Ship Inn in Cornwall, Isles of Scilly - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Great pub, good beer. Our favourite in Porthleven

Been coming here once a year every year for about a decade and it has never been anything less than brilliant. Staff are friendly and welcoming, beer selection is interesting and local, food is fantastic and reasonably priced. On this visit I had the mussels with nduja and gremolata- best dish I had over my week in Cornwall. We have eaten and drank in many spots across west Cornwall, and even tried out other pubs in Porthleven- nowhere compares!

Me and the wife walked down to Porthleven and decided to drop in here on a whim and so glad we did. The main part of the pub has a quaint old timey feel to it with currency of all dates and locations on the wall and lots of beer mats on the ceiling. Plenty of seating outside with lovely views of the harbour and the sea. The smithy area looked nice too. Dogs are welcome here and although one of the recent reviews said about dogs barking this wasn’t the case and it’s lovely to see all the dogs. We had the fish and chips with mint and garlic peas. The wife had curry sauce and I the tartar sauce both of which were lovely the chips and peas were fantastic and the fish was superb. As Porthleven is a nice little scenic town it was nice to sit and watch it all from our bench. The staff were friendly and helpful which is always good. We will definitely eat here again next time we are in the area.

When we are in Porthleven, the Ship Inn is the first place we go. It is in a fantastic location at the mouth of the harbour and the views from all the windows are superb. It is always popular with a great atmosphere but the large number of various sized tables mean there is rarely a wait to sit down. The food menu has a limited selection but there is something for everyone - the food is freshly prepared and tastes great. The pub team members are friendly and welcoming, notably manager Beth, and Caitlin - both of who take an interest in their customers and make time for a chat even when it is busy, while rarely pausing for a break. The constantly changing selection of beers includes popular and less well known local brews, and there is something new to try at every visit. The Ship is a firm favourite of our family, offering a great atmosphere, traditional and attractive location and great service from the best bar team in Cornwall - strongly recommended for a visit.

Had the best meal this evening in the Ship Inn. The food was divine and Chef Bailey was outstanding! Absolutely delicious.

We have stayed in Porthleven for 5 days ! Have tried different places to eat and drink here ! But the ship inn,comes out top ! Well done to u all ! Great team work!

Back to The Ship Inn for lunch for West Country Mussels with Nduja and Gremolata. Just couldn’t miss coming here, whilst on holiday again, given the great hospitality and food we enjoyed when here in May.

Fantastic pub, couldn't get a more atmospheric location! Great selection of beers and views to die for out of all the windows!

A nice lively pub, the menu is a bit limited especially for children but what they serve is very tasty x

Possibly the worst Pub meal I’ve ever experienced. Simple food as in their ‘ Steak Burger’ and chips. Burnt with fries covered in salt served on a tiny plate. Dogs barking at each other just about finished off a terrible experience. Do yourself a favour and eat elsewhere if you’re in Porthleven. Sorry but this was just about as poor as it gets.

Sadly we didn’t have a great visit!! Firstly, my meal had somehow been missed, therefore everyone had theirs apart from me. Once the issue was sorted and my food came out, the fish was cooked within an inch of its life, and the batter was just solid and almost black. This resulting in the meal being left. Unfortunately we won’t be returning.

Nice place great view shame the staff drinking on the job

On holiday on Porthleven for a week and on the first 2 days we went around all the drinks places and this is by far our favourite, we have revisited this one every day since we found it! we always sit on a lovely bench above the harbour with a lovely view!! reasonable prices, lovely food and drinks, highly recommend!!

The staff, the food, the location and the amazing outside seating area are all fantastic. Porthleven Cornwall it's what summer is all about 👍

A treasure of a Cornish fishing village pub overlooking the scenic harbour of Porthleven. Very busy in the tourist season but the friendly and efficient staff make it a pleasure. Good food.

Fantastic location, overlooking the sea entrance to Porthleven. Good beer and friendly service topped it off.

Quirky decor, friendly staff good beer basically what a good pub is all about. Haven't eaten there and gets busy at meal times. Normally try to get there around 2.30ish when it's quietened off.

