Our Time at The Craster Arms, Beadnell
We called into The Craster Arms for tea on a Thursday evening in September, expecting things to have quietened down a little now the main holiday season was slipping away.
They hadn't.
The place was surprisingly busy. Usually that's a very good sign.
Well… perhaps.
We know The Craster already. It's a proper village pub with a good choice of ales and a large, sunny beer garden that really comes into its own during summer. On Saturday evenings through the season there's live music outside, and we've spent a few very pleasant afternoons out there ourselves with a drink in the sunshine.
It's popular. There's no question about that.
A Pub With a Bit More History Than You Might Think
And considerably more history than you'd guess while sitting outside with a pint.
The Craster Arms is Grade II* listed and actually incorporates the remains of a medieval defensive tower. The old tower sits behind the 18th-century frontage and includes walls of remarkable thickness, along with a vaulted basement, stone staircase and surviving slit window. A tower here was recorded in a will as far back as 1587, when it belonged to the Forster family.
By 1818 it was known as The Bull Inn, with the Craster Arms name coming later. So people have been stopping here for considerably longer than the caravans up the road have been arriving.
Back to Dinner
Inside, there's a small bar area, but most of the space feels geared towards dining. It's light, comfortable and welcoming, and dogs are allowed inside — always an important box ticked for us.
We did wonder whether you'd feel entirely comfortable occupying one of the dining tables for an evening with nothing more ambitious than a couple of pints. It feels much more restaurant-with-a-bar than old-fashioned drinking pub once you move beyond the bar itself.
Service was prompt. A couple of the staff initially came across as slightly abrupt, although English clearly wasn't their first language and we genuinely didn't get the impression there was any intention behind it. Sometimes manner simply gets lost in translation.
More importantly, we weren't left waiting.
Our food arrived quickly, piping hot and in very generous portions. Possibly too generous — which admittedly isn't the worst complaint anyone has ever made about a pub dinner.
And the Food?
It was perfectly decent pub food.
Which sounds like damning it with faint praise. It really isn't.
There was nothing wrong with what arrived at the table. It was hot, plentiful and enjoyable. But neither of us had that moment where you put your fork down, look across the table and say: "We're coming back for this."
At £18.50 for fish and chips, the prices felt about where pub prices are these days. Add a drink and perhaps a £10 dessert and it becomes a fairly substantial evening out for two, but nothing that struck us as unreasonable.
What we did find ourselves wondering was why The Craster was quite so busy on an ordinary Thursday evening in September.
Part of the answer may simply be location. Beadnell is enormously popular with visitors, there are large holiday and caravan sites nearby, and there isn't a huge amount of direct competition locally offering the same straightforward pub-food experience at a similar price point.
But perhaps we're overthinking it.
The Craster Arms is dependable. You know what you're getting. There's beer, generous portions, a comfortable room, dogs are welcome and nobody needs to dress up for dinner.
Sometimes that's exactly what people want.
Would We Go Back?
Yes.
And that's probably the important bit.
We'll undoubtedly eat at The Craster Arms again. We already know we'll be back in the beer garden when the sun returns, and there will almost certainly be another evening when we're in Beadnell, don't fancy cooking and The Craster seems like the obvious answer.
It just isn't one of those places where we walked out saying: "Should we come back next week?"
And that's okay.
Heather & Sand verdict: A popular, historic Beadnell pub with a cracking summer beer garden, good ales, generous portions and perfectly decent pub food. Somewhere we'll happily return to — just perhaps not somewhere we'd make a special journey for.
