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After what we considered the great success of our days out in Dereham and North Walsham, Julian and I decided that it was Bungay that we should investigate for our next study tour. This is an area I haven’t much explored, only having visited the Green Dragon, but Julian has many more experiences of the hospitality venues in the town.

Excluding the golf club, there are five pubs in the town and we were able to visit all of them. They were the:

Fleece Inn

Castle Inn

Green Dragon

Three Tuns

The Chequers Inn

And I’m delighted to say that we enjoyed them all.

The excitement of lorrygate when the local denizens had their peaceful early afternoon rest impacted by a lorry struggling to get past another lorry. I say excitement, but it amused us for a few seconds. I accept that I in particular am easily pleased.

I took photos of numerous former pubs in the town, this is the Ship which was taken over by Lacon’s in 1923. I’ll get another post written at some stage about the pubs that have been lost in Bungay, there seem to be some intriguing tales from what I’ve been reading about some of them.

We had chance to look around the local church, but more about that in a separate post. This series of posts is far more about the beer without me getting distracted once again by church history.

Another grand building lost to the hospitality trade, this was the King’s Head Hotel.

And evidence of another one lost…..

There’s a story here, but I’m not quite sure what it is.

I was suitably humoured by this, it’s very true.

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to enter the castle, but I took this photo over the fence so that’ll have to do.

It’s clearly important to explain the principles of the 24 hour clock to local potential bus passengers.

Our bus back turned up late, for reasons unknown, but just after First Bus had sent me a message on Twitter saying they were looking for it. We arrived safely back in Norwich in one piece and only a little after schedule. Fortunately we weren’t back too late as Julian and I needed to pop out to visit some Norwich pubs in the evening, as our study tours are never ending. I was especially fond of the Fleece Inn for its food and ambience, but all of the pubs had inviting atmospheres and staff who offered us a friendly welcome, it was certainly a rewarding day in that regard.

The next visit will be to Aylsham and we’re both looking forwards to it as we don’t get out much.

The fifth and final pub to visit on our day trip to Bungay was The Chequers Inn, located on Bridge Street, which has been trading in some form since the seventeenth century although the bulk of the current building is from the eighteenth century. We had visited earlier on in the day to find it closed, but that was because CAMRA’s Whatpub was a little more aspirational about the venue’s opening times than the pub itself. As an aside and sort of a fun fact that I’ve learned from CAMRA, apparently “some pubs displayed the sign to indicate that they would change money or acted as bankers in some way”.

The bar area feels modern and contemporary, with the welcome from the staff member being immediate and friendly. As can be seen from the blackboards, they have regular live music including from Lee Vasey. Julian said that he remembered the pub when it was something of a real ale destination pub, but CAMRA notes that it has been under new ownership since early 2022. Julian’s reminiscences seem accurate though, as the pub was listed in the 2001 Good Beer Guide when it had six real ales and an annual beer festival going on.

There were three real ales on, including two from the local Bull of the Woods brewery, the Rock Steady and the Satan’s Session. I couldn’t find the beer on Untappd, so I’ve gone with it likely being the Satanic Majesty which has the same ABV. It was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, a basic and inoffensive session bitter. I was pleased to see the beers from the local brewery, as I think I’m right in recollecting that it was only this pub that had any on.

This was a fine way to end our pub excursion, some different ales to try and a comfortable atmosphere. Some recent reviews say that food is offered occasionally, but there was nothing evident when we visited so it might just be for special occasions. It has something of a traditional feel to it, definitely worth popping in for anyone visiting Bungay.

The fourth pub of our day out was the Three Tuns, a substantial building which was formerly a hotel and coaching inn. CAMRA note that there has been a hospitality venue here since 1540, although a new building was required after the 1688 fire.

As an aside, I’d suggest that this was a sub-optimal night for Bungay.