Absolutely fantastic place. Amazing atmosphere and awesome staff, Caitlin went above and beyond to make our afternoon amazing. Highly recommend a visit.

Fantastic historic pub with great atmosphere and attentive staff. All food and drinks were top quality! Would highly recommend!

Perfect setting by the harbour. Characterful main bar with great local beers. Breaded fish with potatoes was one of the best dishes I've had recently. I sat outside and watched folk jump in the bay, but wish I could have stayed to settle in at the main bar and soak it in all day. Top marks.

Very nice sole dish and fish and chips.

Lovely place for food and a drink. We sat outside overlooking the harbour. The small portion of fish and chips was delicious.

The Ship Inn is our favorite pub in Porthleven. It is a quintessential Cornish Pub with a great atmosphere and really helpful staff who are attentive to the customers' needs. They serve good food and the Porthleven pale ale is a great pint. If you find yourself in Porthleven I recommend you check it out.

Very atmospheric pub with excellent food and a great selection of beers.

Right at the edge of the harbour. It's always a lovely spot to pass the day away.

A beautiful, historic pub serving a good range of local real ale. It serves food too but I didn’t try this. The staff were really friendly and welcoming, there was a good atmosphere and the ale was well kept. There’s an extensive, vertical beer garden with fantastic views over the harbour and the sea. It was pretty busy on a Friday evening but there was still place to sit outside.

Fantastic pub. Food is fabulous and always consistently good Staff are friendly and helpful Great atmosphere We are a family of 7

Great food and local beer in a lovely location, served by friendly staff. What could be better.

Great food beer and atmosphere..very friendly and dog friendly so mo worries there..well worth a visit..didn't want to leave as we got our feet under the table...

Great service and excellent food service was great would highly recommend.

This was our second visit to the pub , but our first time for food, We came at 3.15 for food, only to be told food starts at 5.30 pm ,we had a light lunch in the mussels shaol, definitely worth a visit. We returned for dinner and had four meals with drinks, fish, chicken,lamb, £60 , the 30 minute wait for food is expected with such a busy pub and small kitchen, the food was average, the frozen chips were a tad overcooked, decent choice of drinks though and friendly helpful staff. Would come back for a drink, but not sure if I would have food again.

The perfect pub - cosy authentic drinking pub with fantastic food too. The current menu is excellent with a good choice of veggie meals; the mushrooms on toast were superb.

Great service from great bar staff. Great location , well kept ales. What more could you want on you holiday. Don't miss a visit if in Porthleven.

Fantastic characterful pub, with good food. Really enjoyed the lamb flatbread.

Great atmosphere, lovely food and great location.

Best fish and chips I've ever eaten.

You can’t book to eat here so on the off chance we walked up to the ship inn managed to get a bench outside under the canopy. You order your food with a table number. I ordered the Lamb flat bread which was nice nothing special Hubby had the fish and chips which he said was tasty. The area was busy, the table next to us obviously locals enjoying themselves not a problem, but a young female with them her language was awful, every other word was F*** and they were smoking when it states none smoking or vaping, not nice when you are eating. Not the establishments fault of course., but it has put us off from eating here again. The bar inside was busy and the staff friendly.

I visited The Ship a couple of years ago and remembered how good it was, particularly how friendly it was, and things haven't changed this year! We went a few times during our week long stay in Porthleven. Every time we were greeted by really friendly staff who all appear to love working there. Unlike a lot of other pubs across Cornwall, there are a wide variety of beers, one or two of which I'd not had before. We also had lunch one day: fish and chips, which was excellent. It's good that you can choose large or small portions of some meals. Now I'm back home, I'm missing our regular trips to The Ship!!

What an amazing bar! The staff are all friendly and a great selection to drink. The views from either the windows or the outside seating area are amazing. We drank here every night while we were visiting Porthleven. They have a great selection of drinks (A must is the Porthleven pale ale or the squid ink gin). Their food is unbelievably tasty (I would highly recommend the fish and chips or the scampi).

