King’s Lynn – The Eagle
The next pub on our study tour to King’s Lynn was the Eagle, another Craft Union pub. It has been a pub since the 1850s, although has gone through numerous name changes, merging with the neighbouring White Swan in 1887 to form the Eagle & Swan.
A bomb hit the pub on 12 June 1942, killing 16 people and the newly rebuilt pub didn’t reopen until 1959. There was a £125,000 investment into the pub in 2017 when the Eagle name was brought back, having formerly been Bar Red.
The choice of real ales was between Ghost Ship from Adnams and Doom Bar, so we inevitably went for the former. Priced at just £2.50 a pint, it was well kept and tasted as expected. The serving in a Carling glass isn’t ideal, I don’t want to get a reputation if anyone thinks I had ordered it. The service was polite and efficient, with the pub taking card payments.
The pub is long with a pool table at the rear as well as a sizeable beer garden which was busy when we visited. It’s very much a sports pub and there are screens located around the venue. It was all clean, tidy and well presented although there are some parts of the pub that are in need of repair and the toilets have seen better days. Indeed, the matter of smashed toilets, missing toilet seats and general vandalism appear to have beset the pub for many years judging by the reviews.
The front bar of the pub, with the flags I think relating to the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup. There was a change of team members during our visit and so enthusiastically were they singing their version of karaoke they missed customers and weren’t acknowledging those entering and leaving the pub. The pub doesn’t serve food and its main selling point appears to be sport and cheap drinks.
The Eagle does have a sense of being a community pub and the atmosphere was informal and laid-back, although it’s been picking up a few negative reviews recently. It’s a competitive area given the nearby Maids Head, also Craft Union, and the Globe, the sizeable JD Wetherspoon pub, but it was one of the busiest pubs that we visited. Certainly a lively venue, I definitely can’t complain about the value for money.
