Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Thompson – Chequers Inn

    Thompson – Chequers Inn

    Next on our meander around pubs in West Norfolk was the Chequers Inn in the village of Thompson. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the beautiful exterior and we weren’t initially confident that it was even open.

    The building dates from the sixteenth century and it has been a licensed premises since the late eighteenth century. Throughout its history it has mostly been owned by the landlord so it’s been a free house that hasn’t fallen into the hands of any breweries.

    The venue struggled by 1997 but was taken over by new owners in 1998 and given a new lease of life by Heather McDowell and Richard McDowell and they’re still there today, so that’s some considerable achievement. There had traditionally been accommodation here and there remain three rooms that are let out on a bed and breakfast arrangement.

    There was a friendly and immediate welcome, with the pub having an inviting atmosphere. There was a selection of three real ales, but there was only one that I was really drawn to (my eyes were immediately drawn away from Greene King IPA) and that was the Tally-Ho from Adnams which I don’t think that I’ve had before. I cautiously had a half pint of this 7.2% ABV barley wine style beer, although Roy was merrily going for a pint of it which seemed brave as the second beer of the day.

    It’s the first time that I’ve had Tally-Ho and it didn’t disappoint, it was punchy, strong and had a touch of sweetness. Walkers isn’t my preferred crisp brand, but it did pair well with the beer.

    There’s a dining area and also a snug, but this room is the only bar area and it’s certainly quite compact. I did warn Roy to be careful when he stood up, but he forgot and hit his head on the low beam. As an aside, I noticed that there were a couple eating in the snug and their food looked really rather lovely and the online reviews look positive.

    The pub is used to customers hitting their heads, despite their warnings….

    I very much liked this pub as it felt genuinely friendly with customers talking to each other in the small bar area. The staff member was welcoming and personable, with the whole arrangement being clean, comfortable and organised. The prices were reasonable and I’ll remember this pub positively.

  • Wretham – Dog & Partridge Pub (now closed)

    Wretham – Dog & Partridge Pub (now closed)

    This feels really quite sad, it’s the Dog & Partridge pub in Wretham, located right by the Peddar’s Way path (here’s some information about that courtesy of the LDWA). It first became a licensed premises in at least the 1780s, but it finally closed its doors in 2019 and is now a residential property.

    In 1904, the local press reported that Charles Crook, a local man aged 74, had died suddenly whilst walking along the road. His body was taken to the Dog & Partridge where it was laid to rest whilst waiting for an inquest. I can’t imagine that JD Wetherspoon would be entirely pleased if that was the policy today and someone died near one of their pubs.

    More recently, the pub has had a troubled history. It closed in 2002 for four years, before being brought back to life. The owner claimed that the smoking ban caused issues and despite updating the accommodation in 2010, it wasn’t enough to make the venue profitable.

    The owner told the local press at the time:

    “There have been several attempts to have traditional pub darts and pool teams but the villagers themselves asked that such activities be stopped so that they didn’t clash with similar activities already undertaken at the village hall.”

    I’d suggest that’s a sub-optimal arrangement as a pub with accommodation might have been more useful to the area than a village hall, but who am I to comment…… Anyway, it limped on for a few years and they couldn’t sell the venue, so it closed for good in 2019. Much as I’m sure the perfect operator could have made it work, it would have required a huge effort given its location and there aren’t many perfect operators about.

    I’ve cycled and walked Peddar’s Way, so I would have gone by here in the past, but, I can’t remember this village. The pub did have some accommodation, but I’m not sure how many users of the path would have used it. The road is the A1075, which is relatively busy, but it’s not the major route into Norwich.

    What might have saved this pub is if Wretham and Hockham railway station had survived, as that would have allowed walkers to access the beginning of Peddar’s Way by staying here. Unfortunately, the Crab & Winkle railway line which ran between Swaffham and Thetford closed in 1964, another poor transportation decision. It wouldn’t have taken long to walk from the railway station to the pub.

  • Great Hockham – Eagle Pub

    Great Hockham – Eagle Pub

    The expedition for the day on Saturday was with friends Roy and Jen to a number of country pubs. There is a logic for choosing these pubs that Roy has, but I’ll leave that to another post to explain. I was surprised and delighted at their proposed list as there were so many pubs that I hadn’t been to.

    This is a hugely challenging time for country pubs, so it’s really good to make an effort to come and see different venues. This one also had the advantage that it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide, indeed for the ninth year running, so that’s another one ticked off for me.

    This has been a licensed premises since at least the 1840s and it became a Steward & Patterson free house, before being taken over by Watney Mann and later it became part of Punch Taverns. Fortunately, it’s now free of Pubco interference and is free of tie.