Just great proper real pub loved it.

Nice old pub , had chipotle mussels and chips, great combo. 🥰

Called in for food and a quick pint, been here many times nice old traditional pub, and here comes the BUT, burger and chips x2 pint lager x2 £ 51 !! Service was good food below average I don't have salt on anything but the chips were covered in salt. Come on guy's how could anyone consider £51 for what we ordered to be nothing but extortionate, I've never been so thoroughly disappointed and ripped off so much in the UK or abroad in over 40 years of eating out. You simply cannot justify your prices .

Food is lovely, atmosphere is wonderful

Just had amazing food at the ship chicken flat bread to die for and so nice when a pub offers a great kids pasta dish which my granddaughter loved Good food great service good price

An excellent panorama of the harbour from a high viewpoint. Service was prompt by friendly staff. Getting up and down the steep steps was a little difficult and the beer was the most expensive in the village.

Great pub, views, beer. Friendly staff

Lovely little gem of a pub , great beers and atmosphere.

Great olde pub with great food (the steak burger 😋) and a good selection of local beers. atmosphere is chilled and dogs are welcomed (treats on the bar) would highly recommend a visit.

Fabulous fish and chips plus a nice glass of wine! Wonderful location on a lovely spring day- overlooking the harbour. Friendly welcome and would definitely visit again.

First time and enjoyed lunch time meal of burger and chips (thin and crispy). 14 in our group, but food came out virtually together, so all good.

Good pub in great location. Visited Porthleven for the first time and stopped here for a drink. We sat in the outdoor area and had a good time enjoying the view. I would recommend this place.

We have two dogs, one of which can be reactive, so we were happy to find a seaside pub for lunch that had such a beautiful terraced beer garden where we could watch the world go by and make sure that Cloud remained calm. We ended up in the Crow’s Nest, right at the top of the decking which was just perfect. The food was fabulous (huge fish and chips) and great value and the beers perfectly kept. Beth, our server, was fabulous with both our dogs and was a pleasure to spend some time chatting to. Will definitely be visiting again - would love to go of an evening at some point. Perfect harbourside pub!

Lots of good beer and a great atmosphere

Such a lovely pub, with very tasty fish and chips, extremely friendly staff, and just an all-round warm and welcoming atmosphere. It was lovely to see the local community gather here in the evening. So glad we stumbled upon this gem when visiting off-season and everywhere else was closed.

We had a great, evening, at the ships inn. The staff were lovely & the pud had a really nice traditional atmosphere. The food was incredible!! 10/10. We ended up staying for the Quizz night, which was lots of fun. Would highly recommend

Loved all aspects of our visit. Staff were delightful

I arrived for lunch. Had the Hamburger and Chip. Both were excellent. Juicy, fresh and full of flavour, as were the salad contents. The Frenchfries were wonderfully crucmnchy and golden. The staff were great and accommodating. I wanted some Tabasco sauce. Beth behind the bar takes customer service to another level.

We visited this pub/restaurant twice on the same day and without doubt one of the most honest and competent places I’ve been too, the service was excellent, ,the staff were excellent, five stars from us! Highly recommended, you will not be disappointed!

We stayed in Porthleven in walking distance of The Ship so went several times over the week. Always a warm welcome, nice mix of customers and friendly staff. We found ourselves there on bingo night, which was a fun experience! Then we went along to quiz night. Great atmosphere and quiz host. So nice to visit a proper pub that’s well supported and does a great job.

Wonderful local beer and cider selection, welcoming atmosphere and splendid decoration.

Authentic pub where the locals seem friendly and the views are great. It's còzy indoors with good outdoor seating. We have been a few times over the years and we hope the pub lasts forever

My whole family loved it here, I asked them to rate it and they all said 5 stars!! The food, service, hospitality and value were all excellent and we have been there every day of our visit, highly recommend to families and dogs are welcome. I think this was one of my favourite pubs ever ❤️!!

Amazing little pub, great atmosphere and beer selection.

