I’m not sure that I’ve been to the Waveney before, but this was the next pub on Julian and mine’s little travails around Oulton Broad. This is part of Stonegate’s Craft Union brand which has prices firmly towards the lower end of the scale.
The pub opened in the 1880s and was the section that is lit up red in the above photo, with this frontage being a later addition. More recently, it was operated by Moss & Co, who run the Commodore amongst other locations, as a sports and music bar between 2018 and 2021, before Stonegate decided to manage it themselves.
There was a very reasonably priced London Pride, so I went with that, as well as opting for some more food pairing opportunities with Flaming Hot Monster Munch. I prefer Roast Beer, but it’s good to experiment with new flavour combinations. The beer was well kept, tasted as expected and was at the appropriate temperature.
There’s a variety of seating styles from higher chairs, tables and also sofas. It’s clear that there’s been something of an investment here in terms of a large refurbishment. Everything was spotlessly clean and it also had a warm and cosy feel to the whole arrangement, it didn’t feel cold either in terms of the temperature or welcome.
It was all bright and felt welcoming.
They show live sports and there’s also a darts board to entertain customers. I’ve never seen a dart thing like this which helps players work out the two and three dart finishes.
They were putting up the Christmas decorations when we were there in early November, so there seemed to be an excitement about that whole process. The team members were friendly, warm and engaging, so once again, it felt a welcoming place to be.
I’ve come to really rather like Craft Union pubs, they seem to be thriving around the country and they’re doing that by pushing the community pub dynamic without trying to operate food sales. It seems to be working here, this was one of the pubs that I found to be the most welcoming because of the level of informality.