It is time once again for our Pub of the Week feature, where we shine a spotlight on venues in and around Ipswich and share what makes them worth a visit.
This week I went to the Butt & Oyster in Chelmondiston, just a 20 minute drive from Ipswich town centre.
The Butt & Oyster is part of the Deben Inns chain, with several of their other locations already featuring as our Pub of the Week.
I went to the Butt & Oyster on a Tuesday lunchtime for a bite to eat and was pleasantly surprised with how busy it was.
Obviously, with it being half-term, I was expecting more people than normal on a Tuesday lunchtime, but so many tables were full, families had gone out for walks and stopped there for lunch and people were outside enjoying the view.
As it was a sunny day, I chose to sit outside with a view over the water and boats.
Deben Inns have a fantastic selection of pubs, all with a great view over different areas, and this is no different.
Inside, there is a nice, cosy feel to the pub with small, separated rooms for groups to sit in.
The bar features a range of drinks, including one of my personal favourite beers, Cruzcampo, which I had to go for.
For lunch, while the pub is known for its seafood, I went for a sausage and red onion marmalade ciabatta sandwich served with crisps and salad.
The salad was really nice, with a tangy dressing to accompany and it had peppers in, which you don't often get in a salad.
The crisps were just ready salted, not too much to say about them, but the main event, the ciabatta.
The bread had a nice crust on it, with the inside being fluffy and light. The sausages were really nice with a great flavour and the red onion marmalade added a lovely sweet hit to compliment the savoury sausage.
This cost £11.95, which was a little steep, and both the food and drink came to £18.44, meaning the Cruzcampo was £6.49.
That is one of the more expensive expensive pints of Cruzcampo I've had, but again, with it being a Deben Inns, and being situated directly next to the river, I can understand the price a little more than if it were a town centre pub.
Now, time for some history.
The Butt and Oyster at Pin Mill, near Chelmondiston, is one of Suffolk’s oldest and best-known pubs, with a history stretching back more than 500 years.
Records cited by the Pin Mill Society show that the building was mentioned as early as 1456, when the Water Bailiffs’ court was held there. The Butt and Oyster was first recorded as a public house in 1553, while the Port of Ipswich’s bailiffs and burgesses held Admiralty Courts there during the 16th century.
Its position on the banks of the River Orwell was central to its success. Large vessels stopped nearby because they could not easily navigate the shallow, winding river towards Ipswich, with cargo transferred into smaller boats. The pub consequently became a natural stopping point for sailors and working bargemen.
The unusual name has several possible explanations. The “oyster” is believed to refer to oysters once harvested locally, while “butt” may relate either to barrels used for transporting them or to a local name for flounders.
The pub later acquired literary fame through Arthur Ransome, who knew Pin Mill and featured the Butt and Oyster in his 1937 novel We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea. It has also appeared on screen, including in Ha’penny Breeze and an episode of Lovejoy, when it became “The Three Ducks”.
It's a lovely pub, in a lovely setting, and I will be returning in the future.
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