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The Woolpack, Ipswich
Ipswich
IP4 2SH
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Woolpack
Having had to suffer the screeching harridan and poor beer in the Dove, and the complete lack of service and beer in the Spread, we were desperate for this quasi-suburban pub to deliver and it did - in spades. It’s lovely old building on a hill and looks the part on approach, sitting on the fork of a junction on a street full of rather grand houses. A bizarre layout inside with a small main room to the left, a tiny room on the right and a tiny serving area, all quite woody and traditional and almost country pub in its feel. Three fairly mainstream ales in the form of St Austell Proper Job (NBSS 4), Adnams Ghost Ship (4) and Southwold served up by an efficient cabal of young ladies. We decided to sit outside with most of the other punters and it was very pleasant with a nice cross-section of locals. Easily the best pub - beer quality wise - in Ipswich, beating the Fat Cat. Turnover is key!
Visited early August.
On 12th September 2021
- rating: 9
[User has posted 5081 recommendations about 5064 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Woolpack
The Woolpack is situated in a wedge-shaped area defined by a road junction and close to the popular Christchurch Road.
Tables are in the wedge-shaped area at the front of the pub and as it is surrounded by roads, it's not the quietest of drinking environments. The interior is much more traditional with 3 small rooms.
On arrival, I couldn't see any free tables and there was another couple waiting for one. However, it was only about a minute before two tables became free. However, on instructed to register with the NHS app, I nearly lost the table to other arrivals, who weren't asked to scan. With the roads being so close, it is easy for people to simply wander in and take a seat.
Ghost Ship & Southwold Bitter are the regular ales. Guests yesterday were London Pride & Proper Job.
Food looked like traditional pub grub and smelt good, but there was no time for me to indulge.
On 1st May 2021
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Woolpack
Well worth the short uphill walk from the town centre, this nice-looking pub sits in the fork of a road junction. The interior has been sympathetically refurbished with slight gastro leanings, but happily retaining a good multi-room layout. At the front is a small snug, with a larger room used for board games off to the side and a tabled dining area to the rear. A further small bar in the other front corner completes the range round the central servery. There is a car park to the rear and tables out by the road, which does not seem too busy. The food is perhaps slightly pretentious but looked good. Draught beers, which are now listed over each bar, were Adnams Southwold & Broadside and Butcombe Original and seemed in excellent condition (Cask Marque accreditation). Craft stuff also available.
On 27th February 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Woolpack
Reputedly one of Ipswich's oldest pubs, believed to date back to the 16th Century, the Woolpack is a well kept gastro style pub, just outside the town centre, next to Christchurch Park. Entering up the steps to the main front door, you turn right into a small snug with padded rests on the walls to lean against, but no room for any tables and chairs. A large map of Suffolk dominates the walls and there is a nice door bearing the pub's name. All of the hand pumps can be viewed in this snug, so it's worth squeezing in if you want to be sure of exactly what is on. To the front left there is a lounge style room, which I eventually had to repair to, in order to get a seat. The room is bare boarded, but with a few large rugs to dampen down the noise. The furniture includes a number of chunky tables served by a mix of chairs, plus a few comfy armchairs in the front corner. There is a huge fireplace on the back wall underneath an equally impressive sized mirror. An upright piano stands in the far corner and has a big collection of board games on top of it. To the right, you move into a dining room, set up for those wanting food, but there were a few customers sat in here clearly just enjoying a drink. It's a comfortable and cosy room with plenty of standard tables and chairs, with each table having an unusual bottle of unknown provenance set in the middle and filled with fresh daffodils. Outside the pub there is a nice front seating area which has plenty of benches overlooking the entrance to the park and the two roads which pass either side of the building.
The ale range was pretty good, if perhaps a little 'safe', offering Morland Old Speckled Hen, Adnams Broadside and Southwold Bitter, Taylor Landlord, Sharps Doom Bar and Island Brewery Wight Gold. The latter seemed like the most interesting proposition, so I ordered a pint from the rather gruff barman who slowly served his regulars before eventually acknowledging my presence. Thankfully, the beer was in pretty good condition and went down well enough.
This is a pretty good pub and worth including on a crawl around town given its proximity to the Mulberry Tree and the pleasant walk through the park to the Greyhound. A friendlier welcome and slightly more exciting beer range could elevate this pub to one of the best in town.
On 26th May 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Woolpack
Slightly odd interior layout with three rooms, a centre snug with 3 handpumps, a lounge to the left with three more pumps and a L shaped bar to the right served only by a pumpless counter. The lounge to the left is the main bar, furnished with pine chairs and tables and a corner bench seat with lots of menu blackboards on the wall, decoration is from brewery material, prints, and certificates from CAMRA etc. The snug has a bench seat, the walls are finished in tongue and groove and woodchip, it would be overcrowded with six people in it. The other bar has machines and tables and chairs of various forms and sweeps round to the back of the pub. Beers from Adnams and guests, there are more clips than the six handpumps, guests on when I visited were from Wells and Young, Black Sheep, St Austell and Woodfordes, all I tried were in good condition served by a cheeky Irish lad. The toilets are labelled “Ewes” and “Rams”.
On 24th March 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]