The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Kings Lynn, Norfolk*

Kings Lynn, Norfolk Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• Maccy D's
• about a million fish and chip shops, riverside cafe and about 5 food places down EVERY street, i swear they r just trying to make us eat
• GERRY'S PIZZA! on the saturday market place! Is a must after a nite out in the wenns or something! The bases are fresh so taste bloody marvellous but it's cheap and gerry is always up 4 a chat!
• Wimpy has closed down. The building is being extended for a Frankie and Benny's which opens soon!
• dodgy
• Adriano's and Cobblestones (Baxter's Plain area) both can do reasonable food not too dear. Lunch is best from Filling Station on Norfolk Street: ignore the Subway chain store opening opposite, please!
• anywhere on railway road cheap and cheerful, Norfolk Street kebab shops providing amuninition for throwing up over your taxi driver on the way home from Chicagos, after having spent £30 pounds getting some Granny drunk enough to go home with you.
• anywhere on railway road cheap and cheerful, Norfolk Street kebab shops providing amuninition for throwing up over your taxi driver on the way home from Chicagos, after having spent £30 pounds getting some Granny drunk enough to go home with you.
• hot dog stall in town centre, does the most massive chip butties for 50p
• the Thai Orchid. man, i love that place.
• THAT TAKEAWAY ON THE END OF NORFOLK ST. SELL BLOODY LOVELY BURGERS. TAKEAWAYS EVERYWHERE JUST TAKE YOUR PICK. AND BAKERS OVEN!
• The best sandwich shop/baguette shop in the world has to be Pauline's Pantry down past the cinema. Fantastic try the the chicken, bacon and mayo!!! oh be prepared for loadsa questions!!!
• Gerry's Pizza, saturday market place. If your in town and want a damn good pizza go here as it's fresh and i mean it...i work there and i get a pizza wenever i can from there
• FAST FOOD!! A million and one kebab/burger shops down Norfolk Street, I like Mr Pixxa and Flames
• langleys and crispens is always popular with our group. its perfect when ur on a short break at rainbow u can run next door and buy pizza
• Pearl river - chinese, Antonio's wine bar - Italian(gorgeous), various kebab houses.
• where int there places to eat !!!
• mcdonalds
• Downey's is still really nice. Good for groups, the tapas platter is excellent value. Like the fact they have a completely non-smoking area upstairs.
• littlewood restraunt is brillient, the staff are great, and make sure you tip becky!! (not biest, honest!!!)
• After a night out, the best takeaway is The Hotpot, whose staff are always stoned and food tastes good when you are pissed. Mcdonalds is also quality, also Dr Thirstys, Lloyds no 1, Hoghead, Lattice House are all good for pub food.
• Norfolk Street is now one big Kebab shop, I hope Kings Lynn County Councils plan to lure tourists to this town with the smell of sweaty Beef and raw onion is working............
• Plenty of chinese take aways.You'll never get bored
• Bishop's - the best in town, by far. Riverside restaurant probably 2nd.
• Nice Pizza Express in Saturday market opposite St Margarets Church. The Riverside Restaurant is fantastic for its location and food if you can afford it.
• Macdonalds
• FLAMES... after a night out in Norfolk street, the best place to be to get a well desreved burger.... at a discount if you know how to say hello and Goodbye in Turkish!!
• langleys pizza a go go, i got a takeaway realy good, recomend it!!!!!!!!!1
• mc donalds wimpys the little hot dog stands that allways seem to be sitting in the town by specsavers and gateway > (but they do a wicked cheese burger)
• there is a nice chip shop opposite the post office and reffley!
• Pikies need food for fighting energy
• mcdonalds best in town-say no more
• macdonalds and a wimpy - do any other towns have a wimpy still???????/
• Galionoes in gaywood a top class pizza house and a new kebab house has opened in gaywood called bbq good and dirt cheap
• Galiomoes just outside town selling lovely pizzas free delivery inside 5 mile radius
• You should go to Downeys Cafe. Yummy scones and cakes. Also nice lunch specials, sandwiches etc. I can't walk past it without going in for a slice of their divine yet wicked cheesecake. Good cappuccino (mega-frothy mmmm!) etc. too. Only place in Lynn that actually serves real quality coffee.
• the chippy in South Lynn - simply the best
• Gaywood Pizza-top toppings Gerrys pizza-top too
• Unlucky Fried Kitten is the most exotic.
• The Hogshead - Good pub food at good prices. Many foreign beers and guest ales served. Downeys - tries to be classy but doesn't quite make it! The Eurocamp baguette is great though.
• I just love the little Tea and Coffee shops and of cause those lovely cream cakes now we have cream cakes in Canada but nothing like those delicious little morsels from my home town of King's Lynn, and oh the lovely smell of coffee in the High Street. Do I sound a little home sick, well I get this way now and again.
• Pizza Hut have just opened a new restaurant on the edge of town. I work there. Come & look us up for a great Pizza !!
• Crofters, its lovely try the hot chocolate and cheese cakes it is situated in the same building as a small theatre where comic acts perform. For the less taste inclined, Mcdonalds, Wimpy......
• The Silk Road - Chinese Restaurant. I had dinner here the other night and it is the best Chinese food I've tasted. Cheap too...
• For morning coffee or a light lunch there is Crofters on the corner of the Saturday Market place, close to the Fermoy center. Also Antonios wine bar, by the main Post Office, (if still open) has been popular and provides good fare.
• Whata kinda you want?? We got Chinese, Indian, Italian, Turkish, English, Big Mac's...

