The Adnams Family
Sunday, September 17th, 2023We’ve been away to Southwold, home to the Adnams brewing empire, a lovely pier, and a lighthouse.
So, a Friday morning start, East again! M6T, M6, A14, A1120, A12, A1095. A stop for lunch, a slightly tedious drive following a jeep braking at every corner on the A1120- which is an interesting road in itself (and a nice drive through rural Suffolk)
Southwold, we knew before going, is a bit posh. It’s a “nice” seaside town, with few amusement arcades (one on the pier) or tat shops, and more posh shops, delicatessens, and gastropubs. You won’t find a Wetherspoons, or a fast-food burger chain- you’ll generally find none of the stuff that people over 40 whinge about: there’s no kebab shops, a few fish & chip shops, a Chinese takeaway notably out of town, no Uber, Uber Eats, or Just Eat, no Greek, Thai, Indian, or indeed almost any non-gastropub style restuarants. It’s an interesting few holes in the local economy, compared to what you might expect given this is the south-ish east and very affluent.
There seems to almost be a monoculture: most of the pubs are operated by Adnams, the menus are similar, the beers identical, the atmosphere similar, and while not unpleasant, it makes for limitations: if you want anything spicy, the Red Lion and a Thai green curry is your only offer.
Adnams are interesting, they clearly are not a bad company, they have good environmental credentials, they have established a charity to support local causes and their beer is great, but they have almost a stranglehold on the town, and it makes for a drinking and eating experience that leaves you craving something that isn’t slightly posh pub food. Nearly all the pubs in the town fit the same model; with similar decor, the posh pub food, the same beers.
They also have a cashless policy, which is interesting, and for us, convenient, but it triggers some fucking nutjobs people. It makes a lot of sense: it’s faster and more efficient, but of course, it’s just part of the Great Reset. It’s interesting that the one aspect of tech that really has taken hold is this, to the degree that the businesses that are cash-only put up large signs to warn customers.
Outside of Southwold itself, we managed trips to Aldeburgh and Thorpeness (by car), and Lowestoft and Beccles (by bus). Aldeburgh is, if anything, posher than Southwold, but has decent takeaways, Lowestoft is distinctly less posh (but has great takeaway choice, taxis, etc), Thorpeness is small. Beccles is the sort of town you could live in, comfortable, and “nice” but still operational.
Overall? Southwold is nice. People there are nice. The town is historic, the pier lovely (and the Under The Pier Show is ace, featuring the work of Tim Hunkin), the beach lovely, but it damned well needs a bit of pub diversity, more takeaways, to embrace modern tech. We had a great holiday, but if we’d stayed in Lowestoft, and gone to Southwold for the day, it might have been better, and cheaper: we had the unusual experience of having a holiday property that was considerably smaller than our own house, but it still wasn’t cheap.
Edit: Here’s the pubs over at PubBlog.