I’m not sure what I expected, but I really rather liked the grand room when we entered the pub. The service was immediate and helpful, with two real ales available. I went for the Trawlerboys from Green Jack which wasn’t quite at its best, but not in such a state I needed to return it. I was pleased that the pub accepted cards, as indeed did all of the town’s pubs, which made matters easier since neither of us had any cash.

For those who like to watch television, there is a little arrangement of sofas in front of one.

Not an ideal photo due to the lighting, but this is the main bar area. This was one of those pubs where everyone seemed to know each other, or at least other than these two strangers from Norwich, but there was nothing unwelcoming at any time.

The pool room.

The other side of the building, which is apparently one of the most haunted in the town. For a long time there were medieval banquets held in the cellar, but the building was put up for sale for £375,000 in 2008 by Admiral Taverns who ended the leases of the banquet company and a fancy dress company. It was purchased in 2009 by Paul Trevitt, but he stepped back in 2020 and defined as pub as so dangerous that he needed a riot helmet. I mean, I have been in pubs like that in the past, but it’s not ideal is it?

The external signage, which has been here for twenty years, harks back to a different time in the venue’s history. If there are now no lunches, morning coffees or medieval banquets it seems just a little out of place.

The on-line reviews for the pub are mixed, but with the pub owner saying that he felt the venue was dangerous, that certainly provides me with a different proposition in terms of writing positively about it. To be fair, he’s now apparently appointed a pub manager to bring the venue under control, but I can see the challenging edge that they have here. There’s no food offered but so much potential given the space that there is, although they have now launched karaoke on the weekends which seems brave to say the least.

Unfortunately, I imagine the interior would need an expensive restoration now and as it’s a listed building, that would be quite the project. And anyway, the ghosts might not like it. Although if there is some modernisation, the owner had better not make the mistake of a previous owner who was fined £8,000 in 2008 for removing bits of masonry from the cellar. He said that he hadn’t realised that the building was listed. The court weren’t impressed.

I enjoyed this pub though, it’s got a long heritage, there’s a strong community feel and the prices are towards the lower end of the scale. I’m surprised that the owner hasn’t made more use of the sizeable building that he has available, but maybe there’s a long-term plan or perhaps it’s just nicely ticking over. It’s quite a way from the coaching inn that it once was, but it’s still open which is more than can be said for plenty of other pubs in the town.

This was the second Bungay venue of the day for us and just writing for me, it seems a little bit of a shame that relatively recently the White Lion was renamed to be the Castle Inn, as it has been a hospitality venue with the White Lion name since the sixteenth century. Although under blue paint, that old name and the Lacon’s Brewery is still prominent to this day and it looked to me at first sight a little muddled especially when there is Three Cooks branding on the signage as well. I imagine that the listed building status is likely the biggest limitation here rather than anything else.

The real ales are on the reverse of the central bar, with the only two other customers in the venue sitting right in front of them hence this zoomed in photo. They had Deuchars and Gone Fishing from Green Jack Brewing, with the prices being reasonable. The service was attentive and friendly, with the atmosphere feeling inviting.

I went for the Gone Fishing from Green Jack Brewery and it tasted as expected and was at the appropriate temperature. It was a peaceful atmosphere in which to enjoy a drink, so we lingered here for a little while. We were thanked when leaving and I liked the pleasant environment that they’ve created here.

Those just wanting a drink are absolutely welcome, but the interior has been set up primarily as a restaurant. There are also four rooms available for those who want to stay overnight and I particularly like how much history about their venue is on their web-site. I noted that they mention the 1750s advertising of rooms mentioned the “latest designs in wallpaper”.

The desserts menu and the other part of the restaurant. I suppose I yearn for the feel of how this must have been in the past, a vibrant pub with bustling trade, but I can’t unfortunately find any old interior photos. Historically this appears to have been a substantial venue with numerous bedrooms, extensive stabling, a bowling green and a large yard.