Pubs

• Crown & Mitre for real ale and good cooked (no frozen or prepared) meals. Traditional pub keeping traditional hours, no jukebox - gaming machines - Sky TV - just a traditional pub with tradional values.
• The New Inn
• Tudor Rose Hotel - small pub, new owner, different vibe so give them a chance
• Loads of pubs, little ones with character like the Porterhouse on London Road, trendy watering holes run by chains, like the Globe (packed every weekend) and Chicagos.
• um hogs head and the woolpack somewhere
• the wenns!! best pub in town! like a proper local, decent ppl decent music decent prices! It also has a pool table which half the pubs in lynn seem to forget...i mean how could they it's a staple of pub life! It's also away from the globe and all that jazz so you don't tend to walk out an have to avoid loads of chavs about!
• CHECK OUT THE LOCAL YOUNG BANDS AT THE 1ST "ROCKSCHOOL LIVE" TO BE HELD AT "ZOOTS" ON 27TH DEC 2005. "VANILLA POD" WILL BE HEADLINING. TEL IAIN 07850 700370 FOR MORE INFO. CHECKOUT WWW.ROCKSCHOOLLIVE.COM
• like a bitta vodka
• The Globe on Tuesday Market Place seems to be wiping out nearby pubs: beer surprisingly clean for a Wetherspoon's and nice garden. The Lattice House is another W only a street away. Ouse SC on Ferry Lane has the best range of beer in town, but you'll need a member to invite you in. Further out, the Queen's Arms on London Road serves clean Elgoods (local-ish brewery); the Wildfowler isn't a bad chain pub (Wizard Inns?); and the Black Horse in Castle Rising seems to alternate between great and ghastly.
• Wenns, bedtime children please.
• Wenns, bedtime children please.
• hogs head for cheap cheap monday nights, the Globe for fans of standing up shouting at ppl and generally vbeing miserbale, lattice house for sitting and cheap, The Wens for old skool niceness
• Crown and Mitre, good range of ales in great condition, mostly non-smoking.
• WENNS. GLOBE IS ALWAYS PACKED. HOGSHEAD IS ALRIGHT. MAIDES HEAD ON TUESDAY MARKET PLACE, THE LATTICE, OLD TUDOR PLACE CHEAP DRINKS! CHICAGOS ATTRACTS THE ER OLDER CROWDS. LORD KELVIN. THERE ARE A FEW OTHERS.
• Wenns used to be home from home-not so sure anymore!! perhaps i'm too old
• HOUSE ON THE GREEN, SOUTH WOOTTON LING COMMON ROAD! BRILLIANT!
• The Globe - I love this pub, its a Whetherspoons but its massive and has the best beer garde I've ever been to. The lattice is nice, the Hogs is a bit trendy and the Wenns is for the more alternative crowd
• harvester, that cool pub on the grange, were becoming scarily predictable as we go there on friday and saterdays every week, without fail
• Don't ever go into a pub in King's Lynn if you have some dignity and wish to retain it and you value your two front teeth.
• Hog's head - great pub - student hang out Globe hotel - classiest pub in town Lattice house - very cheap drinks - very crowded Orange house - more cheap drinks - very popular Dr Thirsty's - extortionate price - also very popular Fenman - just opposite the train stations - brilliant pub - i always stop there for a quick drink when i go out Lord Kelvin - for god's sake just don't do it.
• Startin from the youngest crowd. Hogs head 16-19!Lattice 17-20! Globe 18 up. Thirstys 18 up.orange house 18 to 65!!Chicagos depends on nite Monday and sunday students 18 to 23 other nites 21 and up quite a youngish crowd though
• yer right. all for the old men stinkin of smoke
• For a good selection of wines head to the new Downey's on tower street. Comfy chairs and jazz make it my favourite place for a girl's night out. Handy for a quick drink after the cinema too. Attracts a slighly different crowd than most of the other bars in King's Lynn.
