Ship Inn, Saxmundham

Good Beer Guide 2020 Entry. OK - these are dark times, so I have tempered my review, but they need to have a re-think on their post covid lockdown rules. They have a massive beer garden. On the hottest Sunday night of the year, we were told this could only be used by diners. If we only wanted a drink, we would have to go around the front. The beer garden was nearly empty, the front was packed. So we took to the beer garden and used their QR app to order some chips we didnt want (£4.50) and a couple of drinks. The chips came within 5 minutes. The drink around 20 mins later. You can only feel sorry for the staff, having to deal with this system. Whilst in the garden, we saw harrassed staff coming out and shouting "Table Q17 - are you ready for you next course" to which the reply from Table Q17 was "We haven't had our first course yet". The beer was fine (Ghost Ship, what else?), the location is perfect. I dread to think what its like when its busy.

This pub looks quite large from the outside, but there is only one bar, which is small, and a small conservatory area behind that. All of the few tables in the bar were taken by pensioners eating something with chips. As I got to the bar a customer had just started ordering food for a table, and as the barman did not even bother to acknowledge me, we left. We will not be returning.