    In 1909, the landlord Frederick George Thompson had the indignity of finding himself in the Norwich Argus with the headline of “an unsuccessful publican” which feels a little harsh. He had found himself in financial difficulty and invested in a horse to cart his beer about. Anyway, that went wrong and in court his representative mentioned “it was a pony that was a very poor beast and took two hours to go a mile and a half” to which the newspaper reported that there was laughter….. He left the pub the following year.

    There was a good choice of real ales, including Old Speckled Hen, Woodforde’s Wherry and Best Bitter from Black Sheep, although there are usually five different real ales. The keg options were a little Hawkstone heavy for me, but each to their own.

    I’ll note now that I was on half pints at every pub during the day, Roy went for pints, but he’s always been tough like that. This is the Best Bitter from Black Sheep, it was well-kept although served very cold, although that’s hardly surprising given the outside temperature of our visit. It was bitter and inoffensive, it’s not the most exciting beer in my mind, but it’s a decent sessionable offering.

    Their pie weekend sounds really quite decadent, they have a huge choice of pies during the weekend and it’s become something of a thing in the local community’s calendar.

    We arrived shortly after opening and were the first in, but there was another customer who came in soon after us and it had a welcoming community feel. Down the other end of the pub is a games area with a pool table. Incidentally, I’m a fan of carpets in pubs and like that they give it an element of warmth.

    They serve food and there’s an extensive dining room area. There is also a fire and I won’t mention in public about burningchildschristmascardgate…..

    And another one of the pub’s achievements. On this note, I’d suggest that this is a great shout for being in the Good Beer Guide, there was a friendly welcome, clean environment and a choice of well kept real ales. The prices were moderate and it had a proper community feel.

  • Norwich – Bar Billiards Singles Tournament

    Norwich – Bar Billiards Singles Tournament

    Today was the excitement of the first round of the Norwich Bar Billiards singles tournament. For anyone interested, the results will be at https://www.norwichbarbilliards.co.uk/Singles. Oscar calmed my nerves with some sensible beer selections and managed to miss all my great shots, but I didn’t say anything.

    Thanks to Oli and Emma for their scoring assistance. This is an unusual cluster of balls all where I didn’t want them…. And I’m still surprised I went for a very difficult 200 shot, which went in, at a critical point in the game. As I said to Zak, I’m crediting him with teaching me how to be brave. I don’t think I’ll be being brave again for a while, I’ll go back to my 10s.

    OK, I didn’t expect a 3-0 win, but I’ll take it….. My aim is to score 1,000 in each game and I was surprised and delighted to achieve that. Thanks to Katie for a great game and I am sort of looking forwards to the second round in late February.

  • Norwich – 1848 Map

    Norwich – 1848 Map

    This is the 1848 map of Norwich that was produced by Jarrold and here’s a link to a 1781 map of the city.

  • Peterborough – Stoneworks Closed

    Peterborough – Stoneworks Closed

    I’m rather sad to hear that Stoneworks in Peterborough has closed. I thought that was the case earlier in the year, but as the furniture and the like was still in place, I hoped that it was a more temporary closure.

    Here’s when I visited back in 2018.

    Here’s the sales details for anyone interested in letting the venue, the rent is £25,000 a year. That’s not entirely unreasonable for a bar in the heart of Peterborough, but these are tough times for pubs….

  • Norwich – Norwich Castle Museum (Cromer by James Stark)

    Norwich – Norwich Castle Museum (Cromer by James Stark)

    This is an artwork by James Stark (1794-1859) which is in the collections of Norwich Castle Museum. It was purchased for the museum in 1975 with grants from the Art Fund, Watney Mann (I don’t specifically know why the brewery contributed to this) and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

    Stark was a Norwich School landscape painter, best known for his big and usually windswept skies along with his slightly melancholy countryside scenes. He trained in Norwich, showed at the Royal Academy, and later taught drawing, including a spell as a master at Queen’s College, Cambridge.

    In terms of this rather serene artwork, in the bottom-left of his painting there are some fishermen going about their business in what would have been a very different town. With no bus or train services at this point, this would have likely felt a rather remote destination.

    Stark painted this in the mid-1830s, at a time when Cromer was starting to evolve as something of a summer tourist destination for those in Norwich and environs. The railways didn’t arrive here until the 1870s, so the town would remain relatively unchanged for some decades.

    Of course, I feel the need for AI to join the party and this is what it believes the scene would look like today if painted in a similar style. I rather like this. The addition of Cromer pier, constructed in 1901, is an accurate one even if some other elements aren’t exactly perfect here.

  • Oulton Broad Study Tour – Two Julians

    Oulton Broad Study Tour – Two Julians

    With apologies that it has been a while since Julian (the older and arguably wiser one) and I have been on one of our study tours, busily visiting every pub in a town. It’s not something we do for public esteem, it’s just as a public service. Julian grew up in this area after the war and so had something of a local knowledge of many of the pubs that we visited, although sadly he was able to point out numerous places that are no longer open.

    We got the train into Oulton Broad North and I pondered whether I’d been to that Greggs before, I’m not sure if I have. We went into everywhere that was open and defined itself as being a pub or something similar, including the Flying Dutchman into proceedings even though it was a little bit of a walk away.

    Everywhere other than the Flying Dutchman had real ale, although the only one that offered a real ale from outside of East Anglia was at Broadview. It was Broadview that surprised and delighted me, it has been there for longer than I realised and it had the widest selection of real ales of the day. The Waveney was the cheapest venue of the day for drinks, it’s a Craft Union pub and I’d say that was the friendliest welcome.

    Anyway, my little reviews of each venue are below and, as ever, all credit to the owners and managers for keeping these pubs going. These are challenging times for pubs and they all provide a marvellous service to the local area by being open and allowing people to have a place to visit to get drink, food, meet friends and to just feel part of the community.

    The pubs we visited were:

    Commodore

    Flying Dutchman

    The Waveney

    Lady of the Lake

    Broadview

    Wherry Hotel

    Sadly this one has gone:

    George Borrow

  • Oulton Broad – Wherry Hotel (Two Julians)

    Oulton Broad – Wherry Hotel (Two Julians)

    The final venue we visited on our study tour was the Wherry Hotel, formerly part of the local Castle Carvery chain and now part of RedCat, the relatively new pub chain started by former Greene King boss Rooney Anand.

    There was a licensed premises here from the 1840s, but in 1897 the owner George Mason wanted something that bit bigger and better. By 1900, it was all ready and open with the advert above placed in the local newspapers. They were also advertising that they welcomed choirs and other outings, they were certainly ready for big groups. Not only that they were proud of their electric lighting and also their new billiards table.

    There was a rather beautiful view over Oulton Broad.

    This is a large venue and there’s a bar area, a more lounge area as well as a substantial dining area. Food and drink is served throughout the day, including a carvery option which is set at a very realistic and affordable price.

    I went for a turkey carvery meal and opted against the big plate, which would have disappointed Alan Partridge. The carvery was rather lovely, the meat was tender, the roast potatoes suitably crisp and the gravy suitably meaty (a vegetarian one was available for those who didn’t look want a meaty gravy). The menu is also broad, there are lighter options, vegan options and so on, with the pricing all towards the lower end of the scale.

    There were a couple of real ales, including Woodforde’s Wherry and Lacon’s Encore, although I opted for a pint of Guinness. This was served in the way that I would expect and tasted as I had hoped for.

    The service here is always friendly and attentive, it’s a comfortable and clean venue which is a reliable option. The food and drink is all of a decent quality and the atmosphere is inviting. For those wanting to stay, there are thirty rooms here and it’s all something of a substantial operation.

  • Oulton Broad – Broadview (Two Julians)

    Oulton Broad – Broadview (Two Julians)

    Next on our little sojourn of Oulton Broad was Broadview, a venue that I hadn’t heard of before and initially I thought that it might be a little too decadent for me if it was more of a wine bar arrangement.

    This is the reason for the venue’s name, they overlook Oulton Broad.

    This was the best real selection of the day with a national real ale, a more specialist local ale and a traditional local bitter. This surprised and delighted me. The welcome at the bar was friendly and timely, with the whole arrangement feeling inviting. I’m not overly taken by fires, so this compromise of one on a screen is entirely acceptable to me.

    This photo makes it look a little more dreary than it actually was, the venue felt comfortable, inviting and homely.

    I went for the Brewers Series classic porter from Lacons and it was well-kept, malty, dark and rich. It’s not what I would consider a traditional porter to taste like and it had more caramel and biscuit tastes, but there’s some heritage to the recipe of this and it’s interesting. The older and wiser Julian went for a Figgy’s Brew from Skinner’s Brewery and I’m pleased to report that he thought it was well-kept, malty and pleasant.

    We visited in early November and so there was much excitement of the Christmas decorations being put up.

    As the venue felt modern and on-trend, I thought that it was a more recent opening, but it has transpired that it has been going for over fifteen years so I have no idea how I hadn’t heard of it. There are regular music events on weekend evenings and food is also served at lunchtimes and in the evenings.

    With friendly service, a clean environment, a decent selection of real ales and an inviting atmosphere, this was a really delightful visit and the prices were reasonable. All very lovely.