The venue doesn’t have a menu I can find on-line, but there is one posted up at the front of the pub. They’re running with two menus, one primarily Asian meals and one primarily traditional British food. This seems to be provided by the Three Cooks who have moved from their previous restaurant located a little further down the road. I’m sure that the menus are delicious and everything is beautifully prepared, but with no prior knowledge I’m always a little nervous when there are two completely different menus as I’d rather they just put forward their best food. I’m also, if I’m being honest, not entirely confident about the “kitchen hours may vary” and the use of the word “approximately” as it sounds as though they’re often quiet and so stop serving food early. I’ve always been one for clarity, I just like knowing when a venue opens and closes, along with when the food will be available.

Lovely as the welcome was, I didn’t fully get to grips with this venue, it was a warm and sunny day in late May with a spring menu being advertised alongside a winter themed A-Board. The on-line reviews are broadly positive but still a little mixed for the food, but the accommodation element is well reviewed and it seems well cared for. Looking at the photos on the venue’s web-site, one of the four rooms has the beds in the arches of the old bread proving oven which seems a marvellous piece of history. I can imagine there’s plenty of character in the rooms and it’d be a quaint and very British place to say.

Regardless of my slight confusion over branding, the service was friendly, there were a couple of real ales and the venue was warm and comfortable. They’ve ensured that drinkers are welcome, even though it’s not their main emphasis, and it’ll be interesting to see how the restaurant element develops. As an aside, the venue is also closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we were fortunate that this wasn’t one of our Wednesday sojourns.

First in our visit to every pub in Bungay was the Fleece Inn which has been a hospitality venue since the fifteenth century. CAMRA note that it has been known as the Fleece since 1711, having previously been known as the Cross Keys and that seems an acceptable amount of times to change a pub name. Until recently it was part of the Adnams estate, but it now appears to be free trade.

There’s been a sensitive modernisation recently which has given the interior a clean look without impacting negatively on the heritage of the building. Julian has several stories about this venue from years gone by, but they wouldn’t be at all suitable for this blog.

There were three real ales available, Amarillo from Tindall Brewery, Nightingale from Green Jack and Greene King IPA. This seemed to be a reasonable choice from three different breweries and I hadn’t had the Amarillo before. Service was immediate and friendly, with some gentle upselling going on to offer us food. As this seemed a positively good idea given we needed sustenance after our bus journey, we decided to look at the menus.

The nibbles and starters from the seasonal all-day menu.

The mains and also the lunch menu. Given how prices have been increasing recently, these seemed entirely reasonable, especially as they’ve made a substantial effort to buy from local suppliers and they’ve listed those on their web-site. The venue was moderately busy, sufficiently full to suggest to us that the food was likely to not disappoint.

The Amarillo from Tindall Brewery was well kept and refreshing.

The Nightingale beer from Green Jack was equally well kept and complemented the Ploughman’s rather nicely. Homemade bread, blue cheese, Cheddar cheese, celery, grapes, chutney, small pickled onions, salad and ham. For the price point charged, this was most certainly most agreeable. The cheeses had a depth of flavour, the ham was salted and tasty, the bread was warm and soft, this felt like an appropriate meal for such an historic venue. Julian went for the home glazed ham, bubble & squeak and a poached egg and seemed equally as content with his meal.

We didn’t partake, but there was also a dessert menu.

We sat in the snug area which is to the front of the pub and a fair way below street level so we were looking up at people walking by. This structural history has meant disabled access is possible only through the rear of the building, with an old door visible at the rear of the photo in the snug area.

There’s another seating area to the front of the building. The on-line reviews are broadly positive, although their spell of responding to reviews in a quite direct manner has seemingly passed, which is a shame from a reader’s point of view. There were no negatives that I noticed, this was a welcoming and warm venue with helpful staff and a comfortable environment. Pricing was reasonable, the menu was intriguing and extensive with the quality of the food being high. It set quite a high bar for the four remaining pubs in the town that we were then going on to visit.