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The Golden Ball, Scarborough

31 Sandside
Scarborough
YO11 1PG

Correct details

Served areas

Scarborough Central, Seafront

Reviews of The Golden Ball (Average Rating: 7 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Old Boots left this review about The Golden Ball

Sam Smith’s pub with the bar on the first floor and giving a great view of the harbour. Panelled interior with the counter at one end, obviously just the one pull with OBB in good condition plus the usual little boxes. Classic barmaid and normal Sam’s type customers.

On 29^th August 2021 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 3599 recommendations about 3279 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Golden Ball

Peculiar-looking building, with a mock-Tudor second storey perched above the plainer façade of the lower two levels. Excellent views from the Harbour Bar (if you can get a seat), or more space available in the rather dour Mariner's Lounge further back. Traditional furniture and restrained decor throughout, but lots of bossy notices about this, that and the other. Also has a patio area to the rear. As a Sam Smiths house, only OBB was available on handpump, so I opted for the bottled Taddy Porter (£3.80). Great location, but all a bit odd.

On 5^th May 2014 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

John Bonser left this review about The Golden Ball

Date of visit - September 2013

Occupying a prominent street corner position on Scarborough’s seafront, amongst a plethora of amusement arcades and rather tacky souvenir / discount shops is The Golden Ball, an attractive looking pub with an black and white Tudor style frontage, unusually only at the upper level.

Outside, we are greeted by a whole multitude of off putting notices laying out the ground rules and telling us what we can and can’t do – dogs in beer garden only, no prams or buggies, children in Mariners Lounge – must be off premises by 7pm, toilets for customers use only … etc, etc ( there’s quite a few more that I couldn’t be bothered to record )

The bars are at first floor level with the Mariners Lounge on the left at the back of the pub and the Harbour Bar at the front with the window seats affording fine views of the lighthouse and of the South Bay. The Harbour Bar is a cosy pleasant lounge style bar with light pine wood panelling, comfortable padded seating and bar stools and decorated with nautical prints and photos. The Mariners Lounge is in similar style and is somewhat larger, but has no separate servery. There’s apparently a large garden at the back, which I didn’t get to visit.

Several old photos on the staircase leading up to the bar reveal that it was formerly a Bass pub, but it’s now a Sam Smiths house – the only one in Scarborough, apparently, - with the OBB being, predictably, the only real ale available. In true Sam’s style, it’s a music and TV free zone.

The pub has a good local following and seems to appeal also to the more discerning holidaymaker, who is not particularly well catered for by the other various sea front drinking establishments.

This is a good spot for a quiet relaxing pint in a welcoming and convivial atmosphere.

On 27^th November 2013 - rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]

View more reviews of The Golden Ball (12)

This pub features in the following crawls:
Scarborough 2014 by Roy Collins

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