The Jolly Sailors, King's Lynn

Steve of N21 left this review about The Jolly Sailors

The North Norfolk coastal village of Brancaster Staithe has somehow managed to retain both of its village pubs, but if you have the opportunity to visit both then the reason is very much apparent in that they have very different KSP’s and offer very different experiences, but are both owned and run by the Anglian Country Inns Group, a small independent PubCo that give a very good impression of knowing what they are doing in my experience.
Firstly The Jolly Sailor, a cosy 18th century inn with several small drinking areas to the front, and then two larger dining rooms and a large garden area out back. It is convenient for the Norfolk coast path and fairly close to Brancaster Staithe harbour, which means it’s a very popular pub with the locals, especially those who have been mucking about on their boats all day or walking their dogs through the salt marshes.
The bar and two small side rooms is the original stone pub which local historic notes tells you was a favourite haunt for local smugglers who operated along the coast. This area is well decorated with nautical memorabilia and full of character, but is quite small and you will be lucky to get a seat in this area. We were lucky to arrive just as one by the bar was being vacated. The internal dining room and undercover courtyard table area are clearly extensions to the original pub added at some point.
The bar serving area itself is also quite small and from our table I could fully witness some of the issues encountered by Mr Scrumpy on his visit. You can only sensibly get four people across the bar and if two locals are ensconced on the bar stools occupying half of it then it doesn’t take long for a queue to form behind the remaining space and virtually out the door to the garden. The situation is not helped by the fact that the restaurant rooms are not table service and you have to order up the bar and anyone with a dog has to come in this way as well. At one point nearly every customer entering on this early Thursday evening had a dog still covered in bits it had collected from the marsh. And the usual rule with dogs was in full evidence in that the smaller they are the more f@@king yappy they are.
Our final target was the other village pub but I had talked my good lady into a visit here first due to it being home to the Brancaster brewery, a 5-barrel brewery located on-site and at least one of its beers is always on the bar. Well not for our visit they weren’t. All four ale pumps were in operation, with Greene King Abbot, Woodforde Wherry and Encore and Norfolk Gem from the Lacons Brewery. My excellent pint of Encore was served in a Brancaster Brewery glass prompting me to enquire where the brewery was. Apparently success had led them to need bigger premises and they have moved out, but neither the bar staff or the internet ( which still has the brewery at the back of the pub) knew to where.
The food offerings here is more aligned to traditional pub food and includes local seafood , mainly deep fried options and a stone-baked pizza menu that can be ordered as a take away and I witnessed a few come in to order a takeaway pizza and have a beer whilst waiting
A music festival was being advertised for next month as was a cider festival in September.
I thought this was a very decent traditional coastal village pub catering well for locals and tourists alike. It does attract the salty sea dogs ( both human and furry) , so if you are in the area on a short break to celebrate an anniversary with a partner whose expectation is to eat somewhere comfortable and smart, you may wish to consider booking a table at The White Horse down the road for after taking an initial pint here.

On 16^th May 2026 - rating: 8
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