Here’s what Kerry Walker from the Telegraph had to say about Bury St Edmunds after it was listed at No.4 on ‘Britain’s Best High Streets’
Bury St Edmunds is a fantasy Suffolk market town of Georgian squares, wonky medieval walls and prettily lit shop fronts that entice you like well-wrapped gifts. As Christmas creeps up, neo-Gothic St Edmundsbury Cathedral lifts moods not only with glimpses of its kaleidoscope-like, fan-vaulted ceiling, but with festive events from wreath-making workshops, Christmas markets, concerts and candlelit parades. Over at the Theatre Royal, Britain’s last-surviving Regency playhouse, a performance or panto comes with a shot of nostalgia.
Post-shop, bundle up for a crisp walk through the Abbey Gardens, hugging the banks of the River Lark. Here among the herb and water gardens, you’ll find the enigmatic ruins of a once-splendid Benedictine abbey and impressively intact medieval ruins like the Great Gate and gargoyle-encrusted Norman Tower. Pilgrims once trudged here to visit Anglo-Saxon king Edmund the Martyr’s shrine.
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There’s still plenty of indie spirit in Bury – explore the backstreets and you’ll find gifts that go way beyond bog-standard stocking fillers. On St John’s Street, pop into Pocket Watch and Petticoats for vintage clothing and old-fashioned service to match, and Vinyl Hunter for one-off records.
Closer to the cathedral, find moody Suffolk landscapes to grace a mantlepiece in the Hunter Gallery on Angel Hill, and a tasteful array of gifts (from plant-based Chalk cosmetics to ceramics, jewellery and Jellycat toys) at The Parsley Pot on Abbeygate Street.
Food and drink? Head to Hatter Street for artisan cheeses at The Cheese Hole or sip an espresso while choosing the perfect bottle of wine at Vino Gusto. Bury’s twice weekly market (held on Wednesday and Saturday) is a feast of seasonal local produce – fruit and veg, fish and meat, pickles, chutneys, honey, you name it.
The perfect pitstop
Don’t rush off. Drop your bags at The Angel, an ivy-swaddled boutique stunner that swirls in history and romance, especially if you opt for one of Ivy View Copper Rooms with free-standing copper bathtub. Dickens sojourned in this former coaching inn, immortalising it in The Pickwick Papers, and it hit screens in the 2020 film The Personal History of David Copperfield. Go for a Dickens-inspired Pickwick Afternoon Tea, with Victorian faves like ‘butterfingers’, hot sausage and mustard, and buttermilk scones (there’s also a children’s version). Or book dinner in The Eaterie to try the spot-on beef and red wine ‘Pickwick Pie’.
Otherwise, snag a table at slickly intimate Lark for hyper-local food with a Mediterranean twist in a former bus shelter. Or book well ahead for Michelin-starred, gorgeously rustic Pea Porridge for inventive Moorish-inspired cooking that you’ll be raving about long after the tinsel comes down.
A pint, you say? Squeeze into The Nutshell, a cheery, picture-plastered Victorian boozer that is Britain’s smallest pub according to Guinness (check out the mummified cat).
