Golden Ball

Cozy Samuel Smith pub on the waterfront in Scarborough.
Maybe I am biased because I think that the independent Samuel Smith Brewery (from Tadcaster, Yorkshire — not too far from this place) has only GOOD beers on offer. I’ve never tasted a Sam Smith’s that I did not like — although they mostly aren’t real ales.
But The Golden Ball is a very friendly Sam Smith pub with a pleasant view over the harbour of Scarborough, the landlady is also helpful and nice to talk to. Don’t expect any stylistic flourishes as far as the décor and furniture are concerned, but it isn’t grimy or grubby either. A typical British small town pub if you ask me. The building though is on the cute side.
The bar room towards the harbour is rather small: 14, 16 people — it’s packed. But there is a larger area towards the back — only the view is not as nice.
Samuel Smith beers are very competitively priced, especially in this area: Their most expensive beer, the Pure Brewed Lager, which costs £ 4.24 at one of my favorite pubs in London, The Chandos opposite the National Portrait Gallery, is just £ 2.92 here! All the other beers are similarly low in price.
The Golden Ball is not a place to while away a whole afternoon (maybe!), but it certainly is a good pub to pop in for an hour.

I have decided to give this pub 3 stars. The brewery is Sam Smiths, and you usually get a decently priced pint in a Sam Smiths pub. You have to be careful of two things though. Ordering the right pint, and the time of day you enter it. These pubs can have the ‘Weatherspoons effect’ and attract people of limited conversation skills, unless the conversation is about the price of beer. If this is your conversation, then fill yer boots !! The pub itself has a nice layout, the main bar area overlooks the beach. I decided to check out the beer garden after spotting the sign. It’s around the back, and considering it’s east facing, it probably gets most of it’s sun between 10am and midday which is useful. It is however, clean and very floral with only a very small area covered in heavy rain moments. There is a nice a view of Scarborough Castle wall though. All in all though, it’s not a bad place for a beer, but if this place is ‘Scarborough’s pub of the year 2012/​13′, then I can only assume that the judges are either on glue, or the rest of the pubs have been cast in the gorge of eternal tack !!! It is Yorkshire though, so what would you expect !? I’d like to write more, but the barman said he would be keeping an eye on me. He asked me to bring the glass back to the bar. I wondered why the police were stopping random cars on the way into this town. The famous pint glass thief is obviously at large.