An English bank holiday in Suffolk! Southwold to be precise, affectionately known as Notting Hill by the sea. When visiting a new place there are always certain things that you simply have to do/eat/drink. Southwold is no different. You simply must take a stroll on the pier. Artist Tim Hunkin has created a number of wild and wacky slot machines an. simulator rides, there are no prizes, except the experience you have. You must have fish and chips, you must try the local Adnams beer and you must enjoy an afternoon tea. For this I would suggest Magpie bakery, the sea salted caramel brownie in particular. So say you have fish and chips on the promenade at lunch then mid afternoon you start to asses the dinner possibilities. The options are quite wide, after politely diving into 4 different gastropub/hotel vibes to check the menu and vibes. I count myself as officially being able to say if you go to Southwold you must go to The Lord Nelson, it is synonymous with the town. I would go as far as to describe it as its very own heartbeat.
From the moment you walk in, you feel welcomed and excited by the vibe. Winner of many Pub awards, The Lord Nelson sits in the centre of Sassy Southwold and right on the coast. The kind of place where if the walls could speak, the book would be epic. Early May Bank holiday the pub was bursting at the seams, instead of being annoying this just seemed to add to the atmosphere. However with regards to eating, you need a table to eat and the way you get a table is by swooning in on one when and however you possibly can. Reservations or queuing mean nothing to Nellies. We played a tactical game of working out who were furthest along with their meal, who are competitors were and what zone they were marking. This seemed to work and after one drink, we had a table for 2 in the snug. The menu is traditional, wholesome pub food, with all the favourites including; fish and chips, venison sausages, curries and burgers.
To start I had the soup of the day, freshly picked asparagus from the field down the road, delicious! For main I had beef chilli nachos. Ok so not entirely authentic to Mexico but so wholesome and tasty I really didn’t mind. The standard Chilli con Carne was also a great option served with rice, sour cream and a separate plate of extra nachos. The burger was insanely large with a brioche bun, my favourite and the fish and chips seemed to go down a storm as well. As I was considering finishing on a high, I heard hushed tones from the table next to me, ‘they do awfully good desserts here.’ Sticky toffee pudding it was and very true, an awfully good dessert.
A trip to Southwold would not be complete without a visit to The Lord Nelson, I can’t image what more you could want from a Suffolk pub on a bank holiday.