps a little 'safe', offering Morland Old Speckled Hen, Adnams Broadside and Southwold Bitter, Taylor Landlord, Sharps Doom Bar and Island Brewery Wight Gold. The latter seemed like the most interesting proposition, so I ordered a pint from the rather gruff barman who slowly served his regulars before eventually acknowledging my presence. Thankfully, the beer was in pretty good condition and went down well enough. This is a pretty good pub and worth including on a crawl around town given its proximity to the Mulberry Tree and the pleasant walk through the park to the Greyhound. A friendlier welcome and slightly more exciting beer range could elevate this pub to one of the best in town.

Slightly odd interior layout with three rooms, a centre snug with 3 handpumps, a lounge to the left with three more pumps and a L shaped bar to the right served only by a pumpless counter. The lounge to the left is the main bar, furnished with pine chairs and tables and a corner bench seat with lots of menu blackboards on the wall, decoration is from brewery material, prints, and certificates from CAMRA etc. The snug has a bench seat, the walls are finished in tongue and groove and woodchip, it would be overcrowded with six people in it. The other bar has machines and tables and chairs of various forms and sweeps round to the back of the pub. Beers from Adnams and guests, there are more clips than the six handpumps, guests on when I visited were from Wells and Young, Black Sheep, St Austell and Woodfordes, all I tried were in good condition served by a cheeky Irish lad. The toilets are labelled “Ewes” and “Rams”.