Beccles

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The majority of pubs have now reopened after the latest lockdown, albeit still with restrictions. Many pubs currently have temporary trading hours; these are shown where known. We also show pubs we know have still not reopened as temporarily closed.

Please note that due to the pandemic currently being allowed to run out of control, many pubs are having to close temporarily due to staff or customers getting "pinged". Please check with the pubs if you plan to travel any distance.

Introduction

Beccles is built on a river cliff, overlooking the Waveney valley. This attractive market town dates from the time of the Angles and unusually, is still known by the same name by which it was recorded in Domesday. At the time of Domesday, a fishing port thrived at the river mouth. Today the town is better known for printing and tourism. Admiral Horatio Nelson's father, Edmund, was once the curate at St Michael's church and was married here to Catherine Sucking (a local woman) in 1754. Unusually St Michael's has a detached tower (92 feet high) which contains 10 bells and was built in 1515. The tower has clock-faces on only three sides, because the builders "didn't want to give the time to Norfolk".

Beccles Brew Co was founded in a domestic garage in the town in 2019; in 2020 the brewery moved to new, larger premises in Brampton.

Perhaps the most significant former pupil of the John Leman Grammar School was Nobel laureate Dorothy Hodgkin, who was awarded the prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her work on the structure of vitamin B12. She also decyphered the structure of insulin and confirmed the structure of penicillin.…

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Gallery

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Street-by-street pub list

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History

before1900

According to A Survey of Suffolk Parish History, there were two brewers and one inn holder in Beccles between 1600 and 1649. Between 1650 and 1699 two brewers and one vintner were recorded.

The 1791 Universal British Directory lists William Hindes as a victualler.

The 1844 White's Directory also lists 19 beer houses run by:

Elizabeth Arnold (Ravens meer)

Charles Barker (Ingate Street)

Jeremiah Chapman (Bridge Street)

Benjamin Elvin (Swines Green)

John Garrod (Northgate Street)

George Grey (Ravens meer)

George Groom (Smallgate Street)

John Hatcher (Ravens Meer)…

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Acknowledgements

Some details from "Suffolk Airfields in WW2" by Graham Smith.

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