Discover where to enjoy real ale and craft beer in Bury St Edmunds
Historic Bury St Edmunds is the perfect place to experience delicious real ale and unique craft beer
Raise a glass in the Beer Capital of Suffolk and become part of a brewing history dating back 1,000 years. In 1086, monks were brewing ale on the site of the Great Abbey using water from Bury’s chalk wells which are still used today by Greene King, one of the UK’s largest breweries
From award-winning public houses to unique bars, there is a great choice of real ale and craft beer as well as live music, beer festivals, and quiz nights throughout the year providing something for everyone! Mark your place in history, share your experience, tell others about your favourite pub, bar or speciality shop on Twitter using #BuryAleTrail.
To take part in the Bury St Edmunds Ale Trail download the LoyalFree App for free, simply search ‘LoyalFree’ on the iOS Apple and Google Play Store or pick up a map at The Apex, Moyse’s Hall Museum, or St Edmundsbury Cathedral Visitor Information Point when you are in town. Or download the Ale Trail now.
•The word ‘Beer’ comes from ‘Bierere’, which means to drink in Latin.
•Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage, it ranks after water and tea.
•Ancient Egyptians were brewing at least six different kids of beer by around 3000 BC.
•During the middle ages, beer brewing monks drank up to five quarters each day.
• Bury St Edmunds’ links with brewing go back a long way – almost 1,000 years in fact the monks at the Great Abbey were brewing ale in 1086.
• In the days of the Abbey men, women and children would drink ale for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Bury St Edmunds is the home of Greene King and the water for the beer is drawn from the same chalk wells used by the Abbey’s monks, 200ft beneath the brewery.
• In the middle of the 18th Century Bury St Edmunds had around 150 pubs. “Every other house is an inn’ is a well-known saying from those days.
• The Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds was once used by Greene King as a dilapidated yet magnificent barrel store between 1925 and 1962. Greene King purchased the freehold of the theatre in 1920 (and still owns it today) but in 1925, the company had struggled to keep the theatre in operation.
• Every year Bury St Edmunds has a popular Food and Drink Festival which showcases local food & drink as well as tasty delights from around the world.
• Bury St Edmunds is home to the annual East Anglian Beer & Cider Festival now in its 32nd year and held inside St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
• At 15ft by 7ft, The Nutshell Pub in Bury St Edmunds is officially Britain’s Smallest Pub. The iconic mummified cat which hangs from its ceiling is reputed to have been found in a house in Whiting Street. Years ago, people would put cats in the walls of buildings to scare off evil spirits and so, if you find one, it’s said to be bad luck to remove it.
• The Masons Arms, located in the centre of historic Bury St Edmunds, dates back to the early 16th century and still retains many of the original features including beams and inglenook fireplace.
• The Old Cannon Brewery is unique among Suffolk breweries for having its two beautiful brewing vessels on display in the bar; meaning you can sit next to your beer as it’s being brewed!
• Historically The One Bull may be Bury St Edmunds’ oldest pub, selling the monk’s ale to the townsfolk, brewed in the Abbey next door.
• Belgian beer bar Vespers stock a number of “historically important” beers brewed by monks from 12 different Trappist breweries at monasteries across Europe.
• The Corn Exchange in Bury St Edmunds was voted the UK’s Poshest Wetherspoons by readers of The Express.
Participating Businesses