• Undoubtedly the best pub is The Jenyns in Denver on a sunday night in the summer, when all the young people from town go over The Jenyns, theres a DJ and beer garden lookin on to a river, top atmosphere and cheap drinks. Dr thirstys has a good atmosphere and attracts a youngish crowd, we always go i there when we r out and during the day, also Lloyds No 1 (the globe) is quality, although best in the summer, massive beer garden that goes right down to the quay and cheap drinks.
• Now we have 2 Weatherspoons; the lattice house and the globe!
• The Wens
• October 2002: Lynn now has 2 Wetherspoon's- The Globe (a Lloyd's no.1) and The Lattice House. Get talking to Ken if you go in here (the best guide to Lynn). The short-lived Admiral's Tap is now a Thai restaurant. The Tudor Rose does the best real ale in town but is about as lively as a morgue. Nobody goes in the Mayde's any more, no doubt it'll close down soon and be bought by Tim Martin like the rest of the town.
• The Fenman (opposite the station) is great if you want a good pint in a victorian atmosphere. The Wenns is more lively. Also the Hob in the Well on Gaywood Road is OK if you want a gay night out. (locally known as the Nob in the Well)
• Crossways in Vallengers Road, real local pub, real ale Greene King IPA the best in town and music football etc. The White Horse in Gaywood. A real Man's pub, huge telly for sport, great Landlord, commentary better than Alan Green! cheap real ale, and lots of choice. Not a Ladies pub! but they are always welcome. No trouble ever in 8 years of drinking there. Lattice House is a Wetherspoons pub now. So is the Globe Hotel due to re-open soon.
• Dr thirstys and Chicagoes are the better ones of lynn, but if u want a laugh at the very fresh faced crowd go in the kelvin or the princess (dont be surprised if u see ur 12yr old baby brother tho!)
• THE WENNS , THE LATTICE , THE GLOBE AND FOR A BIT OF LYNN THATS NOT QUITE LYNN THEN IT HAS TO BE ANTNIOS WINE BAR A GREAT PLACE
• The 'Red Cat' @ North Wootton, If its still going?? It was great The Porterhouse, Greene King at its absolute best.
• "The Lattice house" and "The Globe" are now pub's that have be bought by large investers of pub's... after working at "The Globe" for long enough... yes, it's cheap, but, unless you asked for a Sauna at the bar... it's a bloody hot place...
• The Ouse Boose doesnt shut until the real early hours (ie 4am) but its hidden next to the river and you need to be a member!
• lots of em seven sisters woolpack wildfowler well theres loads just look around ul find opne
• lattice house!
• The new Chicago's is Ace, certyainly the place to be!!!!
• pubs are great places to get hit for no reason at all in kings lynn, doormen are idiots ( shock!) young crowd all with a n attitude..if u r there in the evening then you deserve all you get
• Hogshead a modern bar which will welcome new faces
• The hogs head a very modern style pub not the smae old faces appear a good night out
• Rock cafe !!! norfolk street
• Lattice still shut (Jan 2000) - bloody disgrace
• I heard the Lattice was re-opening in October
• Leave town and use the villges for a better,cheaper and non punch in the month pint
• The Lattice House has been bought by some faceless national pub chain and is currently closed (Feb99)
• The Hogshead (oft referred to as "The Pig's Dick") in the High Street, opposite Debenhams - a fine array of real ales and Belgian beers (not that I mean to intimate that Belgian beer isn't real) and does nice grub too, but it is a little like drinking in an aircraft hangar and the toilets seem to be situated about three hundred feet up and above the Wenns. Take a large bladder ... and a large wallet if you want to fill and empty that bladder several times.