My favourite pub in Porthleven. Dog friendly, food is good and the atmosphere is great! We love coming here!

Chips are great and the fireplace is so cozy!

Cozy, dog friendly pub. Very cute decor inside and great views from the terrace. V friendly bar staff too

What a great little pub, the staff were fabulous very friendly. Really a good little find. The beer is brilliant try Porthleven ale

Really nice pub with a great homely atmosphere. Food was amazing, one of the best beef pies I’ve had! All staff were so friendly, the bartender emily was very accommodating when I was being indecisive on my drink of choice and may of just helped me find a new favourite in jubel. Would definitely recommend!

Delicious food would 100% recommend. Service incredible, Sofia was super helpful in helping us choose our food and drinks. Best Burger around!! beautiful views of the harbour and stunning building. Definitely a new favourite!

Absolutely awful - packed with visitors and dogs-locals made very aware they weren't wanted-prices a joke.

Amazing food and excellent service! Something went wrong with part of the food and they were more than happy to help out! Highly recommend, will certainly come back!

THE must visit pub in Porthleven. Great staff, excellent beers and top food.

So nice to see a local pub so busy and well supported by locals and holidaymakers. Small and cosy with log fires and great bar staff it serves a good range of beers and gins. Well worth a visit.

The best ever food, atmosphere and staff we have ever encountered in any pub or restaurant. This place is an absolute gem. The staff were so welcoming and helpfull in every way. A big thankyou to the the lovely Beth and to Morgan the chef. All the staff work so hard and very attentive. Words cannot do this place justice. Just made our short break so very special and enjoyable. We both Cannot wait to return.

Not nice to see the hygiene standard maintained. The kitchen being used as a meeting place for staff and others. People being involved in the cooking process dressed in their run of the mill street clothes. One person was involved in the mashing or stirring of some food product in a deep pan with their sleeves from none chef whites in the pan itself. The food was expensive with what seemed like re heated chips. You had your chance and we won’t be back.

I could never fault this place. The staff are fantastic, always smiling, having a laugh with new & old customers. Kitchen staff are great too. The atmosphere is faultless. If you can't find a place to sit, then sit with someone you don't know, because you will soon get to know them. Food is spot-on. Will always be our go-to pub when holidaying here.

Lovely country atmosphere, cosy and warm with the open fire. Also introduced me to Tequila slammers with Tabasco, I'll be back again!

A super pub! Friendly and welcoming staff, dog friendly, great food, perfect location overlooking the harbour. We loved it here, a real locals pub, friendly vibe, it does get busy and they don’t take reservations so bear that in mind if you are looking for food. We visited on a Tuesday evening at 7pm and it was pretty busy. Highly recommend 👍

Always good beer ,great old pub with fantastic views

An unmissable experience if you're ever venturing into Porthleven! Without a doubt the best bar, fantastic location, atmosphere, super friendly staff, and amazing food. My only critique would be the cost of a pint, but I can justify it because of the above mentioned. The Ship Inn is the perfect place to relax watching the sunset over crashing waves in the harbour.

We have returned to Porthleven for a few days and the Ship is a mandatory visit. Whilst we have B and B at the Harbour Inn, the Ship is a proper locals' freehouse pub. A cosy, friendly and atmospheric bar, excellent real ales and delicious food from the reassuringly short menu. Log fire, doggy friendly and lovely crew. The Ship is also featured and recommended in the Alastair Sawday pub guide, the Good Pub Guide and Good Beer Guide. An increasingly rare asset. 🇬🇧🇳🇿

A traditional coastal pub. Great atmosphere and a good choice of drinks. We weren't eating but lots of people were ordering food so it must be popular.

Was a little on the pricey side for drinks, however it was all worth it for the views.

Great pub - friendly and quick service, lovely food, great atmosphere, a nice fire or lots of outside seating and great beer choice too!

This is a great pub. Loads of atmosphere, fantastic food, the best fish pie I have ever eaten, so good I had it two nights running. Dog friendly. The staff make you feel really welcome. It does get really busy so get in early if you want to eat, they don't take bookings, definitely the best pub in Porthleven.

