Cool Places
The Anchor
The Street Walberswick IP18 6UA
Mark and Sophie Dorber used to run a pub in London, a posh sort of place by all accounts – its nickname was the 'Sloany Pony' – but they grew tired of feeding and watering the gentry of southwest London and escaped to the country instead, taking over the Anchor in 2004, just as this stretch of the Suffolk Coast was becoming better-known and, well, more posh. They couldn't have timed it better, but then given the way they have rejuvenated the pub and its menu, not to mention the roooms upstairs and out in the back garden, they would have succeeded whatever the timing, such is their attention to detail and care they have put into what is now a landmark Walberswick inn. There's a cosy bar with open fire and a large separate dining room (although you can eat the same food in the bar), and lots of outside seating front and back. The menu changes regularly but is always admirably short, a mixture of simple pub grub classics – fish cakes, steak, fish pie – and slightly more exotic things like crab linguine or roast cod with gnocchi. The wide range of different beers – Mark is a beer afficiniado – gives the pub another point of difference, with the Adnams on tap usually supplemented by one or two more exotic choices,including a number of bottled Belgian varieties you don't often see behind bars in Britain. But really the great thing about the Anchor is it can be as upscale or as ordinary as you like, enjoyable whether you're feasting on top-notch grub or just enjoying half a lager and a plate of fish and chips.