  Doctor Thirstys (not-quite-so-oft referred to as "Dr Nastys") in Norfolk Street - in what used to be "Spoils" kitchen reject shop - nicer atmosphere than The Pig's Dick but the selection of ales is poor by comparison. Mind you, it has some totally excellent "mobile scenery" for the lads to look at whilst quenching the thirst and the bogs are in the same county.

  The Woolpack on the corner of Tennyson Avenue and Gaywood Road (once in use as Stephen Fry's local when he was at College) serves a really well-kept pint and lovely pub grub. Close-coupled lav to hand and the atmosphere is nice a friendly .. both in the lav and the pub itself. More of a local than a "kewl" place to sup, it's a great place to be at the end of terms/years at College, after Exams at College and at special times like when they have live bands and at Christmas etc.

  I am also told that "The Hob in the Well" is a good gathering place for those who like their bread buttered on the other side, but I don't frequent the place and have never even been in it, and I like my bread buttered normally, so I could be being lied to. It is, however, fairly oft referred to as "The Knob in the Gob" by many local folk I know, so maybe its reputation is deserved.

• Try "The Hogshead" on the High Street, opposite Debenhams as a good watering hole.
• The London Porterhouse, Best beer in the world.
• My favourite pub, The Red Cat, my brother and I have spent a few hours holding up the bar, There is also another one that I used to go to when living there, The North Star, on my many visits home I havae never revisited this pub.But did like the Globe, my younger brother used to be a Chef there.
• Too many to mention, just drive around you are bound to find one, the Lattice House is where I have heard most about!
• Hogs head, Admirals Tap and Doctor thirstys
• A little further afield
  • The Gate at Middleton (Fairgreen side of Middleton)
  • Knight's Hill (a148/a149 junction)
  • The Black Horse at Castle Rising
  • Jeynyns Arms at Denver Sluice near Downham Market The Crown at Marham (if you like drinking with RAF squaddies from the base up the road).
• Approx 90 others if your stag night is long enough.
• Good pubs
  • Wenns - on Saturday Market Place at the end of High Street
  • Maydens Heade - Tuesday Market Square
  • The Globe - Ditto.... oops sorry this place just burnt down 19/01/96. Must have been one helluva party %->
    But it's open again now [Autumn 96]
  • Tudor Rose - St. Nicholas Street, just off Tuesday Market Place (lots of real ale)
  • Lattice House - Chaple Street, (Ditto)

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• The Green Quay
• Crofters Coffeehouse in the Arts Centre at 27 King Street is a great venue for acoustic music the 3rd Wednesday night from February to November. They also serve excellent coffee!!
• Loads of cafe and coffee shops now. Archers is a local independent, lots of chain ones now, Costa coffee etc.
• Several people have mentioned Downey's Cafe. Just to update thing here, this cafe is now long gone (2006). In its stead has come the chains Caffe Nero (in Norfolk Street), and Costa Coffee (on the corner of New Conduit Street and Broad Street). A nice place to go for a never-worse-than-mediocre coffee (good going - this is King's Lynn, nay the UK, where we pay hand-over-fist for rubbish quality and service every day) is The Green Quay cafe, inside a coverted Hanseatic warehouse on the South Quay (part of the Green Quay complex, a kind of maritime/sealife environmental ediucation centre). It's better than it sounds. Trouble is, the cafe seems to shut at 4 PM, except for a few summer months when they really push the boat out by staying open until 5 PM. After 6 PM, when Costa Coffee & Nero close, it's just abysmal black-eye pubs in this town (the pits).
• there is a new coffee place but i cant think of its name, bhs does good coffee and food
• nero's :) the only downside is that it is a small shop without an upstairs so u cant smoke
• Hate to be the bearer of bad news but Downeys has been closed for some time! However, the town centre is undergoing a revamp and many new places are arriving. So watch this space!!
• old biddy stylr
• Crofters in the bottom of St George Guildhall has the best coffee and cakes. Green Quay sells coffee - apparently much better than when it first opened. For loose coffee, Crofters or Norbury's on Tower Street.
• Littlewoods more atmosphere on the moon.
• Littlewoods more atmosphere on the moon.
• Green Quay cafe on South Quay. Pleasant spot for lunch, on the riverside. Has been known to serve real ale on occasions. 3 Saturday Market Place. Non-smoking cafe with daily-changing menu and unhurried atmosphere.
• No3 SATURDAY MARKET PLACE, NOW THAT IS A TRENDY ESTABLISHMENT ITS A WINE BAR IN THE EVENINGS. THERE SEEMS TO BE LOADS DOWN NORFOLK STREET. CROFTERS IS POSH.
• Crofters, cofee and carrot cake. brilliant.
• I used to work at downeys, unfortunately downey's closed down on valentines day 2004 because of money problems, it never was the same after they refurbished in spring 2003 and the prices went up as the quality went down.
• Evetwhere
• Downeys has been totally revamped, with leather sofas and soft lighting. The food is still as great as ever, especially the seafood bruschetta! Nice for brunch;good coffee and fresh croissants.
• King's Lynn needs more!
• My Dad informs me that St.Margerats church has a good cafe on saturdays. Apparently it has "good real coffee".
• There's a little YMCA cafe for the youth called The Edge on st.James street. Look out for it cos they have a PS2 and pc's with internet access!
• The Green Quay! Situated on the quay side. They do a lovely ham sandwich and hot chocolate! mmmm
• Downys cafe is a cool place in Tower Street. Also the Coffee shop in the undercroft beneath the Guildhall is good - like a large cave.
• CROFTERS ( IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE FERMOY CENTRE NOW CALLED KINGS LYNN ARTS CENTRE )
• The Hob Goblin on Norfolk Street blows Downeys away. Top notch food with HUGE helpings for very little amounts of cash, and always very friendly (Whereas Downeys staff seem to look down their noses at you!)
• a few scattered down norfolk street
• The Green Quay is an excellent place for those who prefer a more quieter out of the way coffee shop. Daily papers are provided. On a warm day you can sit outside with a view of the river. You can also visit the museum upstairs. The cafe/coffee shop hidden away in the newly opened Palmers shop in Norfolk St is also worth a visit. The shop has some good quality home ware.
• The bus cafe shop a great spot for youngsters
• Downey's Cafe is a cool and classey place for bite to eat and a coffee, and not over-priced either. the 'Bakers Oven'is a more down market self-service type, and much improved since it has been refurbished. the staff are just as grumpy though!
• Go to Downeys on Tower Street (near cinema) great REAL coffee (none of that automatic machine rubbish), scones and try the strangely named Eurocamp baguette (it really is nice). Oh and you should try the soups. Sorry, have I gone on to long? Oh well, I just love the place!
• Downeys cafes tower street
• Downeys Cafe - brilliant

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Last updated: 2008-08-28