Without a doubt this is the best pub with the best beer, service and the best food in Porthleven. Thank you.

Fantastic staff, great food and beer and nice atmosphere

Best pub in Britain. Excellent variety of beers and wines. Atmosphere on Christmas morning everything you would expect with the staff in Christmas dress adding to the wonderful experience. Looking forward to next visit to Porthleven.

Perfect harbourside historic pub

Called in on a Saturday afternoon after a walk from Helston. Very busy and happy vibe. Nice bar-staff and generous selection of beers. Warm fires, great views. Ideal.

A tourist attraction, very busy pub with friendly bar staff, order food at the bar and they offer a varied pub menu. I had the beef / steak pie with mashed potatoes and mushrooms.

Great atmosphere. Perfect little English pub with real character and amazing outdoor area/beer garden with view of a harbour. Lush

I do enjoy this pub. It is very quaint and historic. The food is not bad for the price, and the staff are very friendly. Lovely outside area, spoilt only by smokers, hint... hint...ship in (can some of the outdoor area be smoke-free, please) I would definitely recommend a visit or two or three...

Great place. So atmospheric. Been here in October and winter when it truly comes into its own. Lovely people and very friendly. Good selection of ales.

We dropped in for a drink on a cold winter's morning, the fire and the welcome was very warming. Great views across the harbour.

Perfect after a long walk. Staff were friendly and welcoming and we felt at home with our dog. The food and Guinness was really excellent.

Nice little local cornish pub. Nice beer. Didn't eat but food portions seemed a good size. Tried a local brewery cider and that was really nice.

My wife, adult daughter and I called here one evening whilst visiting Porthleven having read earlier reviews. We went fairly early for dinner - around 6pm - and were very surprised with how busy the pub was for a mid week November night. It seems like a popular traditional pub for locals as the atmosphere was really nice with very friendly staff. There were initially no tables free, but one became available after we’d been there about 15 minutes but that gave us time to peruse the menu (which we had also checked out online). I ordered the short rib beef pie with mash, mushrooms and carrot, my wife the Megrim Sole with sauce and greens, and our daughter the pepper sausages on a bed of mash and lentils. Now firstly I’ve got to say that all the meals were very tasty, but we were honestly somewhat disappointed… My pie was very small and shallow, I’d say more a meat pattie than a pie (approx 10cm in diameter, but more worryingly only about 3cms deep). Don’t get me wrong; the flavour was lovely just there wasn’t much of it. It was accompanied by mashed potato which was an ok portion, but only came with one half of a slim carrot sliced lengthways along with two slices of mushroom (although described as …”with mushrooms”!). My wife’s Megrim was beautiful and a good sized piece of fish. Our daughter’s sausages were again very tasty, but unfortunately we’re the only items on the plate which were hot. Everything else was only slightly warm. We don’t usually leave less than positive reviews, and would stress that we we wouldn’t not go again as we enjoyed the evening, pub atmosphere and taste of the food, it’s just we felt very disappointed - mostly with the portion size of mine. After all, how much would a few mushrooms and carrots cost to help fill a dinner plate that contained a small pie (see photo attached - the pie is behind the veg and you can gauge it’s size when compared to my phone, and it’s not an iPhone Plus!). Likewise, although the pub was busy, there weren’t many people dining, so serving food hot shouldn’t have been a problem either.

We were lucky to find a table here on a stormy Sunday lunchtime, we sat at a window looking out at the waves crashing over the breakwater. That was nice, but what made it special, aside from the good food and well kept beers, is the staff. They advertise themselves as super friendly, well they are that, and much more. A proper pub with a bright cheery interior in a perfect position overlooking the harbour and out to sea. If you miss the Ship Inn on a visit to Porthleven, then you haven't visited Porthleven

Outstanding, atmospheric pub like something out of an epic story from the age of sail. Okay maybe that's going a little too far, but the views over a stormy harbour and the quaint decor made this a very memorable place for me. Beer was also pretty good!