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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
The Spread Eagle, Ipswich
Ipswich
IP4 1JW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Pub SignMan left this review about The Spread Eagle
This is a fairly modernised, back street pub showcasing beer from the local Grain Brewery. You enter into the main bar which boasts some tidy parquet flooring, walls painted in predominantly darker shades and a servery over to the left. The bar has an unusual counter front – a kind of bamboo effect panel - plus a modern bar back with two central, Grain branded windows flanked by backlit shelving units. A mix of low and high stool seating fills the ample space opposite, alongside some basic tables and chairs and at least one pew over to the side, under a wall with peeling paint, which may or may not be a deliberate design feature. Drinking ledges with high stools can be found on both sides of the room too and there are some shelves stacked with board games next to the entrance, an extensive pump and keg clip collection on the rear wall, a few arty photos here and there plus some old black and white photos from back in the day, fairy lights across the ceiling and a bunch of promotional posters. A second room to the rear offers more seating, mostly benches, but was it was completely empty on this visit.
There were five Grain beers available on handpull when I arrived - Oak, Blackwood, Best Bitter, Threeonesix and Red Nelson - with a sixth pump unused. The barmaid was very nice and as well as pouring an excellent pint of the Threeonesix, also explained what Hot Buttery Rum was, as advertised on a poster behind the bar!
It’s a shame that this pub was so quiet compared to those I’d been to in the town centre, as it was definitely the best beer quality I encountered all day. The pub has a somewhat stripped back appearance which doesn’t make it feels like the cosiest spot, but with some interesting, well-kept Grain beers to choose from, I could easily see me making repeat visits here.
Date of visit - 8th December 2024
On 28th March 2025
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Spread Eagle
Grade II listed corner pub, with semi-modern paintwork below the half-timbered upper story on both facades, but a semi-traditional alehouse look inside. Five Grain beers being served from the six handpumps, including my pint of Blackwood stout (£4.90), plus four more and a couple of guests from the hooped fount on the bar-back.
On 28th December 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Spread Eagle
Recommended this one by the landlord of the Fat Cat. So we added it as a joker and gave it a whirl, as it is owned by the Grain Brewery. The nasty grey/violet paint job on the timbered exterior made me wonder (GII listed, who allowed them to do that??). Anyway in we went to be immediately halted “can you do all the COVID stuff please, table service only blah blah”. Upon filling out our papers we were then led out to a scruffy rear courtyard at which point our smiley middle class server promptly wandered off without taking our order. I kind of guessed we’d be left in the lurch and so it proved, with three other tables’ worth of people all sat there thirsty for 5 minutes. In the end a volunteer was dispatched to demand service and upon Macavity’s return the announcement was made that, despite being a brewery tap, on an early Saturday evening, on ITFC’s first home game of the season, they had run out of cask. Incredible. So we upped and left, as did some others. What a shower, this is what negligence occurs when you leave a bunch of minimum wage kids to run a pub. Shall I leave a score for a pub I didn’t actually drink in? Yes I will.
Visited early August.
On 12th September 2021
- rating: 1
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Spread Eagle
Back in the town centre, I was surprised to see this Grain pub very quiet. Just one other couple were present.
A barrier prevents entry through a courtyard. You are requested to wait for somebody to take you to a table. Eventually, the barmaid came and took my temperature, which was something I hadn't experienced for a while.
Outdoor drinking is in a shaded courtyard at the rear. It may have a better atmosphere when busy, but when it was quiet, it all felt a bit cold.
Beers and other drinks are displayed on a blackboard. Best Bitter & Prickly Pig were the real ale options.
A trip to the toilets before leaving revealed a fairly bare interior with lots of wood, very similar to the two Grain pubs I have previously visited in Norwich. Exiting the pub also proved to be a challenge, as staff had locked the front door to prevent anybody getting in! So, I had to locate somebody to get out.
Not a bad place, but lacking in atmosphere.
On 1st May 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Spread Eagle
Laid back, speak easy of a pub with pot plants and chunky tables. A bit trendy
On 1st October 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1542 recommendations about 1519 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
sheryl mcgeown left this review about The Spread Eagle
best pub in ipswich!!!!!!
On 8th May 2009
- rating: 10
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]