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Chat about:
Lancaster crawl 17th July 2026 with Bucking Fastard
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Ship Hotel, King's Lynn
Brancaster
Postal town: King's Lynn
PE31 8AP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Steve of N21 left this review about The Ship Hotel
Located on the north Norfolk coast in the village of Brancaster this pub was shut for a period last year and re-opened in May 2025 after a major refurbishment. I’m not sure if it was one before, as this was my first visit, but it is now the Ship Hotel and boasts nine ensuite rooms, something that led to it being named the best place to stay in the East Of England by the Times and Sunday Times in their recent 2026 survey.
We didn’t stay here as we were in a local AirBnB but utilised it as a pub restaurant on a couple of occasions and found it worked well for this purpose.
I guess the pub section has been remodelled as well since the last review as there is now no podium to greet you and no reference to a “map room” that I could see. Instead the main entrance now leads you straight into the lounge bar with the serving area equipped with several bar stools facing you and comfortable seating around the wall and side to the right. Then there is a dedicated restaurant section to the left of the bar which stretches into a further space beyond the toilets which I am guessing could have been the additional room described below.
It’s all very clean and very modern and bright in decor and some of the bright colour scheme employed, such as the blue legs of the bar stools and seating in the bar area, is hardly traditional and won’t be to everyone’s cup of tea. However the bar area is very comfortable and a good spot just for a beer and I could easily turn a blind eye to the bright blue furniture legs in preference to looking at the three real ale hand pumps on the bar which were dispensing three local Norfolk brewery ales. Alongside the ubiquitous Woodforde Wherry in this part of the world were Mr Winters Quantum Gold and Moongazer Pintail Pale Ale. We went for the latter two and they were both in excellent nick.
I thought this was a decent village pub that, despite clearly having a focus on food to attract both locals and holidaying tourists, it still catered well for just the drinker, especially in summer when the extensive outside garden space to the rear would add to the attraction of this one.
On 16th May 2026
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2351 recommendations about 2197 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Ship Hotel
The Ship is the only pub in the North Norfolk coastal village of Brancaster. Being in the village itself, it was much quieter than the beach itself, which seemed overwhelmed on a sunny Sunday lunchtime.
A few families had managed to find their way into the Ship, but it was by and large quiet.
I'm not a fan of having podiums in pubs requesting you to wait to be seated, especially when you arrive and find it empty. However, we were attended to quickly. Whilst we could order at the bar, we were then requested to be seated in advance of the drinks arriving.
Real ales are Wherry & Legacy. My Legacy was in a decent condition. There is no real cider. According to WhatPub, Whin Hill Cider is available in bottles. But alas, no longer.
Apart from the main room, there is a side room called the Map Room and a large outdoor terraced area to the rear.
On 12th June 2023
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3511 recommendations about 3509 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Thuck Phat left this review about The Ship Inn
The Ship was brought a year or two ago by Kiwi chef Chris Coubrough. It was refurbished and is now part of the small Flying Kiwi Inns chain.
The pub is situated on the main road which runs through Brancaster and, whilst tidy, is a fairly unexceptional, traditional painted building.
Inside it's what you'd expect from a recently refurbished gastropub with wood floors, dark wood furniture and a large real fire. It's been well done and is a comfortable place for a pint.
The main entrance leads into the bar which runs along the back wall and whilst people do eat in this area there is no obligation and many were simply quaffing. At the end of this area is a large fireplace beyond which are further tables all laid out for eating and this area feels more like a restaurant.
Outside there's a decent sized paved courtyard area with plenty of tables and there are also 9 rooms for anyone wanting to stay. I'd guess that many of the clientele were visitors rather than locals when we visited and would expect that's true throughout the summer.
The menu is standard gastropub but with little exceptional to catch the eye but the specials board offers more interesting locally sourced choices. It isn't cheap but is, I suppose, what you'd expect in this touristy area of Norfolk. We stopped in for lunch, which was well done with the odd unusual flourish but portions aren't huge for the price.
It is though well worth dropping in for the beer. Four handpumps had on Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge, Grain 3.1.6, Jo C's Knot Just Another IPA and Flying Kiwi. A good local selection and the IPA went down very well.
I liked this pub before it was refurbished but the refurb. has been done well and the beer's better now so I'd happily revisit.
On 3rd September 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 694 recommendations about 693 pubs]