Walberswick, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: This attractive Arts & Crafts pub-with-rooms and an acre of land is a “good place to stay on the Suffolk coast”, with “friendly service” and “good pub grub” which puts an emphasis on local seafood and produce – including beers from champion local brewer Adnams. Mark & Sophie Dorber (formerly of the White Horse in Parsons Green, aka the Sloaney Pony) have owned and run it for 19 years.

“Fish is the speciality at this historic house hotel” – “we love the food here and we’re always made to feel very welcome” by proprietors Andy & Kinga Rudd, who have run it for 16 years. The building itself is one of the oldest in Southwold, dating from 1455.

In a Georgian building on the high street of this famous seaside town – where the brewery of this tavern’s owners Adnams is a key landmark – this well-known destination is “kept alive by the many tourists visiting the area” and has yet to regain its mojo of a couple of decades ago when the likes of Fay Maschler would declare it an out-of-town favourite. Nowadays, its dining room “is pleasant, but still needs to up their game in a number of areas”. Fans, though, do say “it’s on the up again, if for no better reason than the fact that it’s benefitting from the disastrous refurbishment of its sibling, the Swan!”