The New Bell Inn, and The Alma Inn, Harwich
Posted on 05 March 2011 by Mark Watson
It was a very grey and drizzly afternoon in Harwich, fortunately we were there to visit a couple of pubs rather than to do some outdoor sightseeing. The Alma Inn was holding a film and real ale festival, and that seemed a good enough reason to visit Harwich for the first time in several years.
Our first port of call, primarily as they were closing at 3:00 p.m., was The New Inn. It’s in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, hence the reason for dropping in. It’s tucked away, as is The Alma Inn, near the famous Ha’penny Pier, and is well over 200 years old.
It’s got a new coat of paint on the outside, and the front bar we drank our half pint of Oscar Wilde Mild was our kind of pub – a comfortable, traditional local pub, with a lot of character – some excellent painting on the walls, and some reading matters, and shelves full of snow globes for that bit of idiosyncratic character.
One definitely worth seeking out in you’re in that part of Harwich.
The Alma Inn has evidently been refurbished under a new owner, who has put the effort into a website (why doesn’t every pub have its own website?). We found out way their via the back entrance, going through the beer garden and looking in through the window into the dark room where the film festival was taking place. Five drink-related films were being shown over the weekend, including a couple of favourites of mine – The Big Lebowski, and Withnail & I.
We were running a bit late, and had missed a fair bit of the the film being shown, but were so taken by the interior of the pub that we were happy to sit by the open log fire and enjoy the atmosphere. The main area is quite open, bare floodboards, and with lots of character. Any pub with a post of Joe Strummer on the walls gets a thumbs up from me.
In terms of the beer festival, there were a half dozen beers on offer, all from local pubs – the Harwich Town Brewing Company, Crouch Vale, Mauldons, Mill green, Earl Soham, Cliff Quay, and Shalfund (sic). I had what was down on the sheet as ‘The Suffolk’, a porter from Harwich Town – which may be a new one from them, or maybe a typo! Whatever it was, it was black and it was gorgeous!
There was some interesting food on the menu – can’t say that I’ve ever seen roasted bone marrow on a pub menu before! The pub is evidently aiming at getting a piece of the food market, and I quite like the idea of their tapas night on a Monday, their three course meal for under a tenner on a Wednesday, and a two course fish supper on Friday (nb these special deals need to be probook on 01255 318681). At the end of the text, below, you’ll see their excellent flyer.
There was a range of cheeses also available, and a very nice Suffolk blue complemented our drinks. Definitely a pub to be checked out another time for food.
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Just confirmed with Paul Mellor from the Harwich Town Brewing Co. that ‘The Suffolk’ is a new porter brewed as the last of four commeorative brews recalling the Train Ferries which sailed from Harwich up to the late 80s. They were the Essex (Gold 4%), Cambridge (Amber 3.7%), Norfolk (Copper 4%) and finally Suffolk (Black 5%).