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 our way there 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 poster 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 Shalford. 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 prebooked 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.