Bricklayers Arms — Restaurant in Tendring

After a long trying day our eating, drinking and stay over in the car park in our camper van at the Bricklayers Arms was a tonic to lift the soul.

Liz (proprietor and chef) and son Will made us incredibly welcome as did the friendly locals. If you arrive on the evening of the first Thursday of the month as we did, you can take advantage of the “Shear and beer” offer of a pint and a haircut from a local travelling hairdresser for the very reasonable sum of £13 (prices may vary if reading this in a few years time). Clearly very popular with the locals and a very civilised way of getting your hair cut.

The food is very definitely “home made” and fresh and you can taste the difference to the usual reheated in a microwave fare.

Self contained Motorhome owners are welcome to stay for free overnight in the car park with the obvious proviso that they enjoy the excellent hospitality offered by the pub. The location is incredibly quiet overnight, unlike many of the larger club sites that are usually near a busy highway.

Our thanks to Liz, Will and the cast of locals who made for such a memorable...

Today my father decided to take us all out for Sunday Lunch at this pub in Little Bentley, Simply fabulous, without exception the best pub roast I've eaten in 25 years - there were five of us, we all agreed, beautifully cooked meats (to our liking-mum likes WD the rest like pink down to really rare) and lovely, interesting vegetables, (roasted Mediterranean, a gratin, carrots, French beans and cabbage), good, real gravy, knockout home-made desserts, excellent ice cream, well priced and plentiful, we had a Chilean merlot with the meal which was good and reasonably priced - AND the service was excellent. Locals in the pub were friendly and clearly proud of their local - one man stated it was the best pub restaurant in the entire area - I'd say he was understating the case by a county! AND:-) we only chose it because our local was full! Thankyou very much - as Arnie would say ......

A real gem this. Anybody who grew up in England in the sixties and seventies would instantly recognise this as a prime example of English pubs in their Golden Era. No music, TV or electronic distractions, just a warm cosy atmosphere, good conversation and good food which is all home cooked and excellent quality. A special mention for the Landlady's ham which she cooks herself, I had almost forgotten how good cooked ham can taste. The Mole Trap bitter was excellent. The Landlady is also a mine of information over a wide range of subjects :-). Nestled in a sleepy Essex village only 20mins from Harwich it is also an ideal motorhome stopover for anybody using the Harwich ferry, just ring ahead for a warm welcome. Highly recommended, would